Response to National Fire Plan

The National Fire Plan was developed in response to the report to the President by the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior on the wildfires of 2000 (“Managing the Impact of Wildfires on Communities and the Environment” September 8, 2000).  Implementation of the National Fire Plan will ensure sufficient firefighting resources for the future, restore ecosystems damaged by the recent fires, rebuild community economies, and reduce future fire risk through fuel reduction efforts.  Forest Service Research and Development will take steps to address an increasingly complex set of problems in fire-adapted ecosystems and the urban wildland interface and to produce new knowledge and tools that will contribute to solving fire-related problems.  The Southern Research Station will undertake several studies designed to add to an already strong base of information about fire ecology, smoke management, fuel reduction treatments and tradeoffs, economic effects, fire protection programs, and fire severity prediction.  A new Research Work Unit – Human Influences on Southern Forest Ecosystems:  Research in the Wildland-Urban Interface -- is being established in Gainesville, FL that will include an emphasis on fire prevention, risk reduction, behavior, and management.

For Fiscal Year 2001, Congress appropriated $1.78 billion additional dollars for the National Fire Plan, (above the funds already appropriated for Wildland Fire Management) including $1.1 billion for the USDA Forest Service and $686 million for the Department of Interior.  

Southern Research Station proposals funded (total $4.3 million) under the National Fire Plan are:

RWU-4104; Athens, GA

Southern Regional Models to Predict Smoke Movement and Mitigate Impacts at the Wildland-Urban Interface. 

High-resolution Model Predictions for Fire Weather and Smoke Impacts:  the Southeastern Interagency Modeling Consortium.  

Long-Range Forecasting of Fire Season Severity.

Quantifying the Ecological and Economic Tradeoffs of Fire and Fire Surrogate Options – Piedmont and Southern Appalachian Mountains. 

Quantifying the Tradeoffs of Fire and Fuels Management Options – Longleaf and Slash Pine Ecosystems of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain. 

An Integrated System for Mechanical Reduction of Fuel Loads at the Wildland-Urban Interface in the South

Fire and Herbicide Combinations to Reduce the Threat of High Intensity/Severity Fires.

RWU-4851; RTP, NC 

Impacts of Wildfire on Local Economies. 

Quantifying Tradeoffs of Alternative Vegetation Management Strategies, Wildfire, and Suppression in Fire Prone Regions of the US. 

RWU-4852; Raleigh, NC 

Develop Methods for Assessing the Conditions of Fuels and Values at Risk at Various Scales of Analysis.   

RWU-4802; New Orleans, LA

The Development, Status, and Impact of Voluntary and Regulatory Fire Protection Programs in Wildlands Experiencing Residential Expansion.

New Research Work Units Being Proposed:

RWU-4XXX; Gainesville, FL

Enhancing Southern Wildland-Urban Interface Firefighting Capacity and Collaboration.

RWU-4XXX; Gainesville, FL

Fuel and Fire Risk Reduction Needs of Smaller Forested Landownerships in the Southern Wildland-Urban Interface.

Prior to the National Fire Plan, we received a grant from the Joint Fire Sciences Program to cooperate in the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study.  This national study will compare the effects of alternative fuel reduction treatments on numerous ecological and sociological variables in 11 ecosystems across the country.  SRS study sites are being established in a Piedmont pine-hardwood ecosystem on the Clemson University Experimental Forest and in a Florida flatwood ecosystem at Myakka River State Park.

Fire and Fire Surrogate Study - Southeastern Piedmont

Fire and Fire Surrogate Study in Myakka River State Park, Florida

For a list of Forest Service research online publications relating to FIRE, click here.

Intergovernmental National Fire Plan Web Site

Research and Development National NFP Summary

Forest Service Fire Information Link

Chief Bosworth's July 2001 Testimony to Congress on the Status
 of the National Fire Plan

Deputy Chief Lewis' July 2001 Testimony to Congress on the Role
of Science in the National Fire Plan

Customer Service Comment Card

USDA Forest Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider

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Page Editor:  Melissa Carlson