Fire-Management Policies and Programs

Susan J. Husari
U.S. Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Region
San Francisco, California

Kevin S. McKelvey
Redwood Sciences Laboratory
Pacific Southwest Research Station
Arcata, California

ABSTRACT: For most of this century the goal of fire management in the Sierra was to control fire. The policy was aggressively and successfully applied, substantially reducing annual acres burned. This goal was based on a fire policy that emphasized keeping wildland fires as small and inexpensive as possible. As the role of fire in maintaining Sierran ecosystems has been recognized, fire has been reintroduced through the application of planned prescribed fire and prescribed natural fire. Despite changes in fire-management policy that have allowed expanded use of fire, relatively few acres have been managed using fire in the Sierra Nevada. This chapter explores options for expanding the role for fire in the Sierra through more liberal application of current fire policy and through changes in existing fire policy. These recommendations are tempered by the knowledge that the number of available fire-fighting resources has been steadily declining since the mid-1970's and that social, economic, and biological factors are making all aspects of fire management more costly and difficult.

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