Fire Management Plan Environmental Assessment

The National Park Service (NPS) is making available for public review and comment an environmental assessment for a fire management plan at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

In preparing a new fire management plan, the NPS seeks to adjust management direction from the previous plan by accommodating new national and NPS policies and new scientific information. The purpose of the proposed plan is to ensure the health and safety of the public, NPS staff, and firefighters; protect cultural and natural resources; use prescribed fire to maintain a healthy and sustainable ecosystem; and strengthen cooperative fire management partnerships. Two alternatives were analyzed for meeting the objectives of the plan:

Alternative A - No Action Alternative (Fire Suppression): Fire management actions would be conducted without a management plan in place. In lieu of a plan, the NPS mandates that all wildland fires be treated using a full suppression strategy and stipulates that fires cannot be used for resource management.

Alternative B – Fire Management with Fuels Reduction and Prescribed Fire: A new fire management plan for Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument would include options for manual fuel reduction to lower the risk of wildland fires, and prescribed fire as a resource management tool.

The NPS encourages your review and comment on the environmental assessment. The environmental assessment will be on public review for 30 days. Please submit written comments by September 07, 2012 online at the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website by visiting http://parkplanning.nps.gov/libi.

Commenters should be aware that their entire comment – including personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While commenters can ask that their personal identifying information be withheld from public review, the NPS cannot guarantee that this will be possible.

We appreciate your input on this project.

Document Content:

Fire Management Plan Environmental Assessment   (6.0 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.