Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and Restoration
On January 5, 2015, U. S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell signed Secretarial Order Number 3336, Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and Restoration (“Order”) (PDF, 86 KB). The Order set in motion actions to enhance the protection, conservation, and restoration of a healthy sagebrush-steppe ecosystem, and to address important public safety, economic, cultural, and social concerns. This effort built upon the experience and success of addressing rangeland fire and the broader wildland fire prevention, suppression and restoration efforts to date. This included the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and the recent The Next Steppe: Sage-Grouse and Rangeland Fire in the Great Basin conference, and ensured improved coordination with local, state, tribal and regional efforts to address the threat of rangeland fire at a landscape-level.
A Rangeland Fire Task Force, led by the Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary, was established to review existing policies and programs, seek input from partners, and develop a science-based strategy to reduce the threat of large-scale rangeland fire.
The Task Force submitted to the Secretary of the Interior two reports: an Initial Report (PDF, 1.8 MB) that identified immediate actions to implement prior to the 2015 Western fire season and a Final Report (PDF, 4.5 MB) of future activities to implement during calendar year 2015 and beyond. Interagency Federal Task Groups worked in collaboration with tribes, state and local governmental partners, and other stakeholders to develop these reports.
For additional information, please contact rangelandfire@ios.doi.gov.