Success Stories

The Tanana Chiefs Conference Fire Crew, which consists mostly of Alaskan Natives tribal members, joined with the NPS Alaska Region Eastern Area Fire Management Program to complete a fuels project in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve during summer 2014 as part of NPS efforts to create fire-adapted human communities.

On April 22, 2016, Homestead National Historical Park conducted the first prescribed fire in the National Park Service (NPS) using a small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) for interior ignition. Twenty six acres of restored tallgrass prairie were successfully burned according to management objectives through the collaborative efforts of the Department of Interior National Park Service and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

In February 2021, South Florida Fire and Aviation transitioned to an Exclusive Use (EU) Contract helicopter while continuing to operate a DOI fleet aircraft as well. Acquisition of this EU helicopter brought substantial improvement through its ability to perform fire suppression and prescribed fire missions.

During the week of December 10, 2017, twenty-eight National Park Service (NPS) airplane and helicopter pilots, pilot trainees, national and regional aviation staff attended the 2017 DOI National Pilot Ground School (NPGS). The weeklong training brought together over 100 DOI pilots from the NPS, US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and DOI’s Office of Aviation Services (OAS).

Faces of Aviation, Grand Teton National Park Short-Haul Program

James Sullivan, South Florida Parks and Preserve Chief of Wildland Fire and Aviation, receives the 2019 NPS Interior Region 2 Wildland Fire and Aviation Excellence Award. Department of the Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt presented the award alongside Pedro Ramon, the Superintendent of Everglades National Park. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in leadership development, operational leadership, and cooperation and collaboration.

Over the course of the last few months we have watched our way of life change dramatically as COVID-19 has forced people to learn to live much more cautiously. And yet, with all that is happening, some things continue on as they always have.

Staff from all levels of the National Park Service in law enforcement, United States Park Police, as well as fire and aviation spent a week learning leadership lessons from one another as well as from a diverse group of leaders during the last week of September 2019.

Channel Islands Aviation pilot Mark Oberman responded to assist Channel Islands National Park employees on December 5, 2017 when the Thomas fire burned on the mainland. For his efforts, the NPS awarded him with an Airward.

On August 27, 2013, a snag struck a Chena Hotshot assigned to the Kelley fire on the Sawtooth National Forest. Thanks to the short-haul-capable Teton Interagency helicopter and crew members, the hotshot was quickly rescued off the mountain and provided emergency medical care.