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2005 |
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Bandelier National Monument |
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Prescribed Fire Program Reinstated at Bandelier National Monument
Bandelier National Monument has revised its fire management program, once again utilizing broadcast prescribed burning to reduce forest fuel overloads and wildland fire risk.
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Big
South Fork National River and Recreation Area |
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Milestone
Spring at Big South Fork
March and April 2005 were a
milestone period for Big South Fork National River and
Recreation Area (NRRA). For the first time in decades,
fire managers were able to successfully burn areas of
the park that were identified as possessing high potential
for benefits from fire.
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Bighorn
Canyon National Recreation Area |
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National
Recreation Area Assists Lovell Volunteer Fire Department
The National Park Service, in
conjunction with Bighorn Canyon National Recreation
Area, recently provided funding through the Rural Fire
Assistance (RFA) Program to the Lovell Volunteer Fire
Department. The department received $5,200 to purchase
supplies and increase firefighter safety.
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Bryce
Canyon National Park |
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Bryce
Canyon Manages First Large Wildland Fire Use Fire
In July, Bryce Canyon National
Park successfully completed managing their first major
wildland fire use fire (WFU). This comes on the heels
of their recently completed Interagency Fire Management
Plan, with the Dixie National Forest, which now allows
naturally ignited fires to be managed for resource benefits
rather than being immediately suppressed as in the past.
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Canaveral
National Seashore |
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Community
at Risk and Scrub Jays Benefit from Interagency Efforts
Canaveral National Seashore
used prescribed fire to successfully treated 556 acres
of imperiled Florida coastal scrub in early 2005. The
Bill’s Hill Prescribed Fire was the National Park
Service’s first large scale attempt to reduce
the threat of fire in this area.
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Capulin
Volcano National Monument |
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First
Prescribed Fire Completed at Monument
Capulin Volcano National Monument
burned approximately 50 acres of prairie on Saturday,
April 23, 2005. This burn is the third step for implementing
the Fire Management Plan (FMP) for the monument.
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Carl
Sandburg Home National Historic Site |
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Park
Creates Fuel Break Along Neighbor’s Backyards
In 2005, Carl Sandburg Home
National Historic Site used National Fire Plan funds
to implement a woodland fuel break project.
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Catoctin
Mountain Park |
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Hazardous
Fuels Reduction Project Completed In
2004, 169 acres were treated in a mechanical hazardous
fuel reduction project. |
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Cumberland
Gap National Historical Park |
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Park
Implements 1st Season of Prescribed Burning
Cumberland Gap National Historical
Park (NHP) successfully initiated their prescribed fire
program in spring 2005 with the completion of two prescribed
burns.
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Division
of Fire and Aviation |
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NPS
Takes Home National Fire Plan Awards
Over 30 national awards were
presented to groups and individuals from across the
country who have furthered the goals and objectives
of the National Fire Plan during 2004.
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Everglades
National Park |
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South
Florida Fire Planning Unit Forging Working Relationships
In support of the National Fire
Plan, federal land managers in South Florida have been
working towards implementation of Fire Program Analysis
(FPA).
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Miccosukee
Prescribed Burn Meets Objectives
The Miccosukee Reserved Area
(MRA) is a wildland-urban interface community adjacent
to the northern boundary of
Everglades National Park. The community is at risk from
wildfires burning in tall sawgrass fuels.Everglades
Fire and Aviation Management, working in close cooperation
with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and
most South Florida Fire Planning Unit partners, developed
strategy and tactics so that a hazard fuels treatment
burn could be implemented without the need to install
fire lines that would be detrimental to the fragile
ecosystem.
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Fire
Management Program Center |
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Monitoring
Trends in Burn Severity: NPS Providing Leadership and
Support for Interagency Burn Severity Mapping
Recently the Wildland Fire Leadership
Council (WFLC) sdopted a strategy to monitor the effectiveness
of the National Fire Plan (NFP) and the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act (HFRA). One component of this strategy
is to assess the environmental impacts of large wildland
fires and identify the trends in burn severity across
the United States.
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Flagstaff
Area Monuments (Wupatki, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater) |
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Summit
Fire Department Receives Funding for Rural Fire Assistance
The National Park Service has partnered once again with
the Summit Fire Department in the management of wildland
fire in and near Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki and
Walnut Canyon National Monuments.
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Student
Conservation Association Intern Assists Monuments
Candace Rossman, an intern with the Student Conservation
Association Fire Education Corps, spent six months interning
with the National Park Service at Flagstaff Area Monuments
(Wupatki NM, Sunset Crater NM, and Walnut Canyon NM).
She began in June 2004 and for the first few months
was busy with prevention education activities within
the Monuments.
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Intern Contributes through Fire Education
Fire games, PowerPoint presentations, interpretive hikes, forest thinning projects, county fairs, Smokey Bear visits, classroom presentations, and summer camps are just a few of the outreach events that Student Conservation Association (SCA) intern, Jenny Jackson, participated in during a Summer 2005 internship at the Flagstaff Area National Monuments.
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Fort Frederica
National Monument |
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Flail
Mower and Turf Sweeper Assist in Hazard Fuels Reduction
During winter 2005, park maintenance staff began and
completed hazardous fuels reduction along the boundaries
of Fort Frederica National Monument. Using funds provided
by the National Fire Plan, the park rented a flail mower
and began clearing a fuel break along the park boundary
in preparation for a prescribed fire planned for spring
2005.
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Golden
Gate National Recreation Area |
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Fire
Protection Enhanced for Marinview Subdivision Near Golden
Gate NRA
Approximately 25 acres of vegetation was treated in
strategic locations within Marinview and on adjacent
GGNRA land during the 2002, 2003 and 2004 field seasons.
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Non-native Plant
Control After Wildfire Protects Butterfly Habitat
Weed control in the area burned by the Lateral Fire
in 2004 was a critical measure to protect the host plants
of the mission blue butterfly, which were potentially
threatened by post-fire invasions of non-native French
broom and Italian thistle in both coastal scrub and
grassland areas.
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Homestead Fuel Reduction
Implements Community Wildfire Protection Plan
During fall 2005, more than 100 trees were removed from
89 acres in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, to
protect the adjacent community of Homestead Valley,
where there are over 1,000 homes.
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Golden Spike
National Historic Site |
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National
Park Service Provides Funding for Rural Fire Assistance
The National Park Service (NPS), in conjunction with
Golden Spike National Historic Site, recently provided
$18,500 in rural fire assistance funding to fire departments
in Box Elder County. Box Elder County Fire Department
received $5,000. Thatcher/Penrose - $9,000. Corinne
- $2,500, and Garland - $2,000. The funding will increase
firefighter safety and enhance their fire protection
capability when responding to wildland fires.
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Grand Canyon
National Park |
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Grand
Canyon National Park’s Helicopter Training Academy
Grand Canyon’s Helicopter
Training Academy is a comprehensive program that ties
curriculum-based instruction with hands on experience.
Funding from the National Park Service Intermountain
Regional Office makes it possible for the park’s
Branch of Fire and Aviation to host the academy, a series
of two-week-long training sessions, from May through
September each year.
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Interpretation
Contributes to Wildland Fire Use Message
The Interpretation Division
of Grand Canyon National Park partnered with the Information
section of two Wildland Fire Use Teams managing the
Dragon Complex on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National
Park to distribute public information about fires in
the park. By July 20th interpreters had contacted over
10,600 visitors along the rim, answering questions about
the smoke and other impacts of the fire.
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Grand Teton
National Park |
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Rural
Fire Assistance Program Assists Jackson Fire/EMS
The National Park Service, in conjunction with Grand
Teton National Park, provided $4,000 to the Jackson
Fire/
EMS department through the Rural Fire Assistance (RFA)
Program this past year. The Jackson, Wyoming-based
department was one of 62 rural fire departments within
the National Park Service Intermountain Region to
receive funding through the program in 2004.
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Monitoring
Information Shared at Interagency Fire Effects Symposium
For the past three years in
northwestern Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park and
the Bridger-Teton National Forest have hosted a Fire
Effects Symposium to bring together fire effects monitors,
researchers, resource managers and fire professionals
to talk about current projects and findings. This year’s
symposium, held in early February, brought new participants
and many informative presentations.
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Fireworks
Curriculum Now Available in Northwestern Wyoming
The Teton Interagency Fire Education
program has added the FireWorks curriculum to its collection
of
educational materials to use in classroom and outreach
activities. The FireWorks curriculum, developed by the
Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Montana,
consists of approximately 35 lessons and three trunks
of laboratory materials, specimens and reference materials
to study fire ecology.
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Wildlife
Expo Includes Fire Education
The second annual Wildlife Expo
held in April 2005, was sponsored by the Jackson Hole
Weed Management
Association. Approximately 120 fourth-grade students
from two area schools attended the event to learn more
about the valley’s wildlife and habitat.
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Jackson
Hole Fire/EMS Receives 2005 Rural Fire Assistance Funding
The National Park Service, in
conjunction with Grand Teton National Park, recently
provided $8,000 to the Jackson Hole Fire/EMS department
through the Rural Fire Assistance (RFA) Program. The
department was one of 56 rural fire departments within
the National Park Service Intermountain Region to receive
funding through the program in 2005.
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Fire
Management History Archive Project Preserves Records
Fire has been an integral part
of this ecological history, evidenced by a fire management
program that predates even the establishment of the
park. Until recently, however, the historical records
of the fire management activities in Grand Teton National
Park (GRTE) were largely inaccessible to park management
and in urgent need of preservation.
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Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve |
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Three Rural Fire Departments Receive Rural Fire
Assistance in 2005
Three cooperating volunteer fire departments
were awarded Rural Fire Assistance (RFA) grants through Great
Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in 2004.
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Great Smoky
Mountains National Park |
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Park
Conducts Largest Ever Prescribed Burn
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park conducted a 2,300 acre prescribed fire on April
10 and 11, 2005, the largest burn in the park’s
history.
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Student
Conservation Association Fire Education Corps Assesses
Homes
In summer 2005, a Student Conservation
Association (SCA) Fire Education Corps Team assessed
private structures along the boundary of Great Smoky
Mountains National Park.
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Park Counts Many Successes in 2005
An overview of 2005, looking at wildland fire, prescribed fire, fuel reduction, Rural Fire Assistance, fire ecology, and more.
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Guadalupe
Mountains National Park |
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Dell
City Volunteer Fire Department Receives Rural Fire Assistance
While visiting the Dell City
Volunteer Fire Department recently, Guadalupe Mountains
National Park Superintendent John Lujan took a moment
to leave a little something behind — $15,000 in
fire funds for the Dell City Fire Department.
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Homestead
National Monument of America |
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Successful
Prescribed Burn at Homestead National Monument of America
A recent 30-acre prescribed fire at Homestead was used
as an educational opportunity for students to learn
about fire ecology.
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Indiana
Dunes National Lakeshore |
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Successful
Use of Prescribed Fire Helps to Protect Paul H. Douglas
Center from Wildfire
On Friday May 6, 2005, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
experienced an onslaught of wildland fires. In all,
the Lakeshore fire staff dealt with eight fires. The
Doug Center 1 fire occurred near the Paul H. Douglas
Interpretive Center, and was contained at twelve acres.
The eastern flank of the fire burned right up to and
was stopped by the an area that had been treated a month
prior with prescribed fire.
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Intermountain
Region |
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Intermountain
Region People, Park Units Recognized for Wildland Fire
Management
The Intermountain Region of the National Park Service
honored six employees and three parks for Fire Management
excellence. The awards were announced during the Intermountain
Region Fire and Aviation Workshop held in Albuquerque,
New Mexico in late January 2005.
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Lake
Clark National Park and Preserve |
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Wildland
Fire Festival at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Recently, Alaskan wildland fire interagency partners
spent three festive days in Nondalton teaching the community
about wildland fire.
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Mammoth
Cave National Park |
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Teamwork
is Key for Great Onyx Fire Team
In February and March 2005,
eight young men received training in S-130 Basic Firefighting,
S-190 Introduction to Fire Behavior, as well as 24 hours
of field training. In April, they dug fireline, ignited,
and held the line on two prescribed fires at Mammoth
Cave NP. They were called in to work a project fire
at Russell Cave NM. Now, they are ready and waiting
for their next assignment.
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Natchez
Trace Parkway |
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Parkway
Conducts Contract WUI Projects
In 2005, Natchez Trace Parkway
contracted five WUI projects, totalling 206 acres. Contractors
worked to remove hazard fuels along the Parkway in the
Natchez, Ridgeland, Kosciusko and Tupelo Ranger Districts
from June through September.
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New River
Gorge National River |
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Prescribed
Fire for Native Grasses at New River
With the right weather forecast,
New River Gorge National River conducted a prescribed
burn near the Sandstone Visitor Center on Monday, April
11, 2005. A 0.6 acre grassy hillside in front of the
visitor center was burned to discourage tree growth
in favor of native grasses and plants.
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Northeast
Regional Office |
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New
Handbook Addresses Wildland Urban Interface Issues
“101 Things to Do with
Your Yard Waste besides Lighting It on Fire,”
is the nickname of the new Advanced Master Gardeners
Land Care Steward Handbook made possible with National
Fire Plan Community Assistance funds.
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Point
Reyes National Seashore |
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Inverness
Ridge Fuel Break Improves Community Protection in Wildfire
Recovery Area
The Inverness Ridge fuel break
is being constructed along the Bayview Fire Road and
the Inverness Ridge Trail. During the 2003 and 2004
field seasons, thinning was done along a two mile corridor,
10 feet on each side of the fire road, and 30 feet on
each side of the trail.
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Community Education
on Wildland Fire Preparedness
A series of community meetings
in California in the communities of Inverness, Point
Reyes Station, Marshall, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, and
Olema, during summer 2005 have provided numerous opportunities
for residents to learn about defensible space in the
context of disaster preparedness.
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Limantour
Prescribed Fire Initiates Strategic Fuelbreak
A strategic fuelbreak, bisecting
Point Reyes National Seashore, was successfully initiated
during fall 2005 when two adjacent units, totaling 46
acres of coyote brush mixed with grass, were treated
with prescribed fire along Limantour Road.
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Richmond
National Battlefield Park |
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Preservation
by Fire
On March 21, 2005, Richmond
National Battlefield Park (VA) successfully conducted
a prescribed burn of approximately one-half acre of
non-forested Civil War earthworks at Fort Harrison.
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Rocky Mountain
National Park |
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Rocky
Mountain National Park Highlights Cooperative Fuels
Management Projects
Rocky Mountain National Park recently co-hosted an orientation
tour for legislative staff to learn about interagency
fuels reduction projects occurring in the greater Estes
Valley.
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Rocky
Mountain National Park Distributes Fire Funding to Assist
Local Communities
Rocky Mountain National Park distributed $32,000 in
federal funding this year to assist local communities
with a variety of wildland fire protection projects
and educational programs.
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Team
Effort Completes Fire Mitigation Project for Historic
Leiffer Cabin
Rocky Mountain National Park
recently completed a fire mitigation project on a 12
acre tract of federal land near Longs Peak. The historic
Leiffer cabin and several other outbuildings are completely
surrounded by private property.
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Russell
Cave National Monument |
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Russell
Cave Sees Fire After Years of Suppression
After decades of fire suppression, the Montague Mountain
area of Russell Cave National Monument (Bridgeport,
Alabama) was treated with prescribed fire on May 4,
2005. The 350-acre burn unit consisted primarily of
oak-hickory forest, with relatively steep topography.
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Salinas
Pueblo National Monument |
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MacIntosh
Volunteer Fire Department Receives Assistance from Salinas
Pueblo Missions National Monument
Through the Rural Fire Assistance Program, Salinas Pueblo
Missions National Monument purchased 10 complete sets
of Wildland Firefighting clothing and protective gear
including coats, pants, boots, helmets, gloves and goggles
totaling $5,000 for the MacIntosh Fire Department (MFD).
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Sequoia
and Kings Canyon National Parks |
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A New
Fire Engine is Born
The new and improved “Engine-52” will be
used to support structural fire operations in Kings
Canyon National Park. In the past, the park had two
wildland engines (Engines 51 and 52) but could not provide
initial attack for buildings such as employee residences,
private homes, park facilities, hotel rooms, and cabins.
Now, Engine 52 will respond to structural fires with
a Volunteer Fire Company (and, at times, assist if needed
on wildland fires).
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Big
Shoes to Fill
After nine years as the Fire Management Officer of Sequoia
& Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI), William Kaage
will become the Deputy Regional Fire Management Officer
for the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.
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Timing
is Everything: Parks Pull-off Early-Spring Burn
This prescribed fire, located north of the Cedar Grove
area in Kings Canyon National Park, was originally planned
as a fall burn. So why were firefighters igniting on
March 16 and 17, 2005?
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Using
Science to “Cheat” Cheatgrass
If you ask the Roads End Prescribed Fire Burn Boss how
the fire burned, she would say it was “light and
spotty.” Under some circumstances, this would
be a disappointing outcome, but in this case, it was
exactly what the fire managers at Sequoia and Kings
Canyon National Parks wanted.
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Shenandoah
National Park |
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To Keep
Big Meadow a Meadow
As part of an ongoing ecological maintenance project,
portions of the Big Meadow were burned in spring 2005
in accordance with the Shenandoah National Park Big
Meadows Management Plan.
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Southeast
Region |
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A Compilation
of Success Stories - 2004
Stories from the Southeast Region of the National Park
Service include National Fire Plan Awards, Hazard Fuels
Reduction, Rural Fire Assistance, Planning/Preparedness,
Fire Ecology, and Education, Prevention & Information.
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Learning
About Burning Workshop for Educators Features Mammoth
Cave National Park’s New Wildland Fire Curriculum
More than a dozen educators
from across the country participated in a wildland fire
education session, titled “Learning About Burning,”
at the National Interpreter’s Workshop in Mobile,
Alabama in November 2005.
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Stones River
National Battlefield |
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Prescribed Fire
Helps Preserve Earthen Fort
Stones River National Battlefield employees, along with
wildland firefighters from Natchez Trace Parkway, conducted
a prescribed burn at Fortress Rosecrans at Old Fort
Park in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Tuesday April 5,
2005.
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Washita
Battlefield National Historic Site |
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First
Phase of Recovery Completed Using Prescribed Fire
On Saturday April 2, 2005 through
multi-agency efforts, the last 47 acres in a two-year
cycle of semi-annual prescription burns was completed,
realizing the first phase of recovery on all 315 acres
of Washita Battlefield National Historic Site.
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Whiskeytown
National Recreation Area |
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Roost
Prescribed Fire Helps Communities at Risk
The National Park Service at Whiskeytown National Recreation
Area successfully completed the 285 acre Roost prescribed
burn on June 3, 2005. This prescribed burn is part of
the Wildland Urban Interface Initiative to help reduce
the threat of wildfire to communities at risk.
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NPS
and BLM Join Forces to Complete the Queen Mary Prescribed
Fire
The National Park Service at
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and the Bureau
of Land Management collaborated together to complete
the 723 acre Queen Mary Prescribed Burn during the week
of October 19 - 22, 2005.
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Second Significant
239-Acre Prescribed Burn Completed
The National Park Service at
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area completed the 239
acre Roost B Prescribed Burn on November 18, 2005. This
burn follows the Queen Mary Prescribed Burn completed
in October.
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Wind
Cave National Park |
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Park
Burns 1200 Acres in Tower Prescribed Fire
This burn represents a continuation of the park's successful
prescribed fire program which began in 1972. Prescribed
fires maintain the balance between forest and prairie,
remove the buildup of dead fuels lessening the chance
of a catastrophic wildfire, and rejuvenate the native
prairie grasses.
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Wrangell-St.
Elias National Park and Preserve |
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FIREWISE
Workshop Presented to Local Community
On April 16th Slana Ranger Station and Wrangell-St.
Elias NP/P staff, Alaska Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Forestry and AK NPS Fire Management presented
the first community FIREWISE workshop to 13 Slana residents.
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Yellowstone
National Park |
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Hazard Fuels Treated Around Historic Ranger Station
Yellowstone National Park achieved a significant fire management goal with the completion of the Bechler Ranger Station hazardous fuels treatment project during Fall 2005.
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Yosemite
National Park |
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Striving
for Solutions at Yosemite West
Residents of Yosemite West are working to become a FireSafe
community including following fire clearance guidelines
around their homes. Yosemite National Park has started
mechanical thinning and prescribed burning projects
on their boundary with Yosemite West to create a shaded
fuel break and to reduce woody debris that would contribute
to a wildland fire.
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Miles
of Piles: Roadside Thinning Piques Curiosity
In June 2003, Yosemite fire
managers began a project to remove the dangerous build-up
of brush and dead or downed trees along the Big Oak
Flat Road corridor (Highway 120 inside the park). This
project continues into 2005 and now includes the Wawona
Road (Highway 41 inside the park). To park fire managers,
the “miles of piles” is a successful hazard
fuel reduction project.
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Yukon-Charley
Rivers National Preserve |
|
Wildland
Fire Use at Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve
in 2004
683 fires burned 6.5 million acres during the 2004 Alaskan
fire season and in so doing, defined the season as the
largest since fire reporting began in the 1950’s.460
wildland fires ignited in areas designated for initial
attack and only 14 escaped initial attack efforts.
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Zion National
Park |
|
Zion
Receives Intermountain Fire Management Award
The Fire and Aviation Management Program at Zion National
Park received the 2004 Intermountain Award for Excellence
in a Complex Fire Management Program at the 2005 Intermountain
Fire Management Conference held in Albuquerque, New
Mexico during the last week of January.
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Zion
Staff Participates in Hazard Fuel Clean-Up Day
Employees of Zion National Park
recently participated in a highly successful hazard
fuels clean-up day in Zion Canyon in preparation for
the 2005 fire season.
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Volunteer
Group Participates in Hazard Fuel Clean-Up
Even though the weather was
rainy, it certainly didn’t dampen the spirits
of a volunteer group (VIPs) that recently helped Zion
National Park’s Fire Management staff reduce some
of the hazardous fuels in the park.
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Director
Mainella Attends Zion NP Morning Fire Briefing
During a June 30, 2005 visit
to Zion National Park, National Park Service Director
Fran Mainella took time out from her schedule to attend
the morning fire management briefing. After the briefing,
Director Mainella was given a quick overview of Zion’s
Fire Management program and some of the issues faced
by the park, such as the abundance of exotic vegetation
that is now causing major fire concerns throughout the
area.
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Non-Native
Plant Control Research in Zion Canyon
An innovative fire and resource
management project has recently been initiated in Zion
National Park. Zion Resource Management and Fire Management,
through a partnership
with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center and
Lake Mead National Recreation Area Exotic Plant Management
Team, have been funded by the Interagency Joint Fire
Science Program to study ways to reduce non-native plants
in Zion Canyon.
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