PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION 1.1Introduction

1.2Purpose and Need of the Action

The existing FMP for the park needs to be revised to meet current NPS policies. NPS and National Interagency Fire Center policies have changed since the 2004 FMP was written. Revisions and updates have been made to NPS Reference Manual 18 (NPS 2014a) to comply with the 2009 Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy (U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture 2009). The revision of the FMP is needed to allow the park to use fire management activities to achieve the multiple resource objectives described below while also protecting visitors, facilities, and resources on and adjacent to the park.

In addition to changes in fire management policies, the park’s 2004 FMP states that the scope of wildland fire elements to be implemented does not include prescribed fire and that all wildland fire will be suppressed. The FMP cites air quality issues in the Chattanooga area as the reason not to use prescribed fire within the park (NPS 2004a:12). The Chattanooga metropolitan area has been reclassified as an attainment area for National Ambient Air Quality Standards as of November 2015. In addition, both the states of Georgia and Tennessee have established burn programs allowing outdoor burning during certain times of the year (Georgia Air Protection Branch 2016; Tennessee Division of Forestry 2016).

The park FMP currently allows for a combination of wildland fire suppression and non-fire applications, such as mechanical treatments, to create and maintain hazardous fuel breaks along the park’s perimeter, maintain defensible space around park buildings, and manage the park’s cultural landscape. The park would like to add prescribed fire as a tool to its resource management program to reduce hazardous fuels within the park and restore the cultural landscapes to approximate the appearance of the historic scene existing at the time of the 1863 battles (NPS 2015). In addition, park management has identified natural resource management goals that can be achieved using prescribed fire, including but not limited to restoring the globally unique limestone glades (commonly referred to as cedar glades) natural community, addressing the shift in forest composition from oak-hickory forest type to less-resilient forest communities, and managing invasive, nonnative species such as Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) (NPS 1988, 2014b, 2015).

Figure 1.. Project vicinity.

In some park locations, long-standing fire suppression efforts have led to the buildup of dense stands of trees and understory vegetation that contributes to fuel loading and negatively impacts the cultural landscapes within the park (NPS 2015). The use of prescribed fire would be a tool used by the park to restore important historic settings and views to enhance interpretation, while reducing the threat of destructive wildfires (NPS 2015). At the Chickamauga Battlefield FMU, it is estimated that current open areas comprise approximately half of those present inside the park boundaries during the 1863 battle (NPS 2004a).

Dendrochronology (tree-ring) studies in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina provide evidence of fires that have occurred in the Appalachian region for more than 300 years (Harmon 1982; Aldrich et al. 2010; LaForest 2012; Flatley et al. 2013; McEwan et al. 2013). In general, these researchers have documented the frequent occurrence of fire during historic times, with an average fire return interval of 5 to 15 years, in oak (Quercus sp.) and pine (Pinus sp.) forests. Frost (1998) documents a regional fire return internal of 13 to 25 years. These same studies tell us that fires have been largely nonexistent over the past 60 to 80 years (Aldrich et al. 2010; Flatley et al. 2013; McEwan et al. 2013), which corresponds with the national fire suppression management approach starting around the early 1930s.

Researchers have documented changes to the pine and oak forests since at least the 1980s (Harmon 1982; Abrams 1992; Turrill et al. 1995; Harrod et al. 1998; Flatley et al. 2015). In general, these studies have shown that since fires have become less frequent, large numbers of shade-, fire-, and drought-intolerant trees have “invaded” southern Appalachian forests. The fire-intolerant species that most affect the forests of the park include red maple (Acer rubrum) and black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), among others (Govus and White 2006). Increased numbers of these species have led to heavy shading in these forests, which diminishes the ability of pines and oaks to regenerate. The lack of fire also has caused a buildup of thick duff and litter on the forest floor, which further contributes to the failure of oak and pine regeneration. Today, as the oldest pine and oak trees die from old age, windthrow, insects, etc., they are replaced by these invader species, resulting in the conversion of open, sunny pine and oak woodlands to closed forests of maple. This conversion adversely affects many wildlife species (NPS 2013).

These same processes of shading and fuel buildup have reduced the abundance and productivity of sun-loving herbs and grasses, which have largely disappeared from these forests (Harrod et al. 2000). The loss of stable, fire- and drought-resistant forests, and the resultant loss of species diversity in the herb layer, have tremendous negative implications for other taxa (insects, birds, reptiles, etc.) that have depended on open, fire-maintained pine and oak woodlands for hundreds or even thousands of years. In addition, 2009 monitoring efforts of the limestone glades within the park indicate a decline in the natural integrity of these areas and a significant decrease in the average density of plants endemic to the glades (NatureServe 2009). Recommended management to restore the limestone glades include the targeted removal of Chinese privet and the re-introduction of fire into the forest/woodland environment to ensure the glades are not overtaken by aggressive species, particularly eastern red-cedar (Juniperus virginiana) (NatureServe 2009).

1.2.1Fire History of the Park

Since the establishment of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, park policy has been to suppress all wildland fires within park boundaries. Park fire history records, as reported in the Wildland Fire Management Information reporting system, show that since 1946 there have been 162 wildland fires, burning over 1,200 acres in the park. Eight of the fire events are reported as “natural” and the remaining 154 wildfires are reported as human caused. The average fire size within the park, based on fire history data, is 7 acres, with 95 fire events reported as less than 1 acre. The three largest fires in the park’s history were 300 acres (Chickamauga unit in 1976), 120 acres (Chickamauga unit in 1976), and 165 acres (Lookout Mountain unit in 1980). Fires have occurred in all ecotypes in the park including grasslands, wetlands, shrubs, and forested lands.

1.2.2Federal Wildland Fire Policy

NPS Reference Manual 18 requires all parks with vegetation capable of sustaining fire develop an FMP to meet the specific resource objectives for that park and to ensure firefighter and public safety are not compromised. NPS Reference Manual 18 identifies wildland fire management activities as “essential to the accomplishment of the NPS mission” (NPS 2014a:Chapter 1, pg. 4).

NPS Reference Manual 18 cites the federal fire cohesive strategic goals:

1. 
   Restore and maintain landscapes: Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire-related disturbances in accordance with management objectives.
   
2. 
   Create fire-adaptive communities: Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life and property.
   
3. 
   Respond to wildfire: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions.
   

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