#blmfire

RECAP OF MYPUBLICLANDS INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER BY BLM NIFC!

We wrapped up our My Public Lands Instagram Takeover last week with BLM NIFC who shared photos of the amazing work that our wildland firefighters do! We thank all the men and women who serve and support the American people by keeping our public lands healthy.

Here we share a recap of some of the photos from BLM NIFC. For more great ideas for exploring your public lands, follow BLM NIFC on Facebook and Twitter.

Unaweep crew member Joe Hill ignites a burn-out operation during the 2015 High Meadow Fire in Arizona to protect an important forest restoration study area. Photo by Jeff Frimel. 

Managing wildfires is an increasingly complex undertaking. When land managers are looking for an expert crew, they call on the Bureau of Land Management’s Unaweep Wildland Fire Module. This seven-person crew specializes in managing fire to benefit the land.

The Unaweep Module was formed in 2004 and is the only Wildland Fire Module in the BLM. It is based in the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit in Grand Junction, Colorado. Like a Hotshot crew, it’s a national resource that’s called to help on incidents throughout the country.

NIFC #mypubliclandsroadtrip goes behind-the-scenes with Marine Corps Veteran and BLM Firefighter

Tyler Samuelson served four years in the United States Marine Corps as an engineer. The 26-year old Nebraska native now has his eyes set on a career in wildland fire management, and he is gaining indispensable experience as a member of BLM’s Vegas Valley Handcrew, one of four 20-person BLM veteran’s hand crews. He has been on the Vegas Valley crew for two and a half years. What is your job with the BLM? I am a firefighter on the Vegas Valley Handcrew. We are based on the Southern Nevada District in Las Vegas. My precise role on the crew is a swamper. What skills transferred from military to firefighting? A lot of the skills transfer. Physical fitness is a big one, along with being comfort in dangerous conditions, and a strong work ethic in general. What do you like best about firefighting? Probably the camaraderie with all the other guys. It’s great to be working with a group of vets, because we have a lot in common.

How does firefighting stack up against work you’ve done in the past? Firefighting is very demanding compared to any regular job. It’s even demanding compared to garrison duty in the military.

What is a “swamper”? What kind of work does that entail? Mainly, I work with the sawyers to clear away the fuel they’ve cut. It’s an essential step in constructing fireline. I also help carry saw fuel and oil, and help dig fireline if we don’t have that much saw work to do. Are you interested in making wildland fire your career? Yeah, I’m interested in a fire career. Wildland fire challenges you, and makes you a better person. It’s a good career choice. We’ve done a few different things on fires [this season]. We set up some large hoselays in Alaska earlier in the summer, and helped called in birds (helicopters).

This past March, Chuck Russell, normally the Wyoming Wind River/ Bighorn Basin Fire Management Officer, was in Washington, DC on a budget detail when he was asked if he’d ever heard of Team Rubicon. Chuck knew that Team Rubicon (TR) was a Disaster Response Veterans Service Organization, but not much more. He certainly didn’t expect to become the BLM National Office Fire Veteran Coordinator in charge of a brand new BLM/ TR partnership that was being formed. Fast forward a couple months and Chuck was arranging classes, choosing a cadre of experienced trainers, and teaching military Veterans from across the United States how to fight wildfires on public land. We caught up with Chuck on Lopez Island, Washington, at the last of the five classes offered to TR members, on July 10-13, 2015.

During the class on Lopez, 30 TR members and 10 local firefighters from San Juan, Lopez, and Orcas Islands earned their Type II certification. Chuck told us his favorite part about the classes, and the partnership as a whole, was the engagement of the students. “They’re all just jazzed for the opportunity. We’re giving ourselves the opportunity to serve them while they serve on their public lands. It’s a great program.”

Forestry and Fuels: Working Together to Achieve a Common Objective

Understanding fire ecology, prevention and management… At the core of their professions, foresters and fuels specialists know that disturbance is a natural, needed and unavoidable part of every ecosystem on different scales. Foresters work to ensure resilient productive forests. Fuels specialists work to reduce the intensity of wildfires by reducing the amount of fuels in an area, and restoring more natural disturbance regimes. Many times our paths overlap. 

In the mountains of North Central Idaho overlooking the Little Salmon River near New Meadows, Idaho, BLM fuels specialists and foresters, with help from the local Forest Service and firefighters from Southern Idaho BLM Districts lit a 160 acre prescribed fire as part of the larger Bally Mountain Vegetation Management Project earlier this spring. The goal of this portion of the project was to reintroduce fire into a previously ponderosa pine dominated stand – a stand that has uncharacteristically not seen fire in nearly a century. The stand had become choked by Douglas-fir regeneration and insect and disease outbreaks are becoming more common. As is often the case in dense stands, fuels have accumulated on the ground to dangerous levels reducing the likelihood that a wildfire could be stopped if one should start nearby. Not a hundred yards away, the solution was to commercially thin or harvest timber through a timber sale to reduce stand densities. But here, due to slope, broken ground and other concerns, prescribed fire was selected as the tool of choice to improve forest health, and reduce fuel amounts.

Learn more about BLM-Idaho Fuels Treatment and Reduction at: http://on.doi.gov/1o9rg7o

Volunteers Get Dirty at Betty's Kitchen! 

The Bureau of Land Management Yuma Field Office (YFO) in Arizona hosted a volunteer event to help plant 4,000 trees in the Betty's Kitchen Watchable Wildlife Area (Betty's Kitchen) that was damaged by fire in the spring of 2011. 

Approximately 100 volunteers, including about 35 students from Arizona Western College and Northern Arizona University, planted one gallon mesquite trees into already drilled holes. Approximately 40,000 trees have been planted in the area by YFO staff and an Arizona State Forestry Fire Crew.

The May 2011 Laguna Fire destroyed 751 acres of valuable marsh and riparian habitat, while also destroying Betty's Kitchen. Since the fire, the native seed has been allowed to germinate, invasive species have been cleared and native species vegetation has been planted. 

Previous to the Laguna Fire, Betty's Kitchen was a lush, shady spot along the Lower Colorado River where visitors could bird watch, fish from the pier, picnic and take a stroll along the 0.5 mile interpretive trail. With its close proximity to Yuma, it was a favorite spot for locals and visitors to enjoy.