Fire Management
What We Do
Wildland fire has great potential to change park landscapes more often than volcanoes, earthquakes or even floods. Such forces of change are completely natural. Many plants and animals cannot survive without the cycles of fire or flooding to which they are adapted. If all fire is suppressed, fuel builds up and makes bigger fires inevitable. Under certain conditions, large, hot fires can threaten public safety, devastate property, damage natural and cultural resources, and be expensive and dangerous to fight.
National Park Service policy stresses managing fire, not simply suppressing it. This means planning for the inevitable and promoting the use of fire as a land management tool. The goal is to restore fire's role as a dynamic and necessary natural process.
Did You Know?: Long leaf pine once occupied over 92 million acres in the Southeastern United States. Today, it is believed that perhaps only 3 million acres remain. Learn how fire management is making a difference in this ecosystem. More »