Monitoring and Research

Denali National Park and Preserve’s fire ecology program supports Alaska Western Area Fire Management team (AWAFM) through research and monitoring. By studying fire behavior and fire effects on park resources, AWAFM are able to develop science-based management objectives. Management decisions and strategies are ever-changing as science progresses.

Fire ecologists perform a wide variety of complex fire management support tasks, including pre/post monitoring of wildfires and fuel thinning treatments, participating in wildland fire assignments, and analyzing field data. The Alaska fire ecology program monitors changes in vegetation, fuel arrangement and accumulation, ladder fuel (the vertical strata in which fire can spread), and fuel moisture. These ecological characteristics can provide a well-rounded image of how fire might behave in an ecosystem as well as how that ecosystem might recover. The Alaska Western Area Fire Management team can then use these statistical and biological analysis to design and implement wildland fire operations and tactics. This positive feedback loop between ecologists and land managers is called adaptative management.