2005

Bandelier National Monument

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.

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area

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.

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area

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.

Bryce Canyon National Park

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.

Canaveral National Seashore

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.

Capulin Volcano National Monument

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.

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

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.

Catoctin Mountain Park

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

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.

Division of Fire and Aviation

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.

Everglades National Park

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).

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.

Fire Management Program Center

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.

Flagstaff Area Monuments (Wupatki, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater)

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.

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.

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.

Fort Frederica National Monument

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.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

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.

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.

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.

Golden Spike National Historic Site

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.

Grand Canyon National Park

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.

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.

Grand Teton National Park

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

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.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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.

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.

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.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

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.

Homestead National Monument of America

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.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

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.

Intermountain Region

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.

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

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.

Mammoth Cave National Park

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.

Natchez Trace Parkway

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.

New River Gorge National River

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.

Northeast Regional Office

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.

Point Reyes National Seashore

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.

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.

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.

Richmond National Battlefield Park

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.

Rocky Mountain National Park

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.

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.

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.

Russell Cave National Monument

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.

Salinas Pueblo National Monument

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).

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

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).

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.

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?

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.

Shenandoah National Park

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.

Southeast Region

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.

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.

Stones River National Battlefield

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.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

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.

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

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.

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.

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.

Wind Cave National Park

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.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

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.

Yellowstone National Park

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.

Yosemite National Park

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Annual Success Story Publications
Compilations of success stories for National Fire Plan.