After nearly a century of excluding the vast majority of fires from the landscape, many communities in the United States are now at risk from a build-up of hazardous fuels. An estimated 80% of U.S. forests and rangelands are degraded as a result of altered fire dynamics.

The Nature Conservancy is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior to accelerate the pace of fuel treatments and ensure that ecological restoration goals are an integral component of the work.

The Fire, Landscapes and People project has three components:

• The U.S. Fire Learning Network is accelerating ecosystem restoration on more than 76 million acres.
• The U.S. Fire Training Program offers a number of courses designed to help conservation practitioners, agency staff, and landowners use prescribed fire.
• The U.S. Wildland Fire Education Program fosters interagency cooperation and communications in order to garner support for effective fire policies and actions.

Selected Accomplishments

• More than 1,600 people have been trained in ecological fire management, including representatives from land management agencies, non-governmental organizations, and local communities;
• Seventy-one U.S. Fire Learning Network projects have obtained over $7.6 million for fire restoration and have treated more than 319,000 acres;
• Ten regional networks have been launched, engaging dozens of multi-agency, community-based projects in a process that accelerates the restoration of fire-dependent landscapes; and
• Information about the ecological role of fire has been incorporated into the agencies' traditional fire prevention messages. The goal of this work is to increase the public’s understanding and acceptance of the presence of fire on our landscapes.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Chris Helzer (burned and grazed area, Nebraska); Photo © Mark Godfrey (seedling).