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Smokejumpers hold a U.S. flag before departing for a Canada wildfire assignment.

Director’s Report: Heading into the 2023 Fire Year

06/27/2023

As the 2023 fire year progresses, wildland fire workforce transformation continues to be a top priority, including wildland firefighter careers, pay, and wellbeing. Interior is also supporting Canada with our USDA Forest Service partner during one of Canada’s most extreme fire years in recent history.

Pili grass planted at the base of the temple.

Post Wildfire Restoration at Pu’ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site

05/26/2023

As we celebrate Asian America, Native Hawai’ian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we explore how the National Park Service worked with Hawai’ian partners to restore the Pu’ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site after a wildfire in 2020.
 

Wildland firefighters with drip torches.

The Future of Wildland Fire Management: Investing in Our Workforce

05/16/2023

The Interior and Agriculture departments are investing in the wildland fire workforce as more intense fire years tax the people working to save lives, communities, infrastructure, and natural resources. 

Saydee Marie Fujioka is shown wearing wildland firefighter gear, holding a drip torch used to carefully implement fire on a prescribed burn.

Investing in the Future: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildland Fire Apprenticeship Program

05/02/2023

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to invest in its workforce and build the future of wildland fire management through the Wildland Fire Apprenticeship Program, where potential wildland fire leaders and well-rounded fire practitioners are fostered through a mix of classroom education and on-the-job training. 

A patch of bright green corn lilies glow in the sunlight amid an otherwise barren forest floor and blackened trees stretching toward a blue sky. The lilies indicate the presence of shallow groundwater in a post-fire monitoring plot in the Mendocino Nation

A Research Project Aims to Improve Forest Resiliency to Future Wildfires

02/07/2023

A research project that recently received funding from the Joint Fire Science Program, with support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to help the Mendocino and Shasta Trinity national forests recover from extreme wildfires while developing forest conditions that will build resiliency to climate change, fires, and other disturbances.

A wildland firefighter with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helps private landowners adjacent to the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge set a prescribed fire to manage vegetation and reduce the risk of an extreme wildfire. He holds a drip to

Improving Wildfire Risk Reduction through Ecosystem Mapping

02/06/2023

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing an additional $20 million to the Joint Fire Science Program over five years to support wildland fire science. One proposal that received funding through the law will develop improved ecosystem maps to support strategic fire and fuel management planning at regional and landscape scales.

Two wildland firefighters from the Snake River Hotshots Crew stand on a small rise overlooking flames burning in tall, dried grass. Black smoke rises from the flames. The fire and smoke fade to the left, and snow-covered peaks are visible in the distance.

Director’s Report: A Historic Down Payment on the Future

01/30/2023

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a historic down payment on the future that will help overcome the worsening climate crisis and increasingly severe wildfires. Accelerating the pace and scale of the Interior Department’s wildland fire management activities is a priority in 2023.

A three-day fire behavior analysis for the 2022 Moose Fire in Idaho. The analysis was completed in the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) using LANDFIRE products. This fire behavior simulation helped with decisions by evaluating fire spread.

Welcome to LANDFIRE, Where Consistent Data has Improved Fire Modeling

01/23/2023

Predicting a wildfire’s movement is a complex task. Technology like the geospatial mapping program LANDFIRE makes the process more rapid and accurate.

Reclamation’s National Wildland Fire Management Program Coordinator Laura Harger (right) with the Regional Wildland Fire Management Program Coordinators John Hutchings and Kendra Fallon. They visited Whiskeytown Reservoir, a Reclamation reservoir within W

Addressing the Threat of Wildfires to Water Supplies: Meet Laura Harger

01/04/2023

As the National Wildland Fire Management Program Coordinator for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Laura Harger is developing the bureau’s program to address wildfires and the risks they pose to water supplies and hydropower production.

Members of a Yosemite helitack crew work around a helicopter in a grassy field. Trees border the field, with smoke rising from their midst. Mountains rise in the distance under a stormy sky. Photo by Yosemite National Park.

Director’s Report: Laying the Foundation for Significant New Investments in Wildfire Management through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

11/29/2022

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed one year ago, provides a once-in-a-generation investment to help tackle the climate crisis and improve the resiliency of our lands to wildfire. In 2022, it helped the Interior Department lay the foundation for significant additional investments in wildfire management.

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