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Fire Program Statistics

2004 Non-WUI Treatments :: Southwest Region

Refuge	Number	RX Acres	Mech Acres	Total Acres
Anahuac NWR	12	10,430		10,430
Aransas/Matagorda Island NWRC	12	3,161	1,248	4,409
Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR	8	2,976		2,976
Balcones Canyonlands NWR	7	692	3	694
Big Boggy NWR	2	813		813
Brazoria NWR	5	3,135		3,135
Buenos Aires NWR	5	11,731		11,731
Hagerman NWR	3	438		438
Havasu NWR	1	460		460
Imperial NWR	1	614		614
Inks Dam NFH	1	4		4
Little River NWR	3	258		258
McFaddin NWR	5	9,943		9,943
Salt Plains NWR	1	163		163
San Andres NWR	1	10,639		10,639
San Bernard NWR	6	1,387		1,387
San Marcos NFH	1	84		84
Santa Ana NWR	1	40		40
Sevilleta NWR	1	13,609		13,609
South Texas Refuges Complex	1	26		26
Texas Chenier Plain Refuges Complex	1	447		447
Texas Midcoast Refuges Complex	1	400		400
Texas Point NWR	2	4,990		4,990
Tishomingo NWR	6	418		418
Uvalde NFH	1	41		41
Washita NWR	2	280		280
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge	2	1,030		1,030
Total	92	78,240	1,251	79,490

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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.