NPS Resource Advisors work with local land managers to save historic cemetery from 2023 wildfire

Resource Advisor Sarah Hayes uses FieldMaps to document a dozer line constructed to protect the city of Anderson from the Anderson Complex fires. A suppression repair plan outlined standards to restore the dozer line after risk to the community had passed.

Juan Carlos Jarquin, NPS

In August 2023, two National Park Service (NPS) Resource Advisors (READs) worked with a local crew to protect a historic cemetery in Nenana, Alaska from fire. Sarah Hayes, an NPS Resource Advisor who had worked on the 2022 Clear Fire in the same area, mentored Juan Carlos Jarquin, an NPS archeologist on his first official READ assignment.

When the 3,800-acre Shores Landing fire, part of the Anderson Complex, threatened the city of Nenana, the top priority was identifying and safeguarding structures and values at risk. One of the most critical values at risk was the Nenana cemetery on the southwest side of town, a historic area where many of those laid to rest were victims of the 1920 Spanish Flu pandemic.

Given its historic and sensitive nature, it was imperative to ensure its protection from wildfire and minimize potential suppression-induced impacts. Collaborating with the Toghotthele Alaska Native Village Corporation land manager, Nenana Fire Chief, and the Division Supervisor, the NPS READs advised against using heavy machinery like masticators or dozers, as the possible risk to unmarked graves and the cemetery's overall integrity was too great.

In collaboration with READs, a local crew created a fuel break near the Nenana Cemetery to protect the area from the Anderson Complex fires. This is a historic area where many of those laid to rest were victims of the Spanish Flu. The fuel break was done by hand to minimize impact.

Robbie Johnson (Great Basin Team 3)

Ultimately, the collective decision was to utilize a hand crew to carve out an approximately 50-foot shaded fuel break around the cemetery. If the fire's threat had escalated further, the fuel break would have been reinforced with a hose lay and sprinkler system. The consensus on this approach not only satisfied all stakeholders but provided fire managers and the local community with a trustworthy protection strategy. Creating the fuel break by hand helped balance maximized protection while minimizing the impact of the work, and in the end, the cemetery was unharmed by the fire.

In addition to working closely with fire crews during suppression activities, READs are often responsible for writing or providing input to a suppression repair plan and seeing that plan through. This entails restoring areas from the impacts of fire suppression activities, not the impacts of the fire itself. For the Anderson Complex, this included turning back dozer lines to cover mineral soil and encourage growth of native species, and repairing access roads to pre-fire condition.

Resource Advisor trainee Juan Carlos Jarquin surveying a shaded fuel break.

NPS

READs are a critical link between the fire management team and local stakeholders, and help ensure the effects of fire suppression aren’t long-lasting or more damaging than the fire itself. Juan Carlos Jarquin remarked about his experience working alongside fellow NPS READ Sarah Hayes to protect the cemetery, “Together, we efficiently managed the planning, monitoring, documentation, and advisory roles on suppression activities and subsequent repair…[and maintained] effective communication with stakeholders. This rapport strengthened our ties with the community, especially as representatives of our home unit, Denali National Park & Preserve. In doing so, we left a positive imprint, enhancing relationships with our agency partners.”

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