Beatrice, Nebraska - Homestead National Historical Park has prepared a Fire Management Plan and associated Environmental Assessment that will guide wildfire response and prescribed fire use at the park for the next decade.
Changes from the current plan include using prescribed fire within the oak woodland as a management tool and including the area east of the Heritage Center.
Tallgrass prairie and the associated oak woodlands rely on disturbance; weather patterns provide some of the disturbance with alternating periods of above and below normal rainfall and fire is another big part of the disturbance regime. Historically many of the fires would have been human caused; American Indians understood and used fire as a tool for hunting and management of their lands. This plan allows managers to continue using prescribed fire in the prairie and to start using it in the woodland.
The public is invited to review the Fire Management Plan and its associated environmental assessment from Jan. 20, 2021 through Feb. 21, 2021. It can be found at: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/HOME_FMP_2021
If you are unable to access the online version, please call the park at 402-223-3514 and we will be able to help you gain access to a hard copy of the documents. It is preferred to receive comments through the website referenced above, however we will gladly accept written comments dropped off at the monument or sent to Homestead National Historical Park, 8523 West State Hwy 4, Beatrice, NE 68310 or you can call 402-223-3514.
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www.nps.gov
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Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
