Not all wildland fire is bad. In its natural role, wildland fire cleans ecosystems and regenerates native habitat upon which wildlife thrives.

In fact, for centuries Native Americans used fire to improve hunting potential or to farm. Quick to learn, many of the first European settlers too used fire and for the same purpose.

Subsequent settlers, however, abandoned the practice, which, combined with an increasing wildland fire problem, led eventually to the exclusion of wildland fire from forests and woodlands, nationwide. The result - an increase in ready-to-burn fuels and the catastrophic wildland fires of today.

A BLM Ely District wildland firefighter using a drip torch to ignite a prescribed burn is captured in the flame's radiant heat. Prescribed fire is just one of the tools used by the BLM Ely District to decrease the amount of burnable fuels and improve native habitat for wildlife, e.g., sage grouse

The BLM Ely District is today taking a pro-active stand in returning wildland fire to its natural and recurring role in the environment. This makes fire management one of the district's most challenging programs, encompassing education and prevention, pre-suppression and suppression, as well as planning and managing natural fire, and conducting prescribed burns. Guiding all BLM Ely District fire management decisions is the Ely District Fire Management Plan, part of which is the Ely Managed Natural and Prescribed Fire Plan (click link to learn more).

Fire management, which relies heavily upon science to make decisions, plays a key and significant role in the Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Project, or ENLRP, and consequently, the Great Basin Restoration Initiative or GBRI (click links to learn more).