SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 3 ⎯ Affected Environmentsmall arms ranges. The alpine zones are classified for Limited fire management because of their remotelocation. Many military resources are at risk from wildland fire in the training areas of the southpost, including two small arms complexes. Additional surveys are needed to ascertain sites whereordnance has been used and disposed. Cultural resources staff identified sites in the south post area,and management options related to wildfire have been determined. The south post is bound by privateparcels and state lands (USARAK 2002b).Fire History and Firefighting ResourcesThe AFS maintains incident reports for fires on the lands used by USARAK. Record keeping has variedover the years. Some fires, therefore, have more information available than others. Eight fireswere recorded between 1956 and 2000, and ranged from one to 25 acres. All fires were human-caused(USARAK 2004). Incendiary devices and lightning are the two major causes of fires on installationlands. Other less common causes of fire are field burning, exhaust, recreation, trash burning, andwarming fires.Three management actions are used to prevent wildfires. First, the likelihood of starting a fire is reducedby limiting military activities, as imposed by the fire danger rating system. Certain military activitiesare restricted when thresholds of risk are reached. Weather readings are collected by theUSARAK Fire Department and used to calculate the fire danger rating according to the CanadianForest Fire Danger Rating System. The fire department provides the rating to Range Control, whichrestricts the level of munitions and pyrotechnics as the fire danger increases. All munitions may beprohibited during extreme fire danger conditions. Second, wildfire danger is lessened by decreasingfuel hazard through the mechanical removal of fuels and through prescribed burning. The third managementaction to help prevent wildfires involves constructing and maintaining fire or fuel woodbreaks.Fire probably had a more important influence on ecosystem functions in the Anchorage area duringpresettlement times. Wildfires were found to be prevalent in the 1800s and early 1900s. Forty-eightpercent of FRA over the past 200 years has been affected by fire (Jorgenson et al. 2002). This was indicatedby the occurrence of early to mid-successional forest stages that have developed since thefires in the 1800s and early 1900s (Jorgenson et al. 2002). Although fires were relatively small andlocalized due to the weather and climate, settlement resulted in fire suppression and the developmentof road systems that further reduced natural fire frequency at FRA.Although wildfires are a concern at FRA, they are rarely a significant problem. Numerous fires havebeen recorded in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley to the north, but no major fires have occurred on FRAsince 1950 (Jorgenson et al. 2002). Severe drought conditions occur about once every 20 years, and,in normal years, there is an average of less than five wildfires. These fires are usually mission-related,small, and easily contained.The FRA Fire Department provides the initial response for wildfire suppression, which has traditionallybeen confined to areas behind the small arms complex. Because of the extensive mortality ofwhite spruce in the area, fire prevention activities were conducted in 1999 and 2000 to reduce fuelloads adjacent to the small arms ranges (USARAK 2002b). When necessary, BLM reimburses theAlaska Division of Forestry to suppress wildfires in the southern half of the state, including FRA. TheDivision of Forestry also provides training for wildfire suppression at FRA. USARAK and ElmendorfAFB have a mutual aid agreement for fire suppression (USARAK 2002b).There is some concern over the spruce bark beetle that killed most of the larger white spruce in thenorth and south post training areas. The dead spruce has resulted in high fuel load conditions on theFebruary 2008 3–105 2/25th SBCT Final EIS