Hazardous Fuels Reduction Management Program

The wildland urban interface (WUI) is the area where wildland fuels begin to interface with urbanized areas. Managing fuels within the WUI is prioritized because reducing these hazardous fuels increases public and firefighter safety, reduces the risk of unwanted wildfire to communities and helps protect important infrastructure such as radio towers, transportation networks, municipal watersheds and utilities.

While treating hazardous fuels within the WUI is a priority, a larger number of hazardous fuels projects take place outside the WUI. Restoring and maintaining healthy fire-adapted ecosystems keeps natural systems balanced and reduces the risks to cultural and historic places.

Prescribed fire is a tool used by natural resource managers to carefully apply fire under rigorous standards to restore natural landscapes and achieve resource management objectives.

Prescribed fire treatments must meet BIA Prescribed Fire policy and comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other environmental compliance requirements. Each treatment requires specific burn plans with measurable burn objectives that clearly define operational procedures for implementation, monitoring, and identifying contingency resources to use in case of unanticipated outcomes such as an escaped prescribed fire scenario.

Prescribed burning is a tool managers may use as a singular event, or in combination with other mechanical treatments to reduce vegetation buildup. In fire-adapted systems, fire should be present on a recurring cycle that is consistent with the natural fire regime to sustain ecosystem functionality and resilience to disturbances.

Mechanical treatments are often used in areas where fire has been excluded for long periods of time, around communities where prescribed fire or smoke management may have negative consequences or in areas that invasive species have rendered unsuitable for other types of treatments. Mechanical treatments may include thinning, regeneration cuts, pruning, mastication, and chipping in addition to other fuel manipulations. Biomass from mechanical treatments varies widely depending upon site vegetation and treatment objectives.