Prescribed fire also can be the most cost-effective way to maintain such historic scenes as the open grasslands of the Revolutionary War era at Saratoga National Historical Park in New York, oak-prairie savanna of the Civil War era at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Missouri and vistas of the Nez Perce War of 1877 at Big Hole National Battlefield in Montana. By burning away accumulated fuels and protecting specific sites, planned fires make landscapes safer for future natural fires. Fuel buildups sometimes must be cut and removed by hand. Burning key areas in advance, thereby removing fuels from the path of a future unwanted fire, can protect specific buildings, cultural resources, critical natural resources, and habitats.
The fire may be designed to create a mosaic of diverse habitats for plants and animals, to help an endangered species recover, or to reduce fuels and thereby prevent a destructive fire. If it moves outside the predetermined area, the fire may be suppressed. A scientific prescription for the fire, prepared in advance, describes its objectives, fuels, size and the ideal environmental conditions for it to burn. Prescribed fire is one of the most important tools used to manage fire today. The goal is to restore fire's role as a dynamic and necessary natural process. This means planning for the inevitable and promoting the use of fire as a land management tool. National Park Service policy stresses managing fire, not simply suppressing it. Under certain conditions, large, hot fires can threaten public safety, devastate property, damage natural and cultural resources, and be expensive and dangerous to fight. If all fire is suppressed, fuel builds up and makes bigger fires inevitable. Many plants and animals cannot survive without the cycles of fire or flooding to which they are adapted. Such forces of change are completely natural. Wildland fire has great potential to change park landscapes more often than volcanoes, earthquakes or even floods. A prescribed fire burns outside of a fence at the historic Novillo Line Camp.
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