Yosemite Fire Management Plan

Fire season in Yosemite National Park is well underway as park staff complete the Yosemite Fire Management Plan and its Final Environmental Impact Statement. Over 200 public comments were received on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Those comments have been analyzed and are helping to shape the development of the final plan, which is expected to be released in fall 2003.

Some of the changes between the draft and final documents for the preferred alternative come as a result of public comment, including the following:

• A reduction in the number of wildland urban interface areas (developed areas in the park).

• A reduction in the maximum diameter for the mechanical thinning of trees.

• A limit placed on thinning for forest restoration within the wildland urban interface areas. Any thinning proposed outside of wildland urban interface areas will be subject to a separate public review process, in keeping with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Once a Record of Decision is signed, the Yosemite Fire Management Plan will be implemented. This document, like all fire management plans in the National Park Service, must be completed by December of 2004.

View fact sheets >>
View Draft EIS >>
Request hard copy of Final EIS >>

Also in this newsletter:

• Superintendent's Message

• Measures For Success: Protecting the Park During Construction

• Construction Schedule

• Progress at Lower Yosemite Fall

• Actions On the Ground in Yosemite Valley

• Actions On the Ground
  Outside Yosemite Valley

• Yosemite Fire Management Plan

• Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Open Houses

• Stay Involved!