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Fire Mgmt. Policy
Fire and Park Resources
Annual Fire Reports
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Why Does the National Park Service Use Fire? Fire has been a natural part of the Sierran ecosystem for centuries.
Natural fires swept through these plant communities at intervals
that provided conditions for many plant species to regenerate.
Fire thins competing species, recycles nutrients into the soil,
releases and scarifies seeds, and opens holes in the forest canopy
for sunlight to enter. All of these are critical to forest health
and natural cycles of growth and decomposition.
Plants are not the only living things that have evolved with and
adapted to fire. Animal species are just as much a part of the
"fire environment." With the increased forage that results
after a fire, many animals low on the food chain experience increases
in their populations; therefore species above them on the food
chain also benefit.
Despite the evidence that fire is a necessary element in the Sierra
Nevada, over most of the past century people have feared and suppressed
it whenever possible. Especially in the western United States,
the accumulation of dead forest litter and duff during that time
now presents extreme hazards to the health of the trees, soil,
and wildlife, to humans living in these areas, and to the taxpayer
who has to fund the fighting of catastrophic wildfires.
Prescribed fire is used in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
to restore this natural process to the forests. These fires are
strategically used to reduce the risks that unnaturally heavy
fuels pose to humans and ecosystems.
You can learn more about wild and prescribed fire in this overview.
For more technical information about fire, fire research and fire
management, select from the following links:
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