Veterans Fire Corps: Veterans Take On Fire Management in National Parks

The 2022 pilot crew, veterans of the Army and Marine Corps. NPS.

The Veterans Fire Corps

The Veterans Fire Corps (VFC), part of the Conservation Legacy program, connects veterans with training and jobs in fire management. Working with the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, AmeriCorps, the National Park Service and state agencies, it has since 2009 engaged over 400 veterans, worked over 10,000 acres and put in over 50,000 hours of fire-related work.

The 2022 pilot

From January to April 2022, the NPS ran a pilot training program for recent-era veterans. The crew worked across New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia and helped with fire management at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, treating 250 acres:

• restoring historic landscapes;
• treating invasive species;
• fuel reduction, including around historic structures;
• preparing for prescribed burns.

Fuel reduction around park historic structures. NPS.

Why it matters

Measures like fire breaks let natural fire play its part without irreparable damage. Crew leader Timothy Cannon, working at Nuttallburg, described the goal as letting natural processes happen in a controlled way — taking the fear out of fire and helping people see it as a natural part of a healthy ecosystem rather than something bad.

The Veterans in Fire Management story map has more, including interviews with the crew.

Sources

Based on "Veterans' Skills Parlay Success Reaching Fire Management Goals for the National Park Service," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.