How We Manage Wildland Fire

Wildland fire is any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildlands, including unplanned human-caused fires, naturally caused fires, or prescribed fires (i.e., planned ignitions).vMost of the vegetation on the Carson National Forest is adapted to recurrent wildland fires started by lightning from spring and summer thunderstorms. Frequent low- to moderate-intensity fires play a vital role in maintaining the health of many fire-adapted ecosystems (supporting and regulating ecosystem services). Fire—both planned and unplanned—is a tool for restoring these fire-adapted ecosystems, if properly managed. When appropriate weather and fuel conditions exist, the use of wildland fire is a cost-effective tool for reducing the likelihood of uncharacteristic wildland fire and restoring ecosystem function..

The risk of uncharacteristic wildland fire can be reduced when fires occur within a vegetation type’s historic fire regime. Vegetation structures that are more consistent with desired conditions support ecosystems that are resilient to fire disturbance. In addition to fire treatments, management activities, such as thinning and tree harvesting, may be needed to reduce tree density and canopy cover and support the natural fire regime. Strategic placement and design of fuels treatments are key to efficiently minimizing the impact from fire on values to be protected, because these activities are costly and there is limited capacity to accomplish them.

The wildland-urban interface is the area or zone where structures and other human development meet and intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetation fuels. Generally, the wildland-urban interface is a buffer of at least 0.5 mile around communities, private lands, or other infrastructure, though it may vary based on topography, fuels, and values at risk. This plan does not define wildland-urban interface boundaries. It may be most helpful to think of the wildland-urban interface not as a place, but rather as a set of conditions that can exist in and around nearly every community and surround other infrastructure. These conditions are defined by the amount, type, and distribution of vegetation; the flammability of the structures (homes, businesses, outbuildings, decks, fences) in the area and their proximity to fire-prone vegetation and other combustible structures; weather patterns and general climate conditions; topography, hydrology, average lot size, road construction, and more. 

Desired conditions make up the aspirational vision that guides actions taken on the ground. 

1. Wildland fires burn within the range of severity and frequency of historic fire regimes for the affected vegetation communities. High-severity fires rarely occur where they were not historically part of the fire regime.
2. Naturally ignited and planned wildland fires protect, maintain, and enhance resources and move ecosystems toward desired conditions. Fire functions in its natural ecological role on a landscape scale and across administrative boundaries, under conditions where safety and values at risk can be protected. In frequent fire systems, regular fire mitigates high-severity disturbances and protects social, economic, and ecological values at risk.
3. Planned and natural ignitions predominate. Unplanned human-caused ignitions are rare.
4. Wildland fires do not result in the loss of life, investments, infrastructure, property, or cultural resources, or create irreparable harm to ecological resources.
5. Wildland fires in the wildland-urban interface are predominantly low to moderate intensity. Residents living within and adjacent to the national forest are knowledgeable about wildfire protection of their homes and property, including providing for defensible space.
6. Wildland fire is understood, both internally and by the public, as a necessary disturbance process integral to the function and sustainability of ecosystems. 

Standards are technical constraints that must be followed when an action is being taken to make progress toward desired conditions. 

1. Human safety must be the highest priority in all fire response actions.
2. The response to wildfire must be spatially and temporally dynamic based on a risk management approach, while accomplishing integrated resource objectives.
3. Managers must use a decision support process to guide and document wildfire management decisions. The process will provide situational assessment, analyze hazards and risk, define implementation actions, and document decisions and rationale for those decisions.
4. When determining the appropriate response to a wildfire, the agency administrator must consider firefighter exposure, risk, values, cost, and likelihood of success before trying to limit the size of wildfires.
5. Unplanned, human-caused fires must be managed using a suppression strategy and appropriate management responses to protect life, firefighter and public safety, investments, infrastructure, and valuable resources (e.g., cultural resources, wildland-urban interface).
6. Aerial application of retardant in live water, wetlands, and riparian areas must be avoided unless necessary to protect human safety or prevent property loss.
7. Planned ignitions in wildernesses must not be justified because they improve wildlife habitat, maintain vegetation types, improve forage production, or enhance other resource values— although these additional effects may result.

Guidelines are required technical design critieria or constraints on project and activity desicion-making that help make progress toward desired conditions.

1. To restore fire on the landscape and progress toward ecological desired conditions (as described for various resources throughout the plan), naturally ignited fires (including those occurring in designated areas) should be allowed to perform their natural ecological role to meet multiple resource objectives.
2. Response to unplanned ignitions that cross jurisdictional boundaries should be coordinated and managed to meet the jurisdictional agency’s objectives.
3. Measures should be taken to prevent entrapment of fish and aquatic organisms and the spread of pathogens (e.g., chytrid fungus, Didymo, and whirling disease) when drafting (withdrawing) water from streams or other waterbodies for fire suppression activities.
4. Measures should be taken to prevent the spread of invasive plant species by equipment, personnel, or rehabilitation operations.
5. Minimum-impact suppression techniques should be used in designated areas and when impacts to sensitive resources (including wilderness and known rare or sensitive plants) could result during fire suppression activities.
6. The wildland-urban interface should be spatially delineated for projects that manage toward wildland-urban interface-specific desired conditions, to identify where those desired condition are applicable.
7. Fire management activities should protect cultural resources, with priority given to known sites where eligibility is unevaluated and to historic properties.
8. Fire management activities should be conducted in a manner that avoids compromising the persistence of at-risk species.
9. Post-fire restoration and recovery should be provided where critical resource concerns merit rehabilitation for controlling the spread of invasive species, protecting areas of cultural concern, protecting critical or endangered species habitat, or protecting other highly valued resources. 

Management approaches are..

1. Consider managing naturally ignited fires to meet multiple resource objectives concurrently (i.e., protection and resource enhancement), which can change as the fire spreads across the landscape. Incident objectives and corresponding courses of action are based on interdisciplinary assessment of anticipated fire effects to site-specific values.
2. In areas that are moderately to highly departed from desired conditions, consider accepting higher fire intensities and associated fire effects at the fine scale. Multiple small areas of high mortality may be preferable to a single large, high-severity event.
3. When planning and implementing fuels projects and all-hazard response, work collaboratively with Federal, State, local governments, and private landowners; consider promoting public safety and reducing the risk of wildfire on lands of other ownership by supporting the development and implementation of community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) or similar assessments and management plans to mitigate negative impacts of wildfire. CWPPs are also important tools for mitigation efforts such as wildfire preparedness, evacuation planning, and other mitigations that will aid in wildfire response.
4. Consider working with fire and project managers to develop practices and protocols to reduce unplanned human ignitions through information, education, and interpretive programs. Educate the public about their responsibility to help reduce human-caused wildfires by providing information in the form of signage, public contacts, and fire restrictions.
5. Consider planning and accomplishing fuels projects, planned ignitions, and all hazard response by working collaboratively with Federal, State, and local governments; local fire departments; and private landowners.
6. Consider using the best available science to prioritize treatments based on their benefit to ecological integrity or the ability to manage future fires to protect values at risk.
7. Consider assigning a wilderness resource advisor to all fires in wilderness that are not suppressed during initial attack.