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Fire Management Plan

Olympic National Park » Fire Management Plan » Document List

This finding of no significant impact and the revised environmental assessment (EA) constitutes the record of the environmental impact analysis and decision-making process for the Olympic National Park fire management plan.

The initial EA was issued in September 2002, but due to substantive public comment, a revised EA was issued in April 2003. The selected alternative reflects the description of alternative 2 in the revised EA. Due to consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA), acreages identified under the selected alternative were slightly altered from those figures listed in the revised EA. These revised figures are included in an errata sheet and updated in the EA.

This fire management plan and EA is considered a programmatic document. Not all actions were analyzed with site specific information. Fire management activities not identified and analyzed in the programmatic EA will be subject to suitable environmental compliance later, as appropriate.

For the purposes of the fire management program the park will be divided into three fire management units (FMUs): the Exclusion Unit (managed under a suppression strategy), and the Conditional and Wildland Fire Use Units (where some fires will be managed for the benefit of the ecosystem). The Exclusion Unit totals approximately 320,845 acres (including a coastal unit and inland exclusion unit); the Conditional Unit totals approximately 70,041 acres, and the Wildland Fire Use Unit totals approximately 522,527 acres.

Fire management actions that will be used under the selected alternative include:
• Fire Suppression;
• Wildland Fire Use;
• Manual/ Mechanical Treatment; and
• Prescribed Fire/ Debris Burning.

Each of these actions will be applied differently throughout each FMU. All of these strategies include mitigation and monitoring components to minimize resource damage. Not all of the strategies will be used park-wide.

"Completion of this fire management plan and environmental assessment is the first step towards restoring natural fire to the Olympic ecosystem," said Superintendent Bill Laitner. "We will continue to work towards the goal of restoring natural fire while providing for public and employee safety and protection of property and natural resources."

Contact Information

Larry Nickey
Fire Management Officer
Olympic National Park
600 East Park Avenue
Port Angeles, WA 98362