Skip to main content
Author(s):
Tania L. Schoennagel, Cara R. Nelson, David M. Theobald, Gunnar C. Carnwath, Teresa B. Chapman
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire Policy & Law
Wildland Urban Interface
Fuel Treatments & Effects
Fuels

NRFSN number: 8225
FRAMES RCS number: 9290
Record updated:

Because of increasing concern about the effects of catastrophic wildland fires throughout the western United States, federal land managers have been engaged in efforts to restore historical fire behavior and mitigate wildfire risk. During the last 5 years (2004-2008), 44,000 fuels treatments were implemented across the western United States under the National Fire Plan (NFP). We assessed the extent to which these treatments were conducted in and near the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where they would have the greatest potential to reduce fire risk in neighboring homes and communities. Although federal policies stipulate that significant resources should be invested in the WUI, we found that only 3% of the area treated was within the WUI, and another 8% was in an additional 2.5-km buffer around the WUI, totaling 11%. Only 17% of this buffered WUI is under federal ownership, which significantly limits the ability of federal agencies to implement fire-risk reduction treatments near communities. Although treatments far from the WUI may have some fire mitigation benefits, our findings suggest that greater priority must be given to locating treatments in and near the WUI, rather than in more remote settings, to satisfy NFP goals of reducing fire risk to communities. However, this may require shifting management and policy emphasis from public to private lands.

Citation

Schoennagel, Tania; Nelson, Cara R.; Theobald, David M.; Carnwath, Gunnar C.; Chapman, Teresa B. 2009. Implementation of National Fire Plan fuel treatments near the wildland-urban interface in the western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106(26): 10706-10711.

Access this Document

Treesearch

publication access with no paywall

Check to see if this document is available for free in the USDA Forest Service Treesearch collection of publications. The collection includes peer reviewed publications in scientific journals, books, conference proceedings, and reports produced by Forest Service employees, as well as science synthesis publications and other products from Forest Service Research Stations.