Conservation crews help fire management over the finish line in Crater Lake National Park

Hand piles ready for burning in the Mazama Defensible Space Fuels project.

NPS/E WALDRON

A 10-person Student Conservation Association (SCA) fuels crew helped make a significant impact on the historic Mazama Village area of Crater Lake National Park (CRLA) during a four-week assignment at the park. The crew spent 16 weeks in various western national parks, including four with Crater Lake Fire and Aviation Management. The SCA crew doubled CRLA’s fuels crew workforce, greatly expanding their reach and capability. Before they arrived, the park had 29 acres of cut dead and downed wood (fuels) on the ground that needed to be piled to lessen the chance of a severe wildfire and create a defensible space around the park’s famous Cabins at Mazama Village. Piles were built from the dead and downed wood on all 29 acres by the end of the four weeks.

Defensible space created by the Mazama Cabins. Hand piles ready to burn from thinning project.

NPS/E WALDRON

Along with staff from CRLA Fire and Aviation Management, Youth Conservation Corps women's fire crew, and support from several other national park units, the SCA fuels crew made quick work of this challenge and prepared the area for pile burning in fall and winter 2022. The ability to contain and put out a wildfire in this area would be much harder without the completion of this project. Not only would the downed woody material make fighting the fire harder, but the area would be less safe for firefighters. Visitors to the park will appreciate the work of these fire crews around the Cabins at Mazama Village and along Highway 62 for years to come.