- Author
- Mason McKinley, Center for Natural Lands Management
- Publication Year
- 2010
- Region
- Puget Trough/Lowlands
- Topic
- Fire, Restoration & Management
Unable to rely solely on local fire agencies to conduct burns at the needed scale, conservation partners involved in the collaborative prairie and oak restoration program have implemented a partner-driven ecological burn program that can function at the desired landscape level. After working through regulatory and administrative issues and developing an infrastructure of firefighters and equipment, we have now completed three scaled-up burn seasons. Prior to 2008, we were only conducting one to three burns annually. Since then, the partnership has increased its burning each year. In 2010, we completed 46 burns totaling 2382 acres on 8 different ownerships in North and South Puget Sound. In addition, we assisted Willamette Valley and the Yakama Tribe burn programs to complete six more burns totaling 890 acres. This represents a tremendous increase in prescribed fire capacity for South Sound, and makes us one of the most active prescribed ecological fire programs in the state of Washington. Primary ecological burn partners include Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources, Wolf Haven, The Nature Conservancy as well as several North Puget Sound land managing organizations.