CHAPTER 1

PURPOSE AND NEED  

[click here for a menu of this chapter]

Introduction

Fire management is an integral part of the park’s natural and cultural resources management program.  The Yosemite Fire Management Plan will assist in achieving land management objectives that are defined in the 1980 General Management Plan, the 1993 Resources Management Plan, and the 1997 Vegetation Management Plan for Yosemite National Park.  All major forest and chaparral plant communities in Yosemite have evolved under the influences of periodic fires, and many plants have developed adaptations to a regime of frequently occurring fires.  Some  plants are even dependent upon fire for successful reproduction.  Unfortunately, decades of fire suppression have altered park vegetation.  The effect of this has been to alter wildlife habitat as well.  The restoration of fire to its natural role in park ecosystems is one of the highest natural resource management priorities of Yosemite.

Cultural resource management also benefits from fire—it can protect cultural sites or maintain cultural landscapes.  For example, historic buildings must be protected from wildland fire, and one method is to periodically burn surrounding trees and shrubs to maintain an open, fire-resistant forest.  Fire was also used by American Indians to maintain the meadows and the open stands of oak and conifers in Yosemite Valley.  Historically, this helped maintain important traditional plants and living spaces.  Today, the open vistas of Yosemite Valley’s meadows are cherished by millions of visitors every year, yet the suppression of fire has allowed trees to encroach on these historic vistas and cultural landscapes, changing the appearance of many areas of the park.  Thus, fire plays a role in sustaining not only the natural ecosystems, but also the cultural value of the  landscapes in Yosemite National Park. 

The Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement presents several alternatives  to implement National Park Service and federal wildland fire policies and revise the fire management program in Yosemite National Park and the El Portal Administrative Site (map 1-1).  Most of Yosemite is a vast, mountain wilderness intersected by road and trail corridors and dotted with cabins, historical sites, businesses, and administrative and recreational areas.  The park is adjacent to communities, private lands, and public lands managed by other agencies.  Because of this mosaic of land uses and designations, land management policies and activities are complex.  This is especially true for fire management actions, which must respond in different ways in the various areas of the park.  This plan proposes alternatives for managing wildland and prescribed fire and for maintaining and restoring ecosystems, reducing fuels, and protecting cultural resources in the park and El Portal.  It also examines the environmental impacts of each alternative. 

With this plan, Yosemite’s fire management program would employ fire management activities to accomplish land and resource management objectives and to reduce the risk of unwanted fire in and adjacent to the park.  Depending on the area needing attention, the park would use different methods (also known as treatments) to manage fire and decades of buildup of burnable vegetation and woody debris (dead and dry wood, leaves, duff).  Strategies for implementation would be based on knowledge gained from fire and fuels research, monitoring, and experience in Yosemite over the last half century. 

Fire management planning and programs have been operational since 1970, before which the National Park Service changed its policy from controlling natural processes to allowing natural processes to occur when possible.  This means, for fire management, that the National Park Service went from suppressing all fires to letting some fires burn if they would contribute to accomplishing resource management objectives without threatening developed or populated areas or cultural sites.  Refinements in the fire management program have been made since then and will continue to be made as knowledge of fire ecology and fire behavior increases. 

Fire management plans are fundamental strategic documents that guide the full range of fire management related activities.  They are required by the National Park Service Director’s Order 18 (NPS 1998) which says: “Every park area with burnable vegetation must have a fire management plan approved by the superintendent,” and the 2001 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy (hereafter, 2001 Federal Fire Policy), which reiterates: “Complete, or update, Fire Management Plans for all areas with burnable vegetation.”

The Decision to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

The decision to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan was made by the Superintendent of Yosemite National Park after specific issues were raised by the public during preliminary scoping (conducted in 1999).  Members of the public were concerned about wildland fires and the build-up of forest fuels near communities and developed areas in and near Yosemite National Park. 

Following the public comment period on the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS and consultations on any actions that may affect historic resources or special-status species, a Final Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS will be prepared and distributed to the public.  At the conclusion of a 30-day waiting period, the National Park Service will prepare a Record of Decision.  At that time, any changes that are made to Yosemite’s fire management program will be implemented.  A summary document, the Yosemite Fire Management Plan, will also be prepared.  It will focus on the actions selected for implementation and will become the working document for guiding fire management programs in Yosemite National Park. 

This Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS was prepared to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act as well as the Endangered Species Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.  The legal authority for preparing and implementing the Yosemite Fire Management Plan is 16 USC 1 through 4, which is the 1916 Organic Act for the National Park Service. 

Purpose Of and Need For the Yosemite Fire Management Plan

Purpose of the Plan

The purpose of the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS is to present and analyze alternatives for carrying out the fire management program in Yosemite.  It also presents and analyzes effects that would occur as a result of implementing these alternatives in different areas of the park.  The specific purposes of the Yosemite Fire Management Plan are to:

¨       Identify and implement methods to restore and maintain park ecosystems and ecosystem processes that allow fire to play its natural role in the ecosystem, both as wildland fire and prescribed fire. 

¨       Reduce the risk of fire to cultural resources (i.e.  historic buildings, pictographs) through fuels reduction, prescribed burning, or fire suppression to prevent fires from damaging cultural resources.  Fire will also be used as a tool to manage cultural landscapes.

¨       Reduce the risk of catastrophic fire, including near the wildland/urban interface (communities, government and commercial buildings, and other developed areas), while continuing to reverse the adverse effects from past fire suppression and prevention activities.

¨       Execute a fire management program that provides a safe environment for firefighters and the public, including safe operations and fire management related facilities (helibases, fire camps, fire stations).

¨       Provide a plan that is consistent with National Park Service wildland fire management policy and adheres to guiding principles from the 2001 Federal Fire Policy, which recognizes that:

·         Firefighter and public safety is the first priority in every fire management activity.

·         Wildland fire is an essential ecological process and natural change agent.

·         Fire management plans, programs, and activities support land and resource management plans and their implementation.

·         Sound risk management is a foundation for all fire management activities.

·         Fire management programs and activities are economically viable, based on values to be protected, costs, and land and resource management objectives.

·         Fire related plans and activities should be based upon the best available science.

·         Fire management plans and activities incorporate public health and environmental quality considerations. 

·         Federal, state, tribal, local, and interagency coordination and cooperation are essential.

·         Standardization of policies and procedures with other agencies is an ongoing objective. 

Need for the Plan

Since 1968, National Park Service policy has been to allow natural processes to occur.  The fire management program has pursued this policy for over three decades, yet the program, while making significant inroads, has not been able to meet park land management objectives of restoring ecosystems and providing protection for developed areas and cultural resources.  The long-term buildup of fuels has continued under the existing plan in many areas of Yosemite National Park and the El Portal Administrative Site.  Increased application of prescribed fire and additional methods of reducing fuels are needed to restore fire to ecosystems and reduce forest fuels in at-risk areas.  A revised Yosemite Fire Management Plan is needed because:

¨       Fire has a natural role in maintaining and sustaining ecosystems in Yosemite National Park, some of which have been altered by past fire suppression activities.  Refinements to the fire management program are needed that will promote ecosystem sustainability.

¨       Communities, cultural resources (i.e., historic structures, blazed trees, pictographs), campgrounds, and other developed areas of the park need protection from unwanted, high-intensity wildland fires throughout Yosemite National Park and the El Portal Administrative Site.  Fire treatments and pretreatments are needed that will reduce the risk of catastrophic fire and ensuing property loss, and begin to reverse the fuel accumulation and ecosystem changes that have created these risks. 

¨       Fire can help restore and maintain cultural and traditional landscapes valued by visitors and descendants of culturally associated American Indians.

¨       Management of wildland fires, prescribed burning, and fuel reduction treatments require up-to-date planning and preparation.

¨       Fire management activities require collaboration with federal, state, county, tribal and local agencies, and a fire management plan provides a basis for communication, coordination, and project planning with partner agencies. 

¨       Yosemite National Park must comply with the 2001 Federal Fire Policy.

¨       Safety is paramount to all fire management operations.  The use of helicopters is essential for monitoring and controlling wildland fires and to transport crews and equipment for fire management activities. Helicopters also provide emergency services for the Yosemite area.  Three of the existing helibases have marginal safety clearances, are too close to populated areas, or have poor road access. Helibase upgrades are needed to ensure continued safe operations at Crane Flat, El Portal, and Wawona Meadow helibases.

Background

The Sierra Nevada have a high incidence of lightning fires.  Over the past 30 years in Yosemite, lightning has started an average of 55 fires, or 83 fires per million burnable acres each year (NPS 1990).  In some years, tens of thousands of acres would have burned, while in other years only a few acres would have burned, but it is conservatively estimated that an average of 16,000 acres per year may have burned under natural conditions in the park.  This average is equivalent to 2.4% of the park’s burnable vegetation every year.  Additional acres were periodically burned by American Indians in Yosemite Valley and other areas.  These fires affected the amount and types of vegetation in those areas—both of which influence fire incidence and behavior. 

Evolution of the Policy toward Natural Processes Management

Disruption of ecological processes and a diminished visitor experience, along with an evolving body of knowledge suggesting that fires are an essential element in the survival of the giant sequoia groves, led to a reassessment of the traditional National Park Service policy of suppressing lightning fires.  A major step in this process was the report of the Advisory Board on Wildlife Management  in the National Parks (Leopold et al.  1963).  About the changing forest conditions in the Sierra Nevada, the board observed:

Today much of the west slope is a dog-hair thicket of young pines, white fir, incense-cedar, and mature brush—a direct function of overprotection from natural ground fires.  Within the four National Parks – Lassen, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon – the thickets are even more impenetrable than elsewhere … Is it possible that the primitive open forest could be restored, at least on a local scale?

This report was a major influence on the National Park Service, which began to change its policy on natural processes management in the late 1960s.  In 1970, Yosemite National Park initiated use of prescribed fire, and in 1972 the park began to manage naturally-ignited wildland fires. 

Wildland Fire Conditions in Yosemite

All vegetation that can sustain a wildland fire in Yosemite National Park will burn from time to time.  As a result, plants and plant communities exist within a cycle of burning and growth.  Some plant communities sustain fires that mainly burn the undergrowth, while others, like lodgepole pine, must accumulate enough fuel to sustain a larger fire, commonly these fires are stand replacement fires, after which the forest must re-grow.  Between burns, the structure of the forest  changes as the smaller plants beneath the tree canopy (plants of the understory) grow larger and some plants out-compete or out-grow others.  Some areas burn more frequently than others.  Fire tends to move through ponderosa pine/bear clover forests often, about every two to six years, creating an open understory while leaving the larger, fire-resistant trees.  On the other hand, in red fir forests, which may burn frequently or may not be visited by fire for decades, the range for fire frequency is wide, 5 to 70 years.  Because the return of fire can vary greatly depending on forest type, time between natural fires is expressed as a range and called the fire return interval.

The combination of the frequency, extent, duration, behavior, season, and effects of natural fire that typically would burn within a specific landscape is called the fire regime.  When fires in a specific area are regularly put out, the natural fire regime is disrupted.  In Yosemite, fire records go back to 1930 and information is also available for about another decade of documented fire history.  Thus, managers at Yosemite have 80 years of records on fire and fire suppression activities on which to rely.  In addition, tree ring studies provide a history of fire frequency sometimes dating back hundreds of years. 

Measuring the difference between the natural frequency of wildland fires and the number of years fire has been suppressed provides an indication of how far vegetation communities in a particular vegetation type deviate from natural conditions, had fires been allowed to burn.  Information on the number of fire return intervals that have been missed can be used to estimate how much an area has been disrupted from the vegetation and structure that would have been seen had fires been allowed to burn naturally.  The number of missed fire return intervals is the fire return interval departure or FRID. 

In Yosemite, fire has been largely suppressed since the 1920s, and in some areas, fire has been suppressed since the 1860s.  In these areas of decades-long fire suppression, vegetation types that have short fire return intervals have missed several fires and show a large deviation from natural conditions.  This means that forest fuel has accumulated and forest density has increased to dangerous levels.  While in the last two decades the National Park Service has restored fire to many of these areas, the present program has not been able to meet the needs of the whole park. 

Long-Term Effects of Fire Suppression on Yosemite’s Natural Resources

Because the National Park Service suppressed wildland fires, natural plant community succession, species composition, and forest structure have been altered.  These changes are most pronounced in the oak woodlands, ponderosa pine/mixed-conifer, and white fir/mixed-conifer communities.  The forest canopy is becoming increasingly closed and forest openings smaller as shade tolerant species grow in dense thickets.  Fewer grasses, forbs, and shrubs grow in the remaining openings.  Small trees are also encroaching on meadows that once would have been maintained by frequent fires.  In addition, subtle but important hydrological changes may have occurred because of increased forest growth.  Decreased runoff and infiltration may have altered the water table around meadows, helping to accelerate tree invasion.  It is also acknowledged that the late 19th century removal of part of Yosemite Valley’s terminal moraine by early Euro-Americans altered the hydrologic regime of the Valley.  All of these changes have, in turn, caused deterioration in the habitat favored by many forms of wildlife.

Lack of fire has changed habitat that is critical for certain wildlife species.  When the number and extent of forest openings is reduced, key herbaceous and shrub species (particularly nitrogen fixers such as ceanothus) are also diminished (Bonnicksen and Stone 1982).  Wildlife that depend on these plants, such as deer, have less available habitat.  Other species are dependent on fresh, fire-created snags and, like the black-backed woodpecker, may suffer a decline in the absence of fire.  Lack of burning can also extend higher up the food chain.  For example, rodents are less abundant in areas where fire has been excluded (Werner 1997)—almost certainly leading to a reduction in the carnivorous populations that depend on them. 

The problems associated with vegetation changes that have increased the risk of uncontrollable wildland fires are especially prevalent at lower elevations.  There, the natural mosaic of diverse vegetation types is slowly being replaced by dense stands of relatively fire-intolerant plants that have flourished because of the success of fire suppression.  Lower-elevation forests are susceptible to high-intensity wildland fire because of the increase in living and dead vegetation, both of which are fuel for fires.  The density of trees and shrubs has created a hazardous arrangement of closely-standing, burnable vegetation, or fuel ladders, in the understory.  Fuel ladders help fires ascend to the larger trees, or overstory.  This combination of fuel ladders and a high density of fuels also increases the potential for insect and pathogen infestations, which, if they cause tree die-off, increase the potential for fire.  In the event of catastrophic fire, whole landscapes can be denuded and reverted to shrub communities, watershed processes can be compromised, and other values can be greatly altered.

Fire and Visitor Experiences

Early explorers in the Yosemite region reported open park-like stands of large ponderosa and sugar pine, California black oak, and other trees (Bunnell 1890; Clark 1894).  Photographs of Yosemite in the 1860s and 1870s confirm that this situation existed in many areas including Yosemite Valley and the giant sequoia groves.  This forest structure, primarily maintained by natural fires and fires set by Miwok inhabitants, has largely disappeared.  This change has not only disrupted natural ecological processes, but has also changed the look of the Valley and most of the western portion of the park.  Visitors are affected by loss of vistas and forest openings, fewer opportunities to see wildlife because of habitat changes, and difficulties in off-trail hiking opportunities because of increased undergrowth. 

Fire and Developed Areas

Yosemite Valley, Wawona, El Portal, Foresta and the other communities and developed areas in and near Yosemite (map 1.2) are all located within plant community types that have evolved under the influence of fire.  Fire continues to be both a benefit and a threat to these areas.  Despite lightning strikes and accidental starts by humans, most fires either go out on their own or are successfully suppressed.  For decades, and in spite of the policy of allowing natural processes to occur, aggressive fire fighting  has helped protect private and public property, historic and cultural resources, and boundary areas.  Like in wildland areas, these actions have contributed to ever increasing accumulations of fuels in grass, woodland, and forest areas, and an increasing potential for large, high-intensity fires that are difficult to control.  Prescribed burning has been used to reduce fuels in some areas, but the level of risk remains high throughout much of the forest and shrub woodlands. 

In 1990, the A-Rock fire burned a significant amount of private and National Park Service property in Foresta and the surrounding area.  This fire exhibited behaviors not previously seen in the Yosemite area.  Over the last two decades, public awareness about deteriorating forest conditions and the danger of wildland fires near communities has increased because of the large numbers of devastating fires across the western United States. 

Existing Situation

Today, after more than 30 years of proactive fire management, the park is far from restoring natural fire regimes to the entire park landscape, though significant inroads have been made (Caprio and Graber 2000).  While fuel reduction and prescribed burning have increased since the 1990 A-Rock Fire, developed areas are still at risk from uncontrolled wildland fires.  The 2001 Federal Fire Policy specifically mandates public land agencies to reduce the amount of forest and shrubland fuels around areas with homes and buildings, and to restore ecosystems to a more natural, fire-tolerant balance.  In order to avert catastrophic fires, this means reducing fuels and changing plant community structure near buildings and in wildland areas.  At the same time, the National Park Service has issued new fire management guidelines that require updated fire management plans.

Goals and Objectives of the Yosemite Fire Management Plan

When completed, the Yosemite Fire Management Plan will describe a detailed program of actions to carry out fire management policies and objectives in Yosemite National Park and El Portal Administrative Site.  The goals and objectives of the plan have their foundations in the park’splanning documents: the General Management Plan (1980), Resources Management Plan (1993), Vegetation Management Plan (1997), Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan (2000); as well as in National Park Service and federal legislation and fire policy; the National Park Service Organic Act; and the legislation establishing Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Wilderness, and the Merced and Tuolumne Wild and Scenic Rivers. 

For each goal is a set of related management objectives.  These may evolve during implementation of the fire management program, as part of the adaptive management process to which the fire management program adheres.  It is recognized that achieving every goal to its fullest extent is not possible due to inherent conflicts between the goals.  That is to say that one goal cannot be completely emphasized to the exclusion of other goals. 

Goals and Objectives

Goal:Ensure firefighter and public safety. 

The protection of firefighters and the public is the first priority in every fire management activity and during all phases of the fire management program.

Management Objectives:

¨       Plan and carry out all other activities consistent with and subordinate to safety considerations.

¨       Provide the fire management workforce with the training, equipment, operating procedures, safety measures, and information needed to manage risks and carry out their activities safely. 

¨       Identify, inform, and protect visitors, communities, and other groups and individuals that potentially would be affected by fire management activities. 

¨       Manage wildland and prescribed fires within designated areas or management units using the most current planning and risk assessment techniques available.

·     Establish a Suppression Unit comprised of areas where wildland fire would have a high potential to compromise firefighter and public safety, threaten property, or violate air quality laws or regulations and where prescribed fire and other fuel reduction treatments could be used to reduce risks and accomplish resource management goals.

·     Establish a Fire Use Unit to include areas where wildland fire could be managed to accomplish resource management goals in a way that did not compromise firefighter and public safety, threaten property, or violate air quality laws or regulations. 

Goal: Implement a fire program that allows the natural process of fire to prevail in the Yosemite Wilderness. 

The natural interactions between fire and the environment should influence the type, abundance, and distribution of plants and animals in the park.  A crucial goal of Yosemite’s is to restore or maintain natural fire regimes so that ecosystems can function essentially unimpaired by human interference.  In areas showing adverse effects from fire suppression, restoration of forest structure and reduction of fuel loads will allow natural processes to resume and reduce the risk of unwanted, high-intensity wildland fires that might cause undesirable changes in forest type and threaten human lives or property.

Management Objectives:

¨       Manage ecosystems within the natural range of variability for plant community structure and fuel loads. 

·     Ecosystems that are within the range of maintenance target conditions (table 2.4) should be maintained through natural processes (naturally-caused and re-ignited wildland fire), within the constraints of policy. 

·     Ecosystems that are not within the range of natural variability should be restored to restoration target conditions (table 2.3) and subsequently maintained through natural processes, within the constraints of policy. 

¨       Avoid adverse impacts to special-status species and their habitat from fire management activities, unless cleared in advance through the appropriate regulatory process.

¨       Set priorities for treatment activities based on site-specific information on departure from natural fire return interval, target conditions, and other relevant factors.

Goal: Manage Special Management Areas for specific purposes as mandated by policy, safety, or other regulations. 

Because these areas are unique, the fire program goals will be modified somewhat in and near the wildland/urban interface, in the giant sequoia groves, and near boundary areas.  These areas will hereafter be referred to as Special Management Areas. 

Management Objective:

¨       Adhere to goals and objectives specific to each Special Management Area. 

Wildland/Urban Interface: Reduce the risk of wildland fire to communities and developed areas.  In Wawona, Foresta, Yosemite Valley, El Portal, Crane Flat, Tuolumne Meadows, and all other areas of development in and near Yosemite National Park and the El Portal Administrative Site, the goal is to use fire management treatments to reduce the risk of unwanted wildland fire while restoring plant community structure. 

Management Objectives:

·     Restore ecosystems to the lower end of the range of restoration target conditions (table 2.3) to promote fire tolerant plant communities and create defensible space.  This should reduce risks and improve the manageability of fire. 

§         Forest fuels should be reduced within developed areas by thinning trees, removing underbrush, and reducing litter and duff on the forest floor.

§         Prescribed fire and other treatments should be used to provide optimum protection.

·     Base priorities for treatment activities on fuel hazard risk analysis, departure from natural fire return interval, target conditions, and other relevant information for each community. 

Giant Sequoia Groves: Balance the restoration of natural process with the desire to preserve prime scenic and biological values.  Preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the giant sequoia groves are the primary considerations. 

Management Objectives:

·     Maintain healthy giant sequoia groves, with age-class distributions and site conditions characteristic of those in natural, fire-maintained ecosystems.

·     Preserve scenic values, including open views of the groves, without interfering with the restoration or simulation of a lightning fire regime. 

Boundary Areas: Simulate natural fire regimes along the National Park Service boundary.  In most areas along the western park boundary, the goal is to simulate natural fire regimes in perpetuity.  In areas where other agencies have goals similar to Yosemite’s, collaboration might include a mutually acceptable range of treatment options.

Management Objectives:

·     Keep wildland fire within park boundaries if agreements with adjacent agencies have not been worked out. 

·     Consider, if agreements have been or can be developed with other land management agencies, allowing wildland fires to move across boundaries to meet goals of interagency fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration projects.

Goal: Allow fire to be used as a tool for special resource management projects. 

There are numerous areas that may be sustained or helped by fire; for example, fire helps maintain meadows, scenic areas, cultural landscapes, and plant communities used by American Indians.  It can discourage invasion by non-native plants. 

Management Objectives:

¨       Use fire as a tool on special projects, consistent with the management objectives of the project plan, in collaboration with the proposing division. 

Goal: Minimize impacts to cultural resources. 

This goal recognizes that archaeological and historical sites, ethnographic resources, and cultural landscapes are more at risk when heavy fuel loads burn than when frequent fires burn in light fuel accumulations. 

Management Objectives:

¨       Perpetuate natural fire processes to maintain light fuel loads on and adjacent to archaeological sites and historic structures. 

¨       Protect significant cultural resources from adverse impacts of fire and fire management practices, to the extent feasible.

¨       Develop project protocols, through adaptive management, for using fire and other treatments to maintain the setting at historic sites and to maintain the integrity of other cultural resource sites. 

¨       Consult and coordinate with American Indian groups to ensure the protection of traditional cultural resources. 

Goal: Use the adaptive management process to effectively incorporate scientific knowledge and monitoring and evaluation results. 

The adaptive management cycle includes the development of a plan with stated goals and objectives, means of carrying out the planned actions, monitoring of the results, evaluations of the outcome of the actions, and the use of hypothesis testing to refine prescriptions and methods.

Management Objectives:

¨       Conduct research that will help to understand the natural fire regimes, refine prescriptions, provide data for fire behavior models, and effectively implement the fire management program. 

¨       Monitor and evaluate fire management activities (managed wildland fires, prescribed burns, and fuel reduction treatments), to assess their effects on natural and cultural resources and Special Management Areas.

¨       Update fire return interval departures, target conditions, prescriptions, and fire treatment priorities, as data becomes available. 

Goal: Educate, inform, consult, and collaborate with stakeholders. 

Management Objectives:

¨       Conduct wildland fire prevention, information, education, and other activities in communities within and abutting the park, working in collaboration with local communities, county, state, and federal fire agencies with fire management interests.

¨       Develop interpretive displays and educational programs, working with the interpretive division, to foster understanding and acceptance of the fire management program. 

¨       Maintain relationships with the American Indian community, to encourage their participation in the management of traditional gathering areas.  Facilitate the transfer of knowledge about fire management and traditional cultural practices. 

¨       Collaborate with county and state air resources agencies to monitor smoke levels and manage smoke-related effects on visitors, residents, and employees.

Goal: Conduct a fire management program based on existing policy and in compliance with federal and state regulations. 

It is the goal of the National Park Service that the activities described in the Yosemite Fire Management Plan be consistent with and implement existing National Park Service and federal wildland fire management policies and related federal regulations.  This includes policies and regulations that provide direction about human safety, protection of property, coordination and communication with other agencies and jurisdictions, use of science, preparedness, suppression, prevention, standardization of procedures, and others. 

Management Objectives:

¨       Implement a fire management program that is compliant with National Park Service and federal wildland fire management policy and applicable regulations. 

 

Purpose and Significance of Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park was established and is managed in accordance with a series of laws, regulations, and executive orders. 

On June 30, 1864, Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove were granted to California by the federal government to “be held for public use, resort, and recreation” to be “inalienable for all time.”

On October 1, 1890, Congress passed an act establishing Yosemite National Park as a “forest reservation” to preserve and protect “from injury, all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders” within the park area, and to retain them in their “natural condition.”  The act excluded Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, leaving them under the jurisdiction of the State of California, as provided for in the 1864 act. 

A joint resolution of Congress on June 11, 1906 accepted the transfer of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove from the State of California to the federal government as part of Yosemite National Park.  Two primary purposes for Yosemite National Park were established in the 1864 act and subsequent legislation. They are:

¨      To preserve the resources that contribute to Yosemite’s splendor and uniqueness, including its exquisite scenic beauty, outstanding wilderness, and a nearly full diversity of Sierra Nevada environments. 

¨      To make the varied resources of Yosemite available to people for their enjoyment, education, and recreation—now and in the future.

The international importance of Yosemite National Park was recognized by the World Heritage Committee in 1984 when the park was designated a World Heritage Site.  In 1958, Congress passed legislation for the Secretary of the Interior to provide an administrative site for Yosemite National Park in the El Portal area (16 USC 47-1).  The El Portal Administrative Site is under National Park Service jurisdiction, but is not included as part of Yosemite National Park. 

Compliance with Federal Policy

Wildland fire management activities conducted by the National Park Service are guided by National Park Service management policies, Director’s Order 18 (1998), and the 2001 Federal Fire Policy.  Director’s Order 18 guides the development of National Park Service policy relative to fire management, and dictates the program requirements for fire management plans.  These requirements are listed in table 1.1. The Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS is in compliance with these policies.

Table 1.1   National Park Service Fire Management Program Requirements

 

National Park Service Management Policies

National Park Service Management Policies, Section 4.5 – Fire Management, as revised in 2001, states the following:

 “Naturally ignited fire is a process that is part of many of the natural systems that are being sustained in parks.  Human-ignited fires often cause the unnatural destruction of park natural resources.  Wildland fire may contribute to or hinder the achievement of park management objectives.  Therefore, park fire management programs will be designed to meet park resource management objectives while ensuring that firefighter and public safety are not compromised.”

“Each park with vegetation capable of burning will prepare a fire management plan and will address the need for adequate funding and staffing to support its fire management program.  The plan will be designed to guide a program that responds to the park’s natural and cultural resource objectives; provides for safety considerations for park visitors, employees, neighbors, and developed facilities; and addresses potential impacts to public and private property adjacent to the park.  An environmental assessment developed in support of the plan will consider the effects on air quality, water quality, health and safety, and natural and cultural resource management objectives.  Preparation of the plan and environmental assessment will include collaboration with adjacent communities, interest groups, state and federal agencies, and tribal governments.”

“All fires burning in natural or landscaped vegetation in parks will be classified as either wildland fires or prescribed fires.  All wildland fires will be effectively managed through application of the appropriate strategic and tactical management options.  These options will be selected after comprehensive consideration of the resource values to be protected, firefighter and public safety, and costs.  Prescribed fires are those fires ignited by park managers to achieve resource management and fuel treatment objectives.  Prescribed fire activities will include monitoring programs that record fire behavior, smoke behavior, fire decisions, and fire effects to provide information on whether specific objectives are met.  All parks will use a systematic decision-making process to determine the most appropriate management strategies for all unplanned ignitions, and for any prescribed fires that are no longer meeting resource management objectives.”

“Parks lacking an approved fire management plan may not use resource benefits as a primary consideration influencing the selection of a suppression strategy, but they must consider the resource impacts of suppression alternatives in their decisions.  Until a plan is approved, parks must immediately suppress all wildland fires, taking into consideration park resources and values to be protected, firefighter and public safety, and costs.  Parks will use methods to suppress wildland fires that minimize impacts of the suppression action and the fire, and are commensurate with effective control, firefighter and public safety, and resource values to be protected.”

In addition, Section 6.3.9 states:

“Fire management activities conducted in wilderness areas will conform to the basic purposes of wilderness.  The park’s fire management and wilderness management plans must identify and reconcile the natural and historic roles of fire in the wilderness, and will provide a prescription for response, if any, to natural and human-caused wildfires.  If a prescribed fire program is implemented, these plans will also include the prescriptions and procedures under which the program will be conducted within wilderness.  Actions taken to suppress wildfires will use the minimum requirement concept, and will be conducted in such a way as to protect natural and cultural resources and to minimize the lasting impacts of the suppression actions.”

Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy

The Interagency Federal Wildland Fire Policy Review Working Group revised the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy in 2001.  Main elements of the policy are listed in table 1.2. 

Table 1.2   2001 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy

 

Relationship of the Yosemite Fire Management Plan to Other Yosemite National Park Plans

Planning in Yosemite National Park takes two different forms: general management planning and implementation planning.  General management plans are required for national parks by the National Park and Recreation Act of 1978.  Implementation plans, which tier off of general management plans, focus on “how to implement an activity or project needed to achieve a long-term goal” (NPS 1998).  Yosemite National Park’s General Management Plan, completed in 1980, is the foundational document for managing the park.  The Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan derives its authority from the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.  It amended certain specifics of the General Management Plan, but it did not alter its five broad goals.

The Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan provides the basis for preserving and maintaining the Outstandingly Remarkable Values of the Merced Wild and Scenic River, and for assessing whether the actions in the Yosemite Fire Management Plan would contribute to their preservation and maintenance (see Chapter 5, Wild and Scenic Rivers).  Changes to the types of fire management practices to be used along the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River are not being proposed.  If changes to the fire treatments along the Tuolumne River corridor are needed in the future, then a Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan (not currently prepared) would have the same relationship to the Yosemite Fire Management Plan as the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan. 

General Management Plan

The five goals of the General Management Plan are to:

 

¨       reclaim priceless natural beauty

¨       markedly reduce traffic congestion

¨       allow natural processes to prevail

¨       reduce crowding

¨       promote visitor understanding and enjoyment

 

With respect to the General Management Plan’s goal of allowing natural ecosystem processes to prevail it recognizes that “controlled burns or mechanical removal of vegetation” may be needed to simulate the natural role of fire.  The plan also calls for protecting the safety and security of all visitors and employees.  The Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS furthers the fire management-related provisions of this General Management Plan goal and outlines the programs needed for protecting visitors, employees, and property from risks associated with wildland fire. 

Table 1.3   Fire Management-Related Objectives from the General Management Plan 

 

 

 

Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan

The Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan works in concert with the goals set forth in the General Management Plan; it also outlines a set of goals for management of the Merced Wild and Scenic River.  These are: protect and enhance river related natural resources, protect and restore natural hydrological and geomorphic processes, protect and enhance river-related cultural resources, provide diverse river-related recreational and educational experiences, and provide appropriate land uses.  The Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS adheres to these goals, furthering them through fire related ecosystem restoration and maintenance.

Although the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS is not a development plan or visitor management plan, it is related to the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan because fire is a major influence on watershed function and ecosystem health.  The Outstandingly Remarkable Values of the river are influenced by the condition of vegetation within the watershed, which in turn is maintained by the presence or absence of wildland fire.

Resources Management Plan

The Resources Management Plan for Yosemite National Park was updated in 1993.  It describes the natural and cultural resource management programs needed to accomplish the legislated mandates of the National Park Service and Yosemite National Park and apply the policies, program emphases, and provisions of related planning documents.  The Resources Management Plan identifies the need for fire management programs and includes project statements specific to fire management, the restoration and maintenance of natural ecosystems and ecosystem processes, and the maintenance and protection of cultural resources.  It also recognizes the need for fuels reduction in areas with buildings and other development (wildland/urban interface).

Vegetation Management Plan

The Vegetation Management Plan for Yosemite National Park (1997) established broad objectives for the management of vegetation in the park.  It describes the dynamic environment of park vegetation, discusses vegetation management issues, and identifies management strategies and techniques for achieving  general desired conditions for the various plant communities in the park.  Strategies include managing fire regimes.  In this way, the Vegetation Management Plan sets general direction for the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS.  From this general direction are developed a range of fire management activities (see Chapter 2, Alternatives) and more specific target conditions for plant communities (tables 2.3 & 2.4).  The goals and management objectives of the Vegetation Management Plan are listed in Appendix 10.

Decisions to be Made      

The Superintendent of Yosemite National Park will make a recommendation for the final decision to the Regional Director, Pacific West Region, who is the Deciding Official of the Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS.  They will recommend and decide upon:

1.       Whether or not to implement the proposed action, an alternative to the proposed action, or to continue current fire management operations (the No Action Alternative).

2.       What mitigation and monitoring, if any, will be included in the decision.

 

Scoping and Public Involvement  

Issues and Concerns Used to Develop the Alternatives

Preliminary issues were identified using public and agency comments, consultations, and open house records from the public scoping periods in 1999 and 2001.  For a complete list of scoping activities during the preparation of the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS, see Chapter 6. 

The issues raised and comments made by the public during scoping and through the consultation process were summarized as concern statements.  These concern statements were used in developing action alternatives and determining the scope of analysis in the Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/EIS.  These concerns are listed below by subject:

Planning Direction.  A number of comments addressed the process or scope of the planning effort, or suggested that certain process-related subjects should be central to the program or plan.  Comments received from the public included:

¨       The National Park Service should consider the effects of future projects (projects in general) on the fire management program.

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should include detailed maps that show fuel loading and proposed treatments. 

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should primarily address ecosystem restoration and property risk reduction.

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should adhere to National Park Service and federal fire policies, be coordinated with local fire agencies, and be adequately funded and staffed.

¨       The current fire management planning effort should not preclude subsequent NEPA review at the project level. 

¨       Prescribed fire policies should be addressed in Yosemite’s General Management Plan.

¨       The National Park Service should provide more opportunity for public involvement by having additional public meetings and at times when people can attend without taking time off from their own work.

¨       The National Park Service should use professional planners and consultants to prepare studies and Environmental Impact Statements.

¨       The National Park Service should prepare disaster plans specific to communities and developed areas.

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should clearly specify the National Park Service’s priorities for protection of resources, government facilities, and private property.

Fire Management Activities.  Many of the comments addressed the actual management of the fire program, or about various strategies, philosophies, or goals for fire management: 

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should address emergency response to wildfires.

¨       Fire suppression activities should not be overly aggressive.

¨       The National Park Service should use prescribed fires and wildland fires to reduce fuel accumulations and restore natural fire regimes.

¨       The National Park Service should conduct large burns to efficiently reduce fuel accumulations. 

¨       The National Park Service should minimize the use of mechanical thinning to reduce fuel accumulations, in order to protect ecosystem health and avoid the appearance of logging in a national park.

¨       The National Park Service should secure funding to implement wildland fire prevention actions.

¨       The National Park Service should consider use of multiple techniques to reduce fuel accumulations, including mechanical thinning and prescribed fire.

¨       The National Park Service should not conduct prescribed burning.

¨       The National Park Service should suppress most or all naturally ignited fires.

¨       The National Park Service should cautiously manage prescribed burns on very small scales, at times, to promote mosaics of vegetation and specific resource management goals. 

¨       The National Park Service should utilize mechanical treatments in such a way that they leave the large tree boles to perform the ecological function of coarse woody debris.

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should address restoration of areas after fire suppression efforts.

¨       The National Park Service should give preference to mechanical fuel treatment over prescribed burning.

¨       The National Park Service should mitigate or avoid impacts related to the use of heavy equipment.

¨       The National Park Service should expand and enforce a fire prevention program.

¨       The National Park Service personnel should actively manage burn piles and debris piles.

¨       The National Park Service should consider grazing as a fuel management treatment.

¨       The National Park Service should consider additional personnel, equipment, and staff housing for the fire program throughout the developed areas of the park.

Community Protection.  Protecting communities and developed areas was a major concern to residents, while the affects of developed areas and/or protection activities concerned others:

¨       The National Park Service should restore a natural fire regime, except in situations, which pose a threat to human life or property.

¨       The Yosemite Fire Management Plan should address liability for damage to structures from wildfires.

¨       The National Park Service should give first priority to reducing fuel loads on park lands that surround communities.

¨       The National Park Service should allow non-commercial salvage of firewood and wood chips and thinning by property ow