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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 percent 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:
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The U.S. Fire Learning Network (USFLN) is accelerating ecosystem restoration on more than 56 million acres.
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The U.S. Fire Training Program offers a number of courses designed to help conservation practitioners, agency staff, and landowners use prescribed fire.
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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
- The USFLN has engaged 143 landscapes in 37 states working with more than 600 partner groups to overcome barriers to fire regime restoration.
- Since 2002, USFLN projects have raised over $15 million to support their landscape restoration activities, collectively treating more than 600,000 acres.
- From 2002–2009, we offered 74 courses and trained approximately 2,750 Conservancy staff and partners in ecological fire management concepts and techniques. Courses include fire effects, fire ecology and fire operations.
- As part of the Partners in Fire Education project we spearheaded an effort to conduct public opinion research on fire and develop a blueprint for a national campaign about fire’s natural role.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Chris Helzer (burned and grazed area, Nebraska); Photo © Mark Godfrey (seedling).
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