Northeast Regional Strategy Committee

The Challenge

Property lines and jurisdictions seldom match-up with ecosystem boundaries or the topography and vegetation that effect wildland fire behavior. Communities have expanded into these tinderboxes. Drought and warmer temperatures plague much of the northeast. For these reasons and others, fire seasons are becoming increasingly complex. The Cohesive Strategy is a collaborative effort to manage growing wildland fire challenges across all lands regardless of ownership.

The Approach

In the northeast, to address changing wildland fire challenges, Federal, Tribal, state, local and private organizations have committed to a cohesive, strategic approach toward effective wildland fire for multiple objectives, mitigation and response.

The Goals

• Restoring and Maintaining Resilient Landscapes
  Recognition of the lack of ecosystem health within many of our forests and rangelands across the country and the need to address it.
• Creating Fire-Adapted Communities
  Acknowledging the need to develop options and opportunities to engage communities to help them become more resistant to wildfire threat.
• Effectively Responding to Wildfire
  A critical component to ensure all levels of government, local, state, tribal and federal, work together when wildfire occurs.

Supported by Science

The National Science and Analysis Team and Advisory Group is working to make a wealth of data available for planning and management of wildland fire, including information on biological, physical, habitat and human use in the region.

This whole-system approach will consider the full range of activities surrounding wildfire to understand how they impact each other to help inform and support decision making.