Blog Archive

A robust collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies in Idaho is working toward shared conservation stewardship of sagebrush habitat on 1.67 million acres. This project is not only creating a more resilient landscape, promoting plant diversity, and benefiting species like sage-grouse, it is also reducing the risk of severe wildfires. And the work is accelerating with additional funding provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Over the past decade, the Interior Department has invested more than $2 billion to implement fuel treatments that reduce the risk to communities and ecosystems from wildfires before they start and to conduct post-fire rehabilitation to set landscapes back on the path to recovery. Moving forward, we will significantly expand these activities while the work of our partners to restore healthy fire regimes strengthens and extends these mitigation efforts across boundaries.

In May, we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Known for their lush, tropical, humid climate, the Hawaiian Islands typically do not conjure images of wildfires, but wildfires do occur on the islands. After the 2019 Central Maui Fire burned 10,000 acres, including a portion of the Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service has been helping the area recover and establish a drought- and fire-resistant corridor.

As we recognize National Air Quality Awareness Week, we explore why some populations are at greater risk than others from wildfire smoke emissions and how federal agencies are striving to close that gap.

As we recognize National Air Quality Awareness Week, we explore how increasing wildfires are producing a record amount of smoke emissions, impacting the health of people across the country.

Restoring healthy fire to long-unburned forests is a complex process. When trees began to die after prescribed fires in Florida, research funded by the Joint Fire Science Program identified the cause, and the Southern Fire Exchange Network helped local land managers act on the findings to restore healthy ecosystems.

March is Women’s History Month. This year, we’re highlighting some of the trailblazing women that are improving wildland fire management. Meet the national fire planner for the National Park Service, Melissa Forder. 

March is Women’s History Month. This year, we’re highlighting some of the trailblazing women that are improving wildland fire management. Meet the chief of staff for Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire, Cynthia Moses-Nedd. 

March is Women’s History Month. This year, we’re highlighting some of the trailblazing women that are improving wildland fire management. Meet the division chief for fire planning and fuels management at the Bureau of Land Management, Jolie Pollet. 

Partnerships will be key to addressing the new norm of more frequent, severe wildfires and implementing the historic new funding for federal wildland fire management provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A partnership in California showcases how two agencies can collaborate to more effectively respond to wildfires on both state- and federally-managed lands. This third installment explores the importance of that partnership around national wildlife refuges in Merced County.