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Virginia

Prescribed Burn Controls Hazardous Weeds and Restores Wetlands

Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park - November 2003

Firefighters from three national wildlife refuges in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware used drip torches and a unique marsh-adapted vehicle to ignite a fast-moving burn of about 400-acres of underbrush that controlled invasive phragmites plants and restore wetlands for migrating and wintering fowl.

The 15 foot-tall phragmites chokes out nutritious, native plants that support a variety of ducks, geese and swans. After a similar burn three years ago, two thousand snow geese flocked to the burned areas of the refuge and the park.

Snow geese benefit from marsh regeneration that occurs when aggressive, non-native plants are removed. (USFWS)

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Interior Fire Program Assessment

Did You Know...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 550 national wildlife refuges and 70 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages more than 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 80% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 300,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns more than 350,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 500 permanent fire professionals, along with 200 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 2,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.