Fire and Fuels Management understand why people want and choose to live in these areas where they are surrounded by the environment. In regards to fire management, however the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) poses many issues because of the concentration of lives and property. Fire Management's primary responsibility is to protect both the lives and properties of these WUI communities. In an effort to protect the community, Fire Management must combine the efforts of fuels management, wildland fire prevention, homeowner personal responsibility and education, and wildland firefighting. Each WUI community creates a unique and complex challenge.

A complete list of communities that met the criteria of a structure at high risk from wildfire were identified by the fifty States and five federal agencies as ''in the vicinity of Federal land'' was published in the federal register on August 17, 2001. The information contained in the list is used by interagency groups of land managers at the State and/or Tribal level to collaboratively identify priority areas within their jurisdictions that would benefit from hazard reduction activity. This ensures that available funding is focused on areas of local importance and where opportunities are most conducive to reducing risks on a meaningful scale.