The Mission of the Grangeville Smokejumpers

Speed and flexibility make the Grangeville Smokejumpers uniquely suited for contemporary fire-management operations. On the Clearwater/Nez Perce management zone, as elsewhere, administrators understand the relationship between a sound fire environment and the long-term protection of human life, valued property, and natural resources. Recognizing in turn that fire respects no human boundaries, in 1995 the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior committed to the cooperative cultivation of a healthy and safe fire environment across all administrative units.

Such a commitment demands versatility at many levels. The Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests, for instance, contain large portions of designated wilderness in which certain lightening-caused fires may be used for the benefit of natural resources. This Fire Use strategy calls for rapidly deployable personnel with multiple capabilities, from the gathering and communicating of on-scene data, to the protection of isolated structures, to the initiation of suppression tactics (precisely the range of capabilities which has always been expected of Smokejumpers).

Contemporary fire management combines innovation and tradition: The protection of life and property requires both the implementation and the containment of fire (often simultaneously). And in turn, while forest health depends on the tolerance of endemic fire activity, the restoration of disturbed ecosystems sometimes requires the suppression of natural ignitions in favor of planned burns under more favorable circumstances.

It's the ability to adapt to dynamic conditions such as this which has marked the Smokejumping program from its beginning. As a shared national resource, the Grangeville Smokejumpers have long strived to serve the needs of local managers under variable circumstances, and jumpers at GAC possess a unique array of fire management experiences (including service with Fire Use modules in both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, and participation as students and instructors with the Fire Use Training Academy, in Albuquerque, New Mexico). Both at home and elsewhere, the Grangeville Smokejumpers are helping shape effective fire management for the twenty-first century.