Yellowstone Fires of 1988 - Fire Management Since 1988

Fire Management Since 1988

As a result of research conducted after the fires, a new fire management plan for Yellowstone was implemented in 1992. The plan observed stricter guidelines for the management of natural fires, increased the staffing levels of fire monitors and related occupations, and allocated greater funding for fire management. By 2004, further amendments to the wildland fire management plan were added. According to the 2004 plan, natural wildfires are allowed to burn, so long as parameters regarding fire size, weather and potential danger were not exceeded. Those fires that do exceed the standards, as well as all human-caused fires, are to be suppressed. However, these changes are primarily updates of the 1972 fire management plan and continue to emphasize the role of fire in maintaining a natural ecosystem, but apply stricter guidelines and lower levels of tolerance.

Increased fire monitoring through ground based and aerial reconnaissance has been implemented to quickly determine how a particular fire will be managed. Fire monitors first determine if a fire is natural or human-caused. All human-caused fires are suppressed since they are unnatural, while natural fires are monitored. Fire monitors map the fire perimeter, record local weather, examine the types of fuels burning and the amount of fuel available. Additionally, they investigate the rate of spread, flame lengths, fuel moisture content and other characteristics of each fire. Monitors relay the information they gather to fire managers who then make determinations on future actions.

Land management employees remove dead and hazardous fuels from areas as prioritized by the Hazard Fuels Reduction Plan. This is to ensure fires have less opportunity to threaten lives, historical structures, and visitor facilities. As of 2007, fuel is reduced within 400 feet (120 m) of structures and other high-priority locations.

Foresters and ecologists argue that large controlled burns in Yellowstone prior to the fires would not have greatly reduced the area that was consumed in 1988. Controlled burns would quickly become uncontrolled if they were allowed to burn with the intensity that many tree and plant communities need for proper regeneration. Consequently, natural fires, rather than controlled burns, are the primary maintenance tool of the park. Since the late 1970s, some 300 natural fires have been allowed to burn themselves out. In rare circumstances, natural fires are supplemented by controlled burns that are deliberately started to remove dead timber under conditions which allow fire fighters an opportunity to carefully control where and how much wood fuel is consumed.

Greater cooperation between federal and state agencies on a national level has been coordinated through the National Interagency Fire Center. Though primarily a collaborative effort between federal agencies to develop a national level fire policy, the center also aides local and state governments in addressing their fire management issues. Universally accepted priorities include management directives which allow natural fires to burn unhindered under prescribed conditions. As in the 1988 fires, protection of lives and property continue to take precedence in all fire fighting efforts.

The most important lesson learned is that a number of ecosystems, including the one that contains Yellowstone, are specially adapted to large and intense wildfires. This was widely thought to be the case well before 1988, and the wildfires of that year drove the conclusion home. While large destructive fires are unacceptable in regions with extensive encroachment by communities, they are mandatory in a region such as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, if it is to be maintained in a natural manner.