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Pile burning protects remote structure in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

A snow-covered log cabin with snow-covered trees and mountains behind it
Narvak Lake cabin. 

NPS/Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management 

The vastness of Alaska, combined with its limited road system, makes work to reduce excess vegetation, or fuels, logistically challenging. Those same qualities make it that much more important to park visitors and staff to protect the relatively few remote structures that exist from threats such as wildfire.


More than half of NPS structures in Alaska are farther than one mile from a road; in fact, for the more than 1,500 NPS structures in Alaska further than one mile from a road, the average distance to the nearest road is 32 miles! But these structures are crucial to those who visit remote parts of the state to recreate, subsistence hunt and fish, and work. Often, they provide the only shelter for miles, in conditions where shelter can be a matter of life or death. Difficulty accessing these structures makes them extra vulnerable in the event of wildfire and makes it important to conduct fuels treatments prior to any threats. Fuels treatments, including pile burning, greatly improve the ability to defend these structures in the event of a wildfire.

A ski plane sits on a frozen lake with mountains, and a setting sun in the background. 
Ski plane on Narvak Lake. 

NPS/Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management 

In the Interior of Alaska, as snow begins to blanket the ground in fall and winter, greater, and sometimes safer, opportunities exist to transport personnel and gear across the great state. In April 2022, NPS Eastern Area Fire Management staff, seeking to deconflict pile burn within a potential active fire season, took on the logistical challenge of conducting important fuels work at a remote cabin at Narvak Lake within Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR). It took a day to drive from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, then a full day of shuttling gear and personnel to the remote cabin at Narvak Lake, even using a ski plane for part of the journey!
Two men stand near boxes of gear and a tent on a frozen lake. 
Staff unload gear at Narvak Lake. 

NPS/Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management 

During the time staff spent at the lake, they camped out in temperatures that reached as low as -22°F. While there, they were able to burn piles which had been compiled during the summer, to create defensible space within one hundred feet of the cabin.
A man stands with a shovel in a snowy area with a partially dug pit. 
Digging out the burn pit. 

NPS/Alaska Eastern Area Fire Management 


Three burn pile plans for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, which included Narvak Lake, have allowed fire staff to accomplish a pile burn at each one within the last year. Treating these areas have increased survivability of these remote structures in the event of a wildfire, and the potential that they will continue to provide shelter for many future backcountry travelers.

Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve

Last updated: December 1, 2022