Other Fire and Fuels Programs

Vermillion Cliffs--Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Utah



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Other Fire and Fuels Programs

Cultural Resources and Fire

Fire archaeology is an important facet of the fuels management, fire suppression, and post-fire rehabilitation programs for the MFD. Public lands managed by the BLM throughout southeastern Utah have an extremely high concentration of cultural sites, most of which have not been recorded. Cultural resources and the stories they tell can be damaged or destroyed by wildland fire or by fire management activities. Cultural and historical sites may be burned over during a wildland fire, and it is also not always possible to avoid sites during emergency-response fire suppression activities. For example, “context” (also known as “provenience”) is an artifact's precise horizontal and vertical position in time and space relating to things like soil, other artifacts, landmarks and geographical location. Context plays a large part in piecing together the story of the past, and can be lost due to a variety of fire-related activities. More...

Fire

Monitoring and Mapping

The monitoring program for the MFD includes sampling of established plots within areas treated for hazardous fuel removal as well as BLM lands that have received ES&R treatments. Collection and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data is ongoing and data is recorded and compiled for analysis. The results from these ongoing analyses are then incorporated into fuels management decisions. For example, monitoring results can influence treatment methods in an area susceptible to invasive species or may determine which seed species are most likely to flourish in a particular treatment area. The MFD has also been proactive in collaborating with other federal agencies and local partners to map all fire-affected areas as well as those lands that have been treated with planned fire and non-fire activities. GIS data and maps are now shared among partners to support a landscape-scale approach to hazardous fuels reduction, fire prevention in WUI areas and ESR activities.

Fuels Planning

For many years, the MFD has conducted hazardous fuels treatment projects, fuels reduction projects for other resource benefits, and post-fire rehabilitation projects. Projects are designed to accomplish a variety of resource objectives and may be proposed by the MFD as well as by other resource specialists. A few examples of projects could include improving the health of public lands through vegetative manipulation, protecting both public and private lands from wildland fire, enhancing wildlife habitat, and/or reducing the spread of invasive plant species. Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and in keeping with other federal regulations, it is the responsibility of the BLM prior to project implementation to determine if these projects will individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment. The process of this determination requires a carefully designed project submitted for peer review and discussion, collaboration with other agencies and private entities, the collection and review of extensive project-level data, the evaluation of that data by resource professionals, and a synthesis of scientific literature. Based on this site-specific, project-level analysis of environmental effects, if it is determined that the actions would not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment, the Field Office Manager issues a decision and the project is authorized to move forward. Information on fuels projects and ESR treatment projects that are planned or ongoing in the Moab Field Office can be found at Utah Fire Information. The Utah BLM NEPA bulletin board also contains current information regarding MFD projects.