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Regular Brush Thinning Saves Homes

Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge - 2003

Annual prescribed burns and mechanical thinning of brush and weeds helped keep a wildfire at Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge at 20-acres, and a nearby 60-home subdivision safe.

The human-caused fire started in a refuge marsh within the boundaries of the New York Central Pine Barrens but was extinguished quickly because of an agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New York State Forest Rangers and the Brookhaven Volunteer Fire Department that gave firefighters the tools to coordinate the quick response and establish a unified command. The agreement also allowed Brookhaven to assist with a 35-acre prescribed burn on the refuge, which is bordered on three sides by single-family homes, Long Island Railroad, a shopping plaza, and a school. The agreement has led to increased collaboration among fire managers on Long Island, where human-caused fires are frequent.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 547 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 50% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 260,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns about 300,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 530 permanent fire professionals, along with 270 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 3,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.