Fire Resiliency
About the Amendment > Fire Resiliency
Healthy, thriving ecosystems are more resilient to disturbances such as extreme wildfires, invasive species, insect infestations, and effects of climate change. However, some forest ecosystems are currently out of balance, as fire, a necessary function for some ecosystem types, has been suppressed and excluded over the last century.
Removing fire as a natural process out of wildlands has left forests and grasslands unhealthy and crowded with flammable vegetation.
Changing climate conditions have exacerbated these conditions, resulting in longer fire seasons along with more severe droughts and insect infestations. Whole landscapes are now vulnerable to extreme wildfires, which can devastate watersheds, wildlife habitat, and neighboring communities.
Forest Service managers and scientists are working with partners to restore healthy, resilient, fire-adapted ecosystems by reducing dense vegetation that feeds extreme wildfires.
Thinning, prescribed fires, and managing naturally caused wildfires to achieve natural resource management objectives can help prevent extreme wildfires with minimal impacts to air quality while smoke from extreme wildfires may pose significant risks to public health and safety.
Amendment Theme: Fire Resiliency
Learn more about this work:
- Resilient Landscapes
- Confronting the Wildfire Crisis
- The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and Risk Analysis
- Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Report
- Potential Operational Delineations (PODs)
- Healthy Forests Initiative and Healthy Forests Restoration Act, Interim Field Guide
- 2023 Direction to Wildland Fire Leadership from the Forest Service Chief
Fire Resiliency- Frequently Asked Questions
The preliminary need to change document identifies the issues identified by the agency through public and tribal engagement, the Science Synthesis, Bioregional Assessment and new information described above, as well as issues identified by its partners and consideration by the Northwest Forest Plan Federal Advisory Committee. The preliminary need to change focuses on five interrelated topic areas, including the topic of improving fire resistance and resilience across the planning area.
Addressing wildfire threats is a top priority for the agency including the Northwest Forest Plan amendment. As the Notice of Intent states, a driving factor for this amendment is more direction to improve managers' ability to mitigate the risks of wildfire to natural resources, communities, and tribes. We are working to identify management guidance to better support the work the agency needs to do to address this growing threat.
Efforts to amend the Northwest Forest Plan include examining ways to better use the functional role fire plays in the forests within the Northwest Forest Plan area. This is especially true in fire-frequent forests (dry forests). We recognize decisions about prescribed fire and fire management are site specific. The Northwest Forest Plan amendment will not dictate site-specific decisions but provide a framework that makes it easier for local fire managers to make well-informed decisions about fire on the landscapes they manage.