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Forests and Rangelands Success Story

Refuge Offers Unique Fire Education Opportunities
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico
National Fire Plan - Accountability
2010

Members of the public listen as they watch and are briefed on prescribed fire operations at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.
Members of the public listen as they watch and are briefed on prescribed fire operations at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Every November as the sandhill cranes begin to return to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for the winter, refuge staff prepare to host the annual Festival of the Cranes community event.

Each year thousands of people come to the festival to tour the refuge and take part in the many events that showcase the wildlife and habitat it offers. During the festival several tours, workshops, and lectures are offered to the public to highlight these species and the unique habitat the refuge provides. One of the tours offered is focused on the fire program at the refuge.

During the fire program tour, participants are given the opportunity to spend time talking with the District Fire Management Officer about the way fire is used on the refuge for habitat management and to reduce the risk of fire spreading off of the 57,191-acre refuge onto neighboring private lands. The tour included watching firefighters conduct a habitat improvement burn.

This was the third year that the refuge offered the fire portion of the festival. Fire and refuge management believe it gives the public a comprehensive look at fire and its role in habitat improvement from the perspective of the practitioners. Visitors are given a rare chance to ask questions and gain a real understanding of not only the benefit, but also the hazards associated with the use of fire.

Participants often comment on the professionalism of fire personnel and leave with not only a better understanding of fire management, but also a sense of confidence that fire personnel with our land management agencies are well trained, competent and professional.

Bosque del Apache, in New Mexico, was founded for the protection of migrating and wintering birds such as the sandhill crane; however it is also refuge for other migratory birds and multiple resident species.