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Partnership at Okefenokee: "We're all in this together"

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Folkston - 1994 (ongoing)

In an effort keep history from repeating itself in the form of destructive wildfire, landowners surrounding the Okefenokee Swamp/Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge came together in 1994 to form the Greater Okefenokee Association of Landowners, or GOAL. The group is a true partnership and represents a cross-section of interests from private landowners to commercial timber and manufacturing companies to state and federal agencies.

GOAL members - who participate in the group on a purely voluntary level - work as a team to manage, protect and promote forest resources in and around Okefenokee Swamp.

Four years before GOAL was established, firefighters battled the Shorts Fire in Okefenokee refuge's southwest corner. The fire burned about 20,000 acres, but cost a staggering $10 million to manage. It stretched thin the staff and equipment available to fight it. The fire demonstrated a need for more coordination between federal and state agencies and adjacent landowners.

The GOAL group achieved that management objective, and even though its genesis can be traced to wildfire suppression, its actions go even further as members receive state and federal fire training and logistical support, then give back to each other by providing fire fighting resources and personnel. Many landowners, for example, have constructed helicopter dip sites on their property for during fire suppression.

"This partnership continues to be very successful with few or no problems," said Refuge Manager Skippy Reeves. "The most significant benefit for me is the sense of comradery and cooperation among the partners. We're all in this together."

National Wildlife Refuge Chief Bill Hartwig peers through a spotting scope during a fire management tour at Georgia's Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is home to one of the nation's only all-volunteer landowner associations, which includes private, commercial and government interests. (USFWS)

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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.