Blazing Heritage: - A History of Wildland Fire in the National Parks

National parks played a unique role in the development of wildfire management on American public lands. With a different mission and powerful meaning to the public, the national parks were a psychic battleground for the contests between fire suppression and its use as a management tool. Blazing Heritage tells how the national parks shaped federal fire management. This Volume Explores How The National Parks Shaped United States' Federal Fire Management Policies. Starting In 1886, The Military Arrived In Yellowstone National Park To Guard The Area And Fight Fires. Unlike The U.s. Forest Service, The National Park Service, Created In 1916, Never Had The Resources To Fight Wildfires, And An Uneasy Contention Between The Two Existed For Decades. College-educated Scientists Emerged In The Postwar Years With Ecological Studies And Conceived The Not-so-new Notion Of Fire As A Management Tool. Since Fire Was A Natural Part Of The Ecosystem, Prescribed Burning And Let Burn Responses Were Implemented-with Varying Degrees Of Success. The Author Recounts Different Scenarios, Including The 1988 Yellowstone Fires That Caused Immense Debate Among Scientists And Politicians And The Armageddon In 2000, When A Prescribed Fire Burned Out Of Control Near Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. Fighting Fire On Horseback: The Military In The National Parks, 1872-1916 -- The Development Of A Fire Management Structure -- A Decade Of Transformation: The New Deal And Fire Policy -- Ecology And The Limits Of Suppression In The Postwar Era -- Allowing Fire In The National Park System -- Managing Fire -- Yellowstone And The Politics Of Disaster -- The Hazard Of New Fortunes: Outlet, Cerro Grande, And The Twenty-fire Century. Hal K. Rothman. Includes Bibliographical Notes And Bibliography (p. 207-262) And Index. Contents......Page 10 Introduction: The National Parks and Fire......Page 14 ONE: Fighting Fire on Horseback: The Military in the National Parks, 1872–1916......Page 22 TWO: The Development of a Fire Management Structure......Page 44 THREE: A Decade of Transformation: The New Deal and Fire Policy......Page 64 FOUR: Ecology and the Limits of Suppression in the Postwar Era......Page 86 FIVE: Allowing Fire in the National Park System......Page 112 SIX: Managing Fire......Page 140 SEVEN: Yellowstone and the Politics of Disaster......Page 168 EIGHT: The Hazard of New Fortunes: Outlet, Cerro Grande, and the Twenty-First Century......Page 202 Notes......Page 218 Bibliography......Page 252 A......Page 274 C......Page 275 E......Page 276 F......Page 277 G......Page 280 I......Page 281 L......Page 282 N......Page 283 P......Page 285 R......Page 286 S......Page 287 T......Page 288 U......Page 289 W......Page 290 Y......Page 291 Z......Page 292 National parks played a unique role in the development of wildfire management on American public lands. With a different mission and meaning to the public, they were a psychic battleground for the contests between fire suppression and its use as a management tool. This tells how the national parks shaped federal fire management