Wildfire Risk Reduction on Nantucket Conservation Foundation Properties
2012 Wildfire Risk Reduction Program
The Foundation's staff and Board of Trustees are in the process of developing a comprehensive Wildland Fire Management Plan for the Foundation's properties on Nantucket. The goal of this effort is to identify land management strategies that will reduce "fuel loads" of highly flammable vegetation on Foundation properties, especially where they occur in close proximity to homes, while also complementing existing ecological and passive recreation management objectives.
We will be launching a program in 2012 to raise funds for implementing various land management techniques recommended in this plan, including brushcutting firebreaks, conducting prescribed burns, and undertaking other mechanical vegetation removal strategies. A key component of this effort will be to increase public awareness of wildfire danger on the island and educate local neighborhood groups about steps that individual homeowners can take to reduce their vulnerability to property damage by wildfire. In addition, the Foundation has been working closely with the Nantucket Fire Department and other government agencies help prepare materials, including the brochure "How to Protect Yourself, Property, and Nantucket" to assist our education efforts. We will also be updating this site (and our new website to be launched in the Summer of 2012) with more information on the program as progress is made.
To help support our Wildfire Risk Reduction Program please click here.
Prescribed Burning - To access more information that explains why Nantucket's open space managers conduct prescribed burns, the precautions that are taken to ensure that they are done in a safe an controlled manner, and the benefits of utilizing this management technique please click here.
For more information about the goals and objectives of the Wildfire Management Plan please click here.
Evacuation Procedures - for more information on how to prepare your family (and your property) in the event you are evacuated please click here .
(this document was reprinted with the permission of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management)
To read more about how wildfires have affected other parts of the country this summer please click here to access a recent (July 2012) article in the NY Times.