Last updated: December 1, 2022
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Pile burning protects remote structure in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
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.
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.