National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Success Story
National Park Service Communicates Cohesive Strategy to Stakeholders
National Interagency Fire Center, Idaho
Cohesive Strategy - Maintain and Restore Resilient Landscapes
2012
On a daily basis, the National Park Service (NPS) Division of Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) work with interagency counterparts and other stakeholders to facilitate implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The Cohesive Strategy (CS) is an ongoing effort by Federal, Tribal, state and local governments and non-government organizations to address growing wildfire challenges in the United States. For more information, visit the Forests and Rangelands website. Since the inception of the CS, NPS FAM has learned many valuable lessons about communicating the CS effort. The foremost lesson is that effective implementation of the Cohesive Strategy will only occur if the NPS has successfully communicated the CS tenets first to the NPS community.
Good communications is inherent in the mission of the NPS. It is a recognized part of the job of all employees. As part of the strategy of open communication, FAM collects success stories focused on how units implement Cohesive Strategy at the ground level. This is done using the existing chain of command; from the park unit to the region where the material is reviewed and subsequently submitted to NPS FAM. In the spirit of a national, multi-agency, multi-stakeholder approach to Cohesive Strategy, the NPS success stories are shared with all interested parties on the National Park Service FAM website and on the Forest and Rangelands website.
In addition to compiling success stories, NPS leadership initiated bimonthly phone calls for the first two phases of the CS, connecting the Wildland Fire Branch Chief to NPS employees on regional and park-level committees. . As the CS moves into Phase III, calls occur on a monthly basis, reinforcing internal agency communication in order to support the goals of the Cohesive Strategy.
Through already tested modes of communication, the NPS FAM community has been able to disseminate the key messages of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy in an efficient and effective manner. The National Park Service understands that it must do its part in this “All-Lands, All-Hands” approach to fire.
Contact: Bill Kaage, Branch Chief, NPS Wildland Fire, william_kaage@nps.gov, (208) 387-5225.