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National Fire Plan Success Story

Spruce Bark Beetle Infestation and Wildfires on the Kenai
Chugach National Forest, Alaska
2005

The Kenai Peninsula in South Central Alaska has been ravaged by a spruce bark beetle infestation that has caused more than 1.1 million acres of spruce mortality. Wildfires occurring since the peak of the infestation in 1996 have burned 77,000 acres of Peninsula forests.

A Collaborative Effort

The Kenai Peninsula Borough championed an effort in 1997 to begin fuel mitigation work on the Peninsula, and it became apparent that all land owners needed to be involved and land management activities needed to be coordinated.

In September of 2004 an Interagency All Lands/All Hands Action Plan was developed to guide mitigation efforts in years 2005 to 2009. This plan is a working document that will implement the National Fire Plan 10-year Comprehensive Strategy and Healthy Forest Restoration Act within Alaska's 10.25 million-acre Kenai Peninsula Borough.

The Challenge

The challenge facing All Lands/All Hands land managers on the Kenai Peninsula is to protect communities from unwanted wildfires, while allowing natural (lightning) fires to play their ecological role in remote or wilderness areas. The dilemma is the continuous hazard fuels between remote or wilderness areas and our forested communities.

Collaborative fuel mitigation work within and near communities is beginning to break up the continuity of the hazard fuels. Although there are currently no officially recognized FireWise Communities in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Interagency implementation and promotion of FireWise principles has had a positive effect in mitigating the impacts of wildfires within the WUI.

The 2005 Fire Season

The Kenai Peninsula does not normally experience much lightning because summer temperatures are generally too cool for thunderstorm development. However, that rule did not apply during the summer of 2005. The Alaska Fire Service recorded over 600 lightning strikes that ignited 22 fires on the Kenai Peninsula. All available Peninsula firefighting resources were called into action to keep the numerous fires within the WUI from damaging structures and threatening communities.

Several large lightning fires occurred in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and the challenge for land managers and firefighters was to keep the fires within Refuge boundaries. Fire managers used air tankers to create wet fire lines and helicopters were used to burn out fuels between fire lines and the approaching fire fronts. The use of fire to remove fuels was successful in keeping wildfires out of the WUI. It was quite an air show. The quick, decisive actions were credited with saving several Peninsula communities.

The Success

Looking back at the 2005 fire season, it was a very challenging summer for firefighters and land managers, but with positive results. The fuel reduction collaboration between land managers and the proactive wildfire management actions taken by firefighting organizations on the Kenai Peninsula saved our communities. On the Kenai Wildlife Refuge, those natural fires managed under a wildland fire use strategy resulted in more than 27,000 acres of hazard fuel reduction and benefits to wildlife habitats.The season ended on a happy note, as Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Dale Bagley, on behalf of Peninsula communities, thanked the Firefighters for their outstanding performance during the 2005 fire season at a semi-annual All Lands/All Hands meeting.

Contacts

rwilfong@borough.kenai.ak.us; jim_peterson@dnr.state.ak.us; robin_west@fws.gov; amason@fs.fed.us; jmeade@fs.fed.us; Jeanne_standley@blm.gov; dbcooper@fs.fed.us, charlie@chugachmiut.org

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