Clearing Brush Around Park Buildings in the Mid-Atlantic and New England

Brush ground up around the historic village of Walpack, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. NPS/Matthew Boss.

Defensible space

In 2021, wildland fire staff across the Park Service's Interior Region 1 and the National Capital Area kept protecting park buildings by clearing brush and trees next to them. The work follows the Wildland Fire Risk Assessment Project, a bureau-wide effort to create and maintain defensible space around park infrastructure.

At New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Cape Cod National Seashore, the projects did more than reduce fire risk: they restored visitor access to buildings and returned the landscapes to a more historical appearance.

Measuring the result

• After each project, buildings in the treated area were reassessed under the wildfire risk protocol, recording the lighter fuel load and lower risk.
• Contractors, coordinated across the region, reassessed more than 650 structures at eight parks in Virginia.
• In the past seven years, more than 93% of the region's structures have been assessed, and mechanical treatments and prescribed fire have reduced hazardous fuels around them since.
• Reassessments show fire and land managers which structures and parks to prioritize next.

The database behind it

The Wildfire Risk Assessment Geodatabase stores each structure's location and details — access, surroundings, construction materials, defensibility and safety concerns. The data are shared through the National Interagency Fire Center's ArcGIS Online organization with decision-support systems and the public.

Sources

Based on "Hazardous Fuel Reduction Treatments in the National Capital Area Protects Structures," National Park Service Fire and Aviation Management; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source places Walpack in Pennsylvania; it is in New Jersey.