FIRE Management

1
FIRE (Management)!

• By
• Bradley Ellis
• Alexandra Mouche
• Patrick Noonan
• Joel Singley

2
History of Forest Fires in The United States
Fire as a tool

• Forest and rangeland fire was once a common land
  management tool. Native Americans as well as
  early settlers and prospectors used fire for
  various purposes. But as the country gradually
  filled with more settlers, and as forest
  resources became more precious, fire began to be
  viewed as more of a problem than a tool.

3
History of Politics

• Responsibility of Dept of Interior and U.S. Army
• 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt transferred
  responsibility for wildfire suppression to the
  U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of
  Forestry, which soon became the U.S. Forest
  Service, headed by his friend Gifford Pinchot.
• Watershed protection and timber supply a main
  concern

4
History of Acts and Policy

• 1911 - The Weeks Act
• 1924 - Clarke-McNary Act
• 1933 The New Deal
• 1935 - The 10 AM policy
• 1960 - Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act
• 1964 - Wilderness Act
• 1970 - National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• 1971 - 10 AM policy amended
• 1972 - Wilderness Prescribed Natural Fire Program
• 1978 -10 AM policy scrapped and eliminated
  emergency funding f
• 1979 - National Fire Management Analysis System
  (NFMAS)
• 1995 - Federal Wild land Fire Management Policy
• 2002 - National Fire Plan
• 2003 - Healthy Forest Restoration Act

5
Social landscape

• Perception and Government responsibility
• Current status
• Community movements
• Adoption of Community Wildfire Protection Plan
• Risk
• Serious Certain Soon
• Key Players in the social realm
• Constraints?
• Credibility and Capacity?
• The Limiting Factor?

6
Current Fire Policy

• The National Fire Plan
• Developed in 2000 following a landmark season
• Design with the intent of actively responding to
  severe wildland fires and their impacts to
  communities while ensuring sufficient
  firefighting capacity for the future
• Departure from historical management practices
• Increased understanding of ecology
• Feedback on the results of policy decisions
• Changing perceptions of fire

7
The National Fire Plan

• Primarily USDA Forest Service and Department of
  Interior
• Five Key Points
• Firefighting
• Rehabilitation
• Community Assistance
• Accountability
• Hazardous Fuels Reduction
• Implementation
• Provides technology, funding, guidance, and
  coordination
• National resources and personnel
• Multi-level involvement and responsibility
• Policy is proactive and reactive
• Intensive monitoring program

8
Healthy Forests Initiative

• Launched in August 2000
• Could cover about 20,000,000 acres
• To protect against unnaturally destructive fires
• Supposed to speed up hazardous fuels reduction
  and improve quality public lands (read reduced
  paperwork)
• Ten to fifteen page limit each EIS
• Increased exclusion guidelines
• Decentralized oversight
• Preemptive
• Encourages research and early public input

9
An Insiders Perspective

• Dan Smith
• National Fire Director for the National
  Association of State Foresters (NASF) and
  representative to the National Interagency Fire
  Center (NIFC)
• NASF
• Protection and management of private and state
  forests
• Cross sector coordination and representation
• Resource (education, policy, advocacy, etc)
• NIFC
• Improved Response through communication and
  resource sharing
• Daily monitoring and adaptation
• Federal resource management

10
An Insiders Perspective (cont.)

• Working within the National Fire Plan
• Responsibility and resource sharing
• Hierarchies of representation
• Current Problems and Contradictions
• Protection through budget cuts (58)
• Increasing wildland-urban interface demands on
  agencies
• Barriers to fuel mitigation (NEPA)
• Environmental quality continues to decline

11
From Scientists

• Provide an unbiased scientific analysis based on
  research and professional experience
• Investigate the methodologies, findings, and
  conclusions provided by researchers
• Provide a range of alternatives, convey risks and
  uncertainties, and recommendations to decision
  makers

12
To the Decision Makers

• Utilize the scientists information
• Many disciplines wildlife, soils, hydrology,
  silviculturists, fisheries, social scientists and
  economists
• Determine the trade-offs
• Make the decision

13
Bridging the Gap

• Effective partnerships occur when direct
  interaction takes place between people at
  multiple stages, adequate time is allowed for
  partnership building, partners are rewarded and
  held accountable for their roles, and when
  dedicated individuals are identified and
  cultivated.-Seth M. White

14
Interview with Silviculturist at Clearwater
National Forest

• Vegetation Restoration/Management, Silviculture
• Single largest obstacle facing fire management in
  the future is the wildland/urban interface and
  lack of funding to treat fuels in these areas
• Policies need to be flexible and adaptable.
  What was successful in the past may not be in the
  future. I think policies should not prescribe a
  "one size fits all approach" as ecosystems are
  varied across the nation. Adaptive and active
  management will maintain our ability to deal with
  uncertainty into the future -Beverly Yelczyn

15
San Diego 2007

• Of the major wildfires in October of 2007, the
  two largest were in San Diego
• Witch Creek burned North and Northeast of San
  Diego
• Harris burned northwest from the Mexico border
  towards San Diego
• Hundreds of thousands were subject to mixed
  responses, including mandatory and voluntary
  evacuation notices
• By October, more people had been evacutated in SD
  County than had been in Louisiana during
  Hurricane Katrina

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San Diego 2007

• After only two days, almost 500,000 people were
  evacuated from their homes under mandatory orders
• Many Businesses and all local schools and
  colleges closed down during the fire
• The mayor asked residents to stay in their homes
  to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles
• Many roads were closed due to impassability from
  smoke and fire

19
San Diego Response

• Government and volunteer agencies worked together
• FEMA organized the disbursement of relief
  supplies to victims
• Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT teams)
  got their first activation since inception of the
  program in 1987
• The Department of Defense mobilized the National
  Guard, Marines, and NAVY to assist in containing
  the fires
• Governor Schwarzenegger called upon the Blue
  Ribbon Task Force, generated after 2003 fires, to
  reassess policy needs for the prevention of
  future disasters

20
Legal Outlook

• The fires are increasing insurance and consulting
  business
• There seems to be little legal input into the
  fire policy after the Governators Blue Ribbon
  Task Force
• Fires have been profitable, in a sense, but they
  have also forced firms to close for days at a
  time when the fires are out of control