National Wildlife Refuge System – Fire Management Program
The Fire Management Program in Region 6 serves all refuges and hatcheries in the eight-state region. The program operates in an interagency manner, where local, state, and Federal agencies lend their support to neighboring agencies and departments to perform ongoing wildfire suppression and prescribed fire operations. The interagency operational structure also facilitates faster response times and more efficient expenditures.
To manage the program, the Region is divided into five different fire zones. Each zone is managed by a fire management officer, specialists, and technicians. All of the zone fire personnel move across refuge boundaries to support prioritized needs within the zone. They will temporarily move to adjacent zones as needed.
The fire program also plans and executes fire-related wildlife management projects to support wildlife habitat objectives and maintain more vigorous wildlife populations on the 138 refuges and hatcheries within the Mountain-Prairie Region. The fire staff is also supported by fire qualified refuge biologists, technicians, and support staff to enhance suppression capacity and add their expertise to using prescribed fire to meet refuge management goals and objectives.
This integrated approach allows fire personnel in the Mountain-Prairie Region to become more familiar with differing management objectives, along with the varying vegetation, topography, and fire behavior experienced across the central/northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.