Torchbearers for a new
fire management paradigm.

Congress Orders a
New Cohesive Wildfire Strategy

As part of the FY2010 Interior Appropriations Act, Congress ordered the U.S Forest Service and Interior land management agencies to develop a  “Cohesive  Strategy for Wildland Fire Management,” and deliver it to Congress by October 2010. 

The Strategy will focus on three key areas: Landscape Restoration, Fire-Adapted Communities, and Wildfire Response. Early hints are that the Strategy will take an “all-lands” approach (i.e. be inclusive of all federal and state lands, possibly private lands too), will take an “all communities” approach (i.e. include all communities across the entire U.S. at risk of wildfire), and will utilize the “best available science” (i.e. not only use the best field data and models for assessing fuel hazards and fire risks, but also—we hope—include the best fire ecology science). 

FUSEE participated in a stakeholder “Listening Forum” and submitted comments on the questions the Strategy is addressing. We will also be reviewing drafts of the Strategy when they become available.  We will be advocating that the Cohesive Strategy build upon the Obama Administration’s new “Guidance” for the Federal Wildland Fire Policy, and encourage more fire use for resource benefits in wildfire responses.

To keep abreast of the Cohesive Strategy, see our Current Issues section on Fire Policy Reform.