2002

Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management

NPS Fire Management Creates Unique Partnership with NPS Cultural Resources in Alaska
The uniqueness of Alaska resides in its sub-arctic and arctic ecosystems, expansive geography and cultural history. The Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Management Plan was born from these unique factors.

Amistad National Recreation Area

National Park Service Aids County Fire Department
Amistad National Recreation Area helped the Val Verde County Rural Volunteer Fire Department acquire 20 new pagers for department staff.

Arkansas National Park Service Units

Rural Fire Assistance in Arkansas
In the year 2002, the Arkansas Park Units had fourteen departments participating in the Rural Fire Assistance Program in Arkansas. This was an increase of three departments since 2001.

Bent's Old Fort National Historical Site

National Park Service Provides Funding for Rural Fire Assistance
The National Park Service (NPS), in conjunction with Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, recently provided funding for rural fire assistance to three rural fire districts (RFD). La Junta, Rocky Ford and Las Animas districts received a total of $12,000.

Big Bend National Park

International Partnership Helps Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park’s Fire Management program has benefited for thirteen years from the assistance of Mexican Nationals, living in villages immediately across the Rio Grande from the park.

Big Cypress National Preserve

Successful Prescribed Fire Season Ends 2002
The Big Cypress fire program had a record year for prescribed fire, treating over 71,000 acres for hazard fuel reduction during fiscal year 2002.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon Completes Spring Prescribed Burns
Bryce Canyon National Park Fire Management personnel recently completed a series of prescribed burns totaling 663 acres as part of their ongoing fire management program.

Cape Cod National Seashore

Equipment Distribution at Cape Cod
Wildland Fire Equipment and Supplies* valued at $30,000 was distributed to the Fire Departments of Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown at a ceremony held at the Cape Cod National Seashore South District Fire Cache on March 5, 2002 at 1100 hrs.

Capulin Volcano National Monument

Rural Fire Assistance Success Story
Capulin Volcano National Monument received $32,400 in FY02 for rural fire assistance to be divided by the four surrounding volunteer fire departments (VFD).

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Carlsbad Caverns Receives Rural Fire Assistance Grant for White’s City Fire Department
Carlsbad Caverns National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott announced on October 7, 2002 the award of a $8,829 grant to the White’s City Fire Department to enhance fire protection.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

NPS Fire Use Modules Perform Emergency Fuel
Reduction Treatments
NPS Fire Use Modules performed emergency fuel reduction treatments within the park in order to reduce the threat of the Big Wash Fire in June 2002.

Chickasaw National Recreation Area

Chickasaw Completes Prescribed Burn
On 02-28-02 the National Park Service at Chickasaw National Recreation Area (CHIC) completed the first prescribed fire in the park in almost three years. The burn was a great success and totaled just over 446 acres of land overcrowded with invasive red cedars.

Success at Chickasaw National Recreation Area
Rural Fire Assistance
With the assistance of the Intermountain Region Fire Management Team, Chickasaw National Recreation Area was awarded $49,000 to continue to help outfit seven rural fire departments.

Crater Lake National Park

Managers and Scientists Collaborate to Create Firesafe Forests at Crater Lake National Park
National Fire Plan research dollars are used to develop best available science to reduce hazardous fuels and restore fire-adapted ecosystems at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

Dinosaur National Monument

Dinosaur NM Donates Fire Trucks
The Artesia Fire Protection District was recently the recipient of two brush trucks donated by Dinosaur National Monument. Bruce Miller, Fire Management Officer, and Bruce Fields, his assistant, along with Steve Hirschi, Purchasing Agent for DINO are responsible for doing all the necessary paperwork. They have worked hard to help the Fire Department secure better equipment.

El Malpais National Monument

El Malpais National Monument and Southwest Youth Corps 2002 Hazard Fuel Reduction Project
A Southwest Youth Corps crew of 7-10 crewmembers conducted three sessions at the monument in the summer of 2002. They focused on three hazard fuel reduction projects.

Wildland-Urban Interface Initiative
The “Stair Step” Project was completed in November 2002. A contractor brought in two mules and a wrangler to help drag large logs and cut debris to put in piles. Local firefighters, from the Zuni and Ramah Indian Reservations, and workers from the local area were hired to help with cutting and piling.

El Morro National Monument

El Morro National Monument Wildland Urban Interface
Project 2002
In 2002, the 1279-acre El Morro National Monument, located in west central New Mexico, received special project funding to complete a 50-acre Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) project. The project involved thinning pinyon and juniper stands and removing heavy dead-and-down fuel to reduce the likelihood of wildland fires crossing into or out of the monument.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

Introducing the Fire-V
You've heard of the HUMVEE®, well now there's a FIRE-V. FIRE-V stands for Fast Initial Response Emergency Vehicle and is one of the newest members of the Florissant Fire Protection District.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Program Helps Colorado Parks To Achieve Fuels Reduction Targets
National Park Service fire managers teamed up with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC) to help reduce wildfire danger at both Rocky Mountain National Park and Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Volunteer Fire Department Benefits from National Park Service Grant Program
Fort Davis Volunteer Fire Department (FDVFD) through the Department of the Interior and Fort Davis National Historic Site received an $8,000 grant under the Rural Fire Assistance Program. The federal funding was used to purchase a Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) and it has been installed on a brush truck.

Grand Canyon National Park

Employees of Grand Canyon National Park Receive
Valor Award
National Park Service employees Mike Flynn and Sean Cox, of Grand Canyon National Park, travelled to Washington DC in September to receive the Interior Department’s most distinguished honor, the Valor Award.

Hance and Watson Prescribed Fires Reduce Hazardous Fuels
Large-scale fuel management projects at Grand Canyon National Park continue to abate dense forest vegetation that resulted from nearly a century of fire exclusion.

Grand Teton National Park

Interdependence the Key to Sucess in Grand Tetons
Interagency cooperation and planning continue to be key components of the Teton Interagency Fire Management Program.

Spreading the Fire Message at Grand Teton
To improve internal communication and collaborative efforts, the Grand Teton National Park Fire Management staff has stepped up the dialogue between divisions to foster partnerships within the park community.

Preparing for Fire Season
Grand Teton National Park structural and wildland firefighters held a wildland-urban interface drill in conjunction with a park concessioner in late May, preparing fire personnel and ranch staff for the upcoming fire season.

Fuels Reduction Project Assists Area Homeowners
As a culminating event to their 10-week internship in the Jackson Hole area, the Teton Interagency Student Conservation Association Fire Education Corps team held a fuels reduction project to help local homeowners clear their property of hazard fuels.

Prescribed Fire Highlighted at Annual Exposition
The annual three-day Wyoming Hunting and Fishing Exposition was held earlier this month in Casper, WY, an event that attracts between 12,000-16,000 people each year. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department hosted a number of exhibits, including a station explaining the importance of prescribed fire in wildlife habitat management.

Fire Management: September 2002
A $ 10,000 grant through the Western States Wildland-Urban Interface Grant Program enabled the Jackson/Teton County Fire Department to produce an award-winning film to help homeowners living in the wildland-urban interface.

Fire Management: October 2002
Grand Teton National Park completed two burns this fall as part of their ongoing prescribed fire program. Inclement weather postponed three other scheduled projects. Under the guidance of the park's Fire Management Plan, the use of prescribed fire as a tool will help decrease risks to life and property while restoring and maintaining natural processes in the diverse fire-adapted vegetation of Grand Teton National Park.

Fire Management: November 2002
Extended mild weather allowed Grand Teton National Park to complete two more prescribed burns this season, adding 785 acres to the total treated this fall.

Fire Management: Interagency Fire Effects Meeting
Representatives from Grand Teton National Park,
Yellowstone National Park, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming Game & Fish Department, and Rocky Mountain Research Station/Laramie gathered at an interagency fire effects meeting held in Jackson in November. The meeting brought together fuels and vegetation specialists, ecologists, and researchers to present data and hold discussions on fire effects work in the area.

Fire Management: ESPN2 Coverage
The park's Timbered Island North Prescribed Burn was recently featured on ESPN2's series Inside America's National Parks.

Great Sand Dunes National Monument

2002 Rural Fire Assistance Success Story
Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve
The Mosca-Hooper and Baca Grande (Colorado) Volunteer Fire Departments shared nearly $12,000 in Rural Fire Assistance funding awarded through Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve. This is the second year in a row that grant proposals for the two fire departments were approved.

Hawai'i Volcanos National Park

Fighting Fire with Fire
The lava's still flowing down Holei Pali, advancing about 600 feet a day. It's 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. Some of the molten rock is ponding and some of it's creeping through groves of `ohi`a and kukui. Whether flowing in open brush or under forest canopy, the lava's smoke signals serve to remind that the threat of another lava-ignited wildfire remains.

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

Two Prescribed Burns Achieve Hazard Fuels Reduction on
NPS and BLM Lands
John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, with the assistance of multiple partners, staff from other NPS units, and favorable weather, completed two prescribed fires for hazardous fuels reduction in September 2002.

Kalaupapa National Historical Park

Wildland Urban Interface Initiative
It was decided a combination of fuel break and sprinkler system would greatly enhance the suppression capability to protect the community. A sprinkler system was installed along the 1-mile long fuel break on the eastern side of the community. Any park personnel can activate the system by turning a valve in the event of a wildland fire approaching the community.

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Successful Prescribed Fire Completed at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site
Superintendent Lisa Eckert has announced the successful completion of a prescribed fire at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. The 250-acre fire was ignited on May 12th in the "Peninsula" area of the park.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Prescribed Fires Successfully Completed at
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Lake Mead National Recreation Area (Lake Mead NRA) conducted four prescribed fires during the month of October. The goal of the prescribed fire at Rogers Springs was to eradicate tamarisk, a non-native plant that invades riverbanks and lands surrounding springs and to allow the re-growth of native plants. The goal of the prescribed fires in Mohave County was to promote increased plant diversity, particularly in native grasses and to reduce hazardous fuel concentrations.

Lake Meredith National Recreation Area

West Texas Wildland Fire Academy
The first annual West Texas Interagency Wildfire Academy is drawing to an end with the completion of the Intermediate Wildfire Behavior course on Sunday. Organizers are calling it a very successful academy, which provided high quality instruction to numerous agencies and students from around the nation.

Prescribed Fires Include Private Lands with Owner Support
Between April 17th and April 24th, three separate units of Lake Meredith NRA and Alibates Flint Quarries NM were successfully burned. The prescribed fire included 1,936 acres on park land and 183 acres on private land (with written permission from owners) for a total of 2,119 acres.

National Park Service Provides Financial Assistance to Rural Fire Departments in Fritch and Huchinson County
Superintendent Karren Brown of Lake Meredith National Recreation Area is pleased to announce that through the Department of the Interior Rural Fire Assistance Program, the Fritch Volunteer Fire Department and the Hutchinson County Precinct Two Fire Department are recipients of $5,000 and $7,000 grants, respectively, to enhance the fire protection capabilities of Rural Fire Departments (RFD).

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Hole Prescribed Fire
In early November, Lassen Volcanic National Park Fire Management personnel successfully completed the park's first major prescribed burn since 1999.

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park

The Rural Fire Assistance Program at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
New firefighting equipment has recently been purchased by both the Johnson City and the Stonewall Volunteer Fire Departments with funding from the National Park Service Rural Fire Assistance Program (RFA).

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde Fuel Treatments Reduce Impacts
of Long Mesa Fire
On July 29, a smoldering spark from a lightning strike a few days earlier developed into the Long Mesa Fire and began moving towards the heart of Mesa Verde National Park.

Midwest Regional Office

Monitoring Prairie Restoration
Exotic plant species pose one of the greatest challenges for prairie restoration in parks of the Northern Great Plains.

The Midwest Region and the National Fire Plan
Implementation of the National Fire Plan in the Midwest Region requires vision, enthusiasm, dedication, commitment, knowledge, and the ability to be flexible and work with a variety of audiences and targets. The 2002 fire season was busy and full of accomplishments for the parks, staffs, and partners of the Midwest Region.

Natchez Trace Parkway

Fire Successes All over the Nation
The Natchez Trace Parkway fire management office kicked off Fire Prevention Week at the Tupelo Visitors Center on October 3. Assisting Natchez Trace fire staff were members of the Tupelo Fire Department, the Mississippi Forestry Commission, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, and Smokey Bear.

Northeast Regional Office

Interagency Fire Prevention & Education Team Wins Award
The Shenandoah Valley Interagency Fire Prevention and Education Team won the Robert E. Browning Award for accomplishments during the 2001-2002 drought.

Redwood National and State Parks

Redwood Uses Prescribed Fire to Manage Cultural Landscapes
At Redwood National and State Parks, prescribed fire is used to manage cultural and historical landscapes.

Rocky Mountain National Park

National Park Service Distributes Federal Funding to Volunteer Fire Departments
Rocky Mountain National Park is distributing $18,000 in federal funding to the Estes Park and Glen Haven Volunteer Fire Departments.

Fire Education Corps Helps Spread Timely Message
The Student Conservation Association Fire Education Corps arrived in the midst of a record setting fire season in Colorado. The team comprised of six college-aged students from across the country had plenty of work to keep them busy during their 10-week internship.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

The Cheeseboro Fire
A powerpoint presentation highlighting the success of the Cheeseboro Fire in April 2002.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Utilizing Contractors to Accomplish More Work
Faced with a long list of fire and fuels management projects for completion in 2002, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks worked with outside contractors to accomplish park goals.

The Experience of a Lifetime
In early September 2002, backcountry hikers in Kings Canyon National Park had the experience of a lifetime having to walk through the Palisades Fire burn area in order to reach their destinations.

A New Way of Doing Business
For over three decades Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) have reduced hazardous fuels through the use of prescribed fire and mechanical reduction projects. In the early years of this program, locations for projects were chosen based on local knowledge and experience. While this was adequate for many years, the complexity of today’s fire management work has outgrown this method.

Past Work is Paying Off
The parks have spent the last three decades reducing hazardous fuels and restoring ecosystems to prevent damaging fires. During 2002, the parks definitely experienced the benefits of this work.

Building Strong Partnerships
In 2002, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks cooperated with many different agencies to complete fire operations and research.

Protecting Communities in the Wildland Urban Interface
While the parks are known for their long-standing prescribed fire and fire use programs, the parks also utilize mechanical fuel reduction techniques to meet goals of protecting local communities and restoring ecosystems.

Southeastern United States

National Park Service in Southeastern United States Achieves Goals through Fire Use Modules
During fiscal year 2002, the southeast region of the National Park Service accomplished a large portion of the target acreage for the agency.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

Washita Battlefield Announces Rural Fire
Assistance Recipients
The National Park Service and Washita Battlefield National Historic Site are pleased to announce this year's United States Department of Interior Rural Fire Assistance Program recipients.

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Fire
Success Story 2002
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Fire Management Division had a successful 2002 and continues to benefit from the increased funding to the fire program through the National Fire Plan. In 2002 Whiskeytown worked with many local, state, private, and other federal agencies to reduce hazard fuels throughout the park.

Wind Cave National Park

Local Fire Departments Aided by Wind Cave National Park
“Really valuable to a small community,” is how Mark Lamphere, Chief of the Cascade Volunteer Fire Department, termed funding received as part of the Rural Fire Assistance Program, a pilot program designed to enhance wildland fire protection capabilities near Department of the Interior lands.

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park Successfully Completes Prescribed Burns in the Wawona Wildland Urban Interface
Yosemite National Park has responded to the National Fire Plan directive by conducting extensive thinning, pile burning, and prescribed burning to protect the communities within the park.

The Wolf Fire – A WUI Success
Managing a lightning-ignited fire for resource benefits will help protect White Wolf community from future fires.

Zion National Park

Blue Creek Prescribed Fire
Zion National Park Fire Management personnel recently completed the 500-acre Blue Creek Burn as part of their ongoing prescribed fire (RX) program. This burn, located near Lava Point Campground in the northern portion of the park, is one of many that are planned in the coming years under the guidance of Zion's Fire Management Plan.

National Park Service Provides Funding for Rural
Fire Assistance
The National Park Service in conjunction with Zion National Park, recently provided $9,000.00 in funding to the Springdale/Rockville Rural Fire District to increase firefighter safety and enhance their fire protection capability when responding to wildland fire.

Wildland Fire Meets Structural Fire
Many times, the skills of both wildland and structural firefighting crews are called upon to deal with fire in the Wildland-Urban interface. With this in mind, Zion National Park recently held a joint training session between their structural and wildland firefighting crews to address some of these concerns and to prepare for the possibility of this type of incident in the future.

Interagency Air Operations Center Opens in Cedar City
An open house was held on June 6, 2002 to celebrate the opening of the Interagency Air Operations Center in Cedar City, Utah. This newly constructed facility was a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Land Management Cedar City District Office (who provided the majority of funding and planning documents), the National Park Service (Zion National Park), the USDA Forest Service (Dixie National Forest), and Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

Oak Creek Hazard Fuel Reduction Project Oak Creek Hazard Fuel Reduction Project
The 37-acre Oak Creek Hazard Fuels Reduction Project consisted of the mechanical removal of material in and around park structures (many considered historical) that could pose a significant fire risk in the case of a wildland fire.