Primary tabs

View
Show Changes(active tab)

Status message

No visible changes

Key to Changes

This text is Revised text

This word has been added to the text

This text is Last Published text

This word has been removed from the text

Modifed styling with no visual changes

Strategic Objective

Manage wildland fire for landscape resiliency, strengthen the ability of communities to protect against fire, and provide for public and firefighter safety in wildfire response

Strategic Objective

Manage wildland fire for landscape resiliency, strengthen the ability of communities to protect against fire, and provide for public and firefighter safety in wildfire response.

Lead Office: OWF

Themes:

Natural Resources and Environment

DOI.gov

Facebook Twitter Linkdin Mail RSS

XML

CSV

Overview
Progress Update

Overview

Progress Update

The Department of the Interior, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, has highlighted this objective as a focus area for improvement. The Department’s Wildland Fire Management (WFM) program strives to achieve a risk-based, cost-effective, technically efficient, and scientifically grounded wildland fire management program that safely meets fire and resource management goals. The guiding principles and priorities of the WFM program are to restore and maintain fire-resilient landscapes, promote fire-adapted communities, reduce human-caused ignitions, and safely and effectively respond to wildfires, through direct program activities and strong Federal, Tribal, State, and local collaboration. The WFM program faces challenges from the uncertainties and impacts of climate change, the trends of increasing risks to firefighters, communities and their values (e.g., endangered species, water supplies, recreation areas, infrastructure, etc.) and the increasing need to protect and conserve America’s Federal and Tribal lands. Constrained capacity and unpredictable funding also pose challenges in executing the objectives of the wildland fire program. The WFM aligns programs, budgets, and performance to implement the intergovernmental National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, a science-based and innovative, collaborative approach to mitigating wildfire risk. The Department sustained its performance at existing levels over the past five years with only minor year-to-year variance for acres in desired condition and initial response strategy success. The measure for treatments has been more variable due to changes in available funding and the particular set of projects undertaken in a given year. A FY 2016 budget proposal to restructure WFM funding could help ensure better fuel treatment performance during unexpectedly high-occurrence fire seasons.

The Department achieved its targets on all of the wildland fire measures in FY 2015 despite a challenging fire season.

Expand All

Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal:

Protect America's Landscapes

Statement:

We will ensure that America’s natural endowment – America’s Great Outdoors – is protected for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations. We will maintain the condition of lands and waters that are healthy, and we will restore the integrity of natural areas that have been damaged. We will strive to retain abundant and sustainable habitat for our diverse fish and wildlife resources, and we will reduce or eliminate threats to at-risk plant and animal species.

Strategic Objectives

Improve land and water health by managing wetlands, uplands, and riparian areas

Statement:

Improve land and water health by managing the wetlands, uplands, and riparian areas that comprise our national parks, wildlife refuges, and BLM lands.

Description:

Protecting America’s landscapes and natural resources is among the Department’s high priority conservation goals. The Department manages over 530 million acres of public lands, together with associated waterways and plant and animal species. In addition, the Department provides grant funding to States and Tribes for mitigating the adverse environmental effects of past mining on private lands. Land in desired condition is valued for providing ecosystem services, recreational and scenic merits, and vast open spaces, which contribute to public enjoyment and health. Maintaining or improving the condition of stream and shoreline miles benefits fish populations, enhances wildlife habitat, and contributes to a balanced ecology. The Nation’s forests, mountains, wetlands, grasslands, and deserts host biological diversity that is critical to overall ecosystem health, and species survival and well-being. Protecting the thousands of native plant and animal species, including those with special status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), preserves the rich natural legacy of this Nation both today and for future generations.

Learn More

FY 14-15 Priority Goal: Climate Change Adaptation

Statement:

Climate change adaptation.

By September 30, 2015, the Department of the Interior will demonstrate maturing implementation of climate change adaptation as scored when carrying out strategies in its Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan.

Description:

Problem or opportunity being addressed

The Department has established policy emphasizing the importance of considering and analyzing potential climate change impacts when undertaking long-range planning exercises. Such plans must evaluate risks to and vulnerabilities in bureau operations and missions, and outline actions to manage these in the short- and long-term. The Department continues to develop, implement and update comprehensive plans to integrate consideration of climate change science and response strategies into operations to help make the nation’s communities, watersheds, and natural resources more resilient, and safeguard our cultural heritage.

Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives

The Secretary of the Interior has identified the effects of climate change as a major challenge affecting missions across the Department, just as the President has identified in his Climate Change Action Plan Policy and Executive Order 13514 (October 5, 2009) and on “Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change” (November 1, 2013). The Department’s Climate Change Adaptation Policy (523 DM 1) provides a set of principles and guidance to bureaus and offices for addressing climate change impacts on the Department’s mission, programs, operations and personnel. The policy also establishes roles and responsibilities for carrying out climate change adaptation principles.

Key barriers and challenges

Understanding, communicating, and responding to the diversity of impacts associated with climate change across the various landscapes of the United States is an ambitious undertaking. Identifying similar terminology and means of measurement, engaging in collaborative communications with partners both within and outside DOI, obtaining adequate scientific understanding, and integrating various datasets and information sources are just some aspects of this undertaking that are already underway, and each of these activities is challenging.

Stakeholder Engagement

Climate Science Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives are engaging Interior and other Federal agencies, local and State partners, and the public to craft practical, landscape-level strategies for managing climate-change impacts within the eight regions. The Department is building the scientific and organizational infrastructure to work with partners in the development of adaptation tools and the coordination of climate-change responses at the landscape level. We are partnering to develop state-of-the-art strategies to translate science into adaptive management and to develop robust ecological-forecasting models.

Learn More

Sustain fish, wildlife, and plant species

Statement:

Sustain fish, wildlife, and plant species by protecting and recovering the Nation’s fish and wildlife in cooperation with partners, including states.

Description:

Learn More

Manage wildland fire for landscape resiliency, strengthen the ability of communities to protect against fire, and provide for public and firefighter safety in wildfire response

Statement:

Manage wildland fire for landscape resiliency, strengthen the ability of communities to protect against fire, and provide for public and firefighter safety in wildfire response.

Description:

Learn More

Download
Featured Report

Agency Plans and Reports

Agency Strategic Plan