FIRE! The word brings to mind wildlife fleeing can towns. The public demanded that all fires flames, a house ablaze, or a barren, charred be suppressed. Yet, despite the best of efforts American Indians landscape. Or we might recall the pleasure and the latest technology, fires cannot always used fire to clear of watching logs burning in a fireplace or a be stopped, and scientists now know it is not forests, create roaring campfire. Over time humans have always beneficial to stop them. To suppress viewed fire as both friend and foe. Ancient all fire does not preserve natural landscapes; desirable habitats Greeks, American Indians, and farmers gener­ it changes them unnaturally. for game animals, ally considered fire a friend and partner. The and recycle nutri- Greeks respected fire as a gift from the gods. Today, government policies reflect both a com­ ents into the soil American Indians used fire to clear forests for mitment to public safety and the understanding to improve crops. easier travel, to elude or fight enemies, and to that fire must be returned to its natural role in create habitat attractive to wildlife. European protected natural areas. Park managers still immigrants cleared land with fire. Today farm­ suppress fires that threaten lives and property. ers use fire to replenish nutrients in the soil to Now they also ignite fires to recreate or restore benefit their crops. a healthy natural environment. Managing fire supports the National Park Service's mission Fire was seen as an enemy around 1900 when to preserve the scenery and wildlife of parks , often associated with poor land man­ unimpaired for future generations. agement practices, destroyed several Ameri-

11:ustration by Antorna Hednck

Fire is the combination of heat, oxygen, Life After Fire The diversity of plant and other birds of prey hunt along the What Happens to Wildlife in a Fire? animals escape to ponds or streams, fuel, and an ignition source. Fuels in­ and animal life you enjoy in national edges of burned areas and find cover Wild animals deal with fire remarkably and rodents return to their burrows. clude grasses, needles, leaves, brush, parks partly results from fire. What in unburned areas. Deer feed on nutri­ well. Birds fly out of the fire area, large Usually few animals are killed by fire. and trees. Natural ignition sources may look at first like devastation soon tious, succulent new shoots of grasses animals leave immediate danger, some include lightning and volcanoes. becomes a panorama of new life. Fire and shrubs that appear after fire. Fires also can be started by initiates critical natural processes by Natural processes pro­ human carelessness and arson. breaking down organic matter into _Some plants cannot reproduce without vide nutrients for plants IUStratlOn ey Bob Tope through fire. Fire releas­ soil nutrients. Soil, rejuvenated with fire. Cones of jack and lodgepole pines es minerals stored in Where and how quickly a fire moves as logs, may take hours or even days nitrogen from ash, provides a fertile in northern U.S. forests are sealed with forest litter and dead trees. Rain m oves min­ depends on the terrain, weather, and to burn completely. seedbed for plants. With less com­ pitch. Fire must melt the pitch to re­ erals back into the soil. type of fuel. Hillside fires preheat petition and more sunlight, seedlings lease the seeds. Fire breaks open the grasses and shrubs on slopes above, While windswept flames can leap into grow quickly. outside coating of mountain lilac seeds so a fire may burn 16 times faster up­ the crowns of trees and burn entire and stimulates germination in southern hill than on flat ground. Like sheets trees in seconds, many fires merely By burning intensely in some areas California chaparral. Without fire, seeds of paper, grasses burn quickly-up to creep along the ground slowly burn­ and cooler in others , fire can create can lie dormant in the soil for decades. several miles per hour under extreme ing brush and forest litter. a puzzle-like mosaic of d iverse habi­ Aspen, birch, and willow sprout from conditions. Thick and large fuels, such tats for plants and animals. Hawks their roots after a fire. llus:ration by Bob Tope

Alaska The National Park Service protects a Denali National Yellowstone Park & Preserve National Park Appalachian Potential variety of ecosystems. This map high­ mixed forest Natural Vegetation lights a selection of vegetation types Boreal forest Con ifers and Broad/eat Forest and representative park sites. Spruce, pine, and deciduous trees fir dominate north­ mingle in shifting Needleleaf Forest Santa M ornca M ountains ratios as deter­ Mixed Forest ern areas to iree National Recreation Area -Grand Canyon mined by climate line. Large, in:erise National Park and a mosaic of Forest & Grass/anon~ fires recur e\ ery ' - Island ~ umberl and rare fires. Grassland 25 to 150 years. Chaparral National Seashore Mixed shrubs and - Grassland & Shrub1b ~- ~-:c-~--:-=;-;-":__--'-';-'--~~~~~~~~~~--.=">.--:-:-:-~~~~~~::.....:.=-~--+-nf"l...tt.~H>tnd·~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hawaii low trees grow in onderosa pine Big Cypress Shrub dense masses. Ex­ Spacious forests National Preserve loblolly pines plosive fires scour of trees hundreds Lodgepole pine Tallgrass prairie Wetlands Southern pines of years old. Fre­ Dominant tree in Surviving flames grass needs grow in grassy Text 1n this section adapted w th the hillsides bare permission from National Geographic quent fires (5 to 25 the park, this pine better than invasive fire to kill competing park-like stands. Maps' The gift of fire. every 12 to 50 Mild surface fires years. years) clear ground grows in dense brush, the grass is vegetation. Small but seldom kill large stands. Sections renewed by frequent patches burn to the clear debris every waterline every 1 to 3 to 5 years. trees. burn wholly every large fires that can Boreal forest 25 years. 200 to 400 years. out-run a horse.

Maria Mina Fire crews (above) extinguish unwanted fires and manage prescribed fi s. Managing Wildland Fire often use a (right), a that is part ax and part .

Wildland fire has great potential to change park landscapes damage natural and cultural resources, and be expensive-and more often than volcanoes, earthquakes, or even floods. Such dangerous-to fight. forces of change are completely natural. Many plants and ani­ mals cannot survive without the cycles of fire or flooding to National Park Service policy stresses managing fire, not simply which they are adapted. If all fire is suppressed, fuel builds up suppressing it. This means planning for the inevitable and pro­ and makes bigger fires inevitable. Under certain conditions, moting the use of fire as a land management tool. The goal is to large, hot fires can threaten public safety, devastate property, restore fire's role as a dynamic and necessary natural process.

Prescribed Fire How Do Parks Prepare For Fires?

Prescribed fire is one of the growth. Fuel Planning for the Inevitable In each aircraft, and fire engines, forecasting most important used buildups some­ park with the potential for fire, land weather, or analyzing fire behavior. to manage fire today. A sci­ times must be managers develop a fire management entific prescription for the cut and removed plan. This planning involves the public Tools Firefighters use fire, prepared in advance, by hand. By burn­ and other agencies and weighs public tools ranging from to heli­ describes its objectives, ing away accumu­ safety needs with natural and cultural copters and airplanes th at drop chemi­ fuels, size, and the precise lated fuels and resource concerns. All decisions about cal fire retardants or water. With shov­ environmental conditions protecting speci­ fires will be based on the plan, whether els firefighters extinguish flames by under which it will burn. If fic sites, planned the response is to suppress or to allow mixing dirt with burning material or it moves outside the prede­ fires make land­ fire to play its natural role. scraping the ground free of fuels. termined area, the fire may scapes safer for The Pulaski, named for a famous be suppressed. The fire future natural fires. Because fires may cross national park , is used as an ax or a hoe may be designed to create boundaries, park managers work with to cut and remove fuels. Other equip­ a mosaic of diverse habitats Prescribed fire private individuals and federal, state, ment includes flame-retardant cloth­ for plants and animals, to also can be the local, and tribal agencies in developing ing, water pumps, , and help an endangered species most cost-effec­ fire policy goals. No single agency has two-way radios. tive way to main­ recover, or to reduce fuels the human resources or equipment to Brian Hatris and thereby prevent a de­ A firefighter uses a driptorch, a can tain such historic manage fire alone. Shared planning Managers predict fire behavior using structive fire. filled with diesel fuel and gasoline, to scenes as the and staffing are essential. computer models that are based on ignite a prescribed fire. open grasslands research of how fuels, weather, and Specific buildings, cultural resources, of the Revolutionary War era at Sara­ Firefighters Before their first assign­ topography affect fires. Models help critical natural resources, and habitat toga National Historical Park in New ment, wildland firefighters must meet estimate how fast and far a fi re may can be protected by burning key areas York, oak-prairie savanna of the Civil rigorous physical requirements and travel and how big it might become in advance, thereby removing fuels War era at Wilson's Creek National complete extensive training emphasiz­ under different conditions. from the path of a future unwanted Battlefield in Missouri. and vistas of ing safety. Qualifications also are based fire. Grasses, needles, leaves, brush, the Nez Perce War of 1877 at Big on field experience. Many firefighters and fallen trees can build up and burn Hole National Ba lefielo 1n Montana. receive specialized training and experi­ so intensely that the fire may destroy ence in the management of firefighting Helicopter dropp ng the seeds in the soil and hinder new operations, such as coordinating crews, . What Happens if all Fires Are Suppressed?

Smoke from fires near cities or subdivi­ Less than two percent of fires now Research Scientists have studied the concentrations of sagebrush at critical subtle ecological changes can be mea­ to minimize the effects of smoke on the sions is seen readily, but how are fires escape initial suppression and demand effects of fire in national parks since growth stages. sured. At Saguaro National Park in Ari­ public. The National Park Service works detected in isolated areas? Many parks more control efforts. Specially trained the early 1950s. Research continues zona, monitors learned that prescribed closely with state and local air-quality once hired people to watch for fires interagency teams direct suppression in several parks, including Everglades Research in Yosemite ational Park fires can enhance the habitat of the en­ agencies to reduce such impacts. from lookout towers in remote areas. efforts on large fires. Personnel and National Park in Florida, Dinosaur showed that white fir trees act as dangered Mexican spotted owl. Sometimes prescribed fires prevent Today air patrols have replaced most equipment from federal, state, local National Monument in Colorado, and that fire can climb to the larger fires later that would produce towers. Park visitors, neighbors, and and tribal agencies can be mobilized Yosemite National Park in California. crowns of giant sequoia trees. Nat­ Rehabilitation of Burned Areas significantly more smoke. private or commercial aircraft also quickly and efficiently li ke a military urally-occurring ground fires former­ Wildland fire and firefighting activities report fires. operation. Fire bases resembling Valuable lessons have been ly killed many white fir trees. This sometimes cause damage requiring small cities may be established to learned. Scientists found natural process is now replicated rehabilitation. After a fire at Point Reyes Be Careful With Fire It is still impor­ Once a fire is detected, park managers provide 2,000 to 3,000 firefighters that 33 native plant by prescribed fires that protect the National Seashore in California, steep tant for you to be careful with fire in promptly decide on a strategy based with show rs, meals, and medical ,. ..,. species in the Ever- giant sequoia groves. areas were mulched to reduce erosion, national parks and other natural areas. on the fire management plan and on facilities. -:.:' glades depend on fire and non-native plants were surveyed Fires caused by carelessness or arson current weather conditions. They ag­ for long-term survival. Monitoring Fire's Effects The and removed. At Mesa Verde National can have tragic consequences for the gressively extinguish fires that threaten Restoration research National Park Service requires that Park in Colorado, archeological sites public, firefighters, wi ldlife, forests, lives, property, or critical natural and at Dinosaur National fire's long-term effects on plants be were mapped and stabilized after a fire. streams, and air quality. Please be cultural resources. Monument increased monitored in all prescribed fire pro­ careful with campfires, matches, ciga­ Visit a recently burned site native grasslands grams. Technicians carefully compare Smoke Impacts Large, unplanned rettes, and vehicle exhaust systems. in the springtime to see with the prescribed vegetation growing before and after fi res can produce a lot of smoke, but beautiful displays of wild­ flowers such as lupim burning of unnatural a prescribed fire in study plots where prescribed fires are carefully planned

Leam About Fire in the National The National Park Service When you visit a national park, ask For more information: Contact a manages fire in national a ranger if you could do one or more national park fire or resource man­ of the following: agement office. You may also visit parks to protect human the following world wide web sites: lives, personal property, • Attend a ranger-led fire ecology hike and irreplaceable natural National Park Service and cultural resources. • Explore a self-guided fire ecology Fire Management Program Center: trail if one is available Using fire management http://www.nps.gov/fire/ techniques described in • Take a wildflower walk or view The threat of unwanted fire must be this brochure, the National wildlife in a recently burned area taken seriously. Homeowners can Park Service balances the take steps to mitigate the danger. preservation of America's + See a prescribed fire in progress Firewise Home Page: http://www.firewise.org/ natural and cultural heritage from a safe distance with concerns for public • Read other materials about local To learn more about your national health and safety. fire ecology parks visit the National Park Service Home Page: http://www.nps.gov/