Letter from the Superintendent

Dear Friends:

The Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement has been prepared as a result of several recent events that have happened in the world of Wildland Fire Management. The National Fire Plan adopted by Congress has directed all agencies to take a strong look at vegetation and fuel accumulation in relation to safety for firefighters, the public, and surrounding communities.  We are also directed to reduce the threat to real property from wildland fire concurrent with the mission we are here to perform.  The mission of the National Park Service is “…to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of the future generations....”  This mission is one that we do not take lightly.  Yosemite is 94 percent designated wilderness.  It is paramount that we continue to manage this resource by allowing the natural processes to perpetuate the ecological and wilderness values for which the national park was established and recognized as a World Heritage Site. 

This Draft Yosemite Fire Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement presents four alternatives (including no action) that propose to deal with the complex problems of fire hazard reduction in the wildland-urban interface, while protecting, restoring, and maintaining, the historic and natural systems that lie outside the developed areas of the park.  By considering the use of other treatments available for dealing with fuel accumulation, in conjunction with proven methods that have been in use for three decades, we feel that restoration can be accomplished in those areas that have suffered the worst from vegetation encroachment, increasing forest density, and over protection.  Lastly, by basing our proposals on the target forest conditions that should be present, these alternatives propose only an appropriate level of work, in the appropriate places, to restore these conditions and reduce the threats from unwanted wildland fires.

Your involvement is a key element in the planning process, and we welcome your participation.  Meetings are being arranged in Yosemite, Oakhurst, Mariposa, Sonora, and one location on the east side of the park.  Information on closing dates for the comment period and dates for these meetings will be communicated in a separate postcard and on the park website at www.nps.gov/yose/planning. Please submit your comments to:

Superintendent, Yosemite National Park         

ATTN:  Fire Management Plan

P.O. Box 577

Yosemite, California 95389

FAX: 209-379-1294

EMAIL: YOSE_Planning@nps.gov

We look forward to your input and the opportunity to use this information in the development of a Fire Management Program that guides these activities in Yosemite National Park. 

Sincerely,

David A. Mihalic

Superintendent