You can put this in the rumor category for now, but Wildfire Today has been informed that the Department of Interior is considering a realignment of the office that manages their aviation program, including wildfire aviation. The Aviation Management Directorate (AMD) which now reports to the National Business Center (NBC) may be renamed and moved to the DOI’s Office of Wildland Fire Coordination. If the changes being considered actually take place, and it could happen as early as April, the new name will be “Office of Aviation Services”, or OAS. If “OAS” sounds familiar it is because until about 2004 the organization was called “Office of Aircraft Services”, or OAS.

We talked to Stew Walker, the Deputy Associate Director of the AMD who told us that the changes we had heard about were “pre-decisional”. Beyond that he would not comment and referred us to Warren Christopher, the NBC’s Chief of Staff. Calls to Mr. Christopher were not returned.

The AMD’s function is “…to raise the safety standards, increase the efficiency, and promote the economical operation of aircraft activities in the Department of the Interior”.  We don’t know if that will change if they move from the NBC over to the Office of Wildland Fire Coordination, which is responsible for the coordination, integration, and oversight of wildland fire management programs within the Department of the Interior (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service).

Previously shoe-horning the aviation program into the NBC which handles information technology, acquisition, administrative operations, financial management, personnel, and payroll, seemed like an unusual fit. Perhaps the thought is that it is more logical for aviation to work for the wildland fire group than an administrative services organization.

As we understand it, here are the past, present, and pre-decisional rumored organizational structures:

Until about 2004:

• Office of the Secretary of Interior
• —Office of Aircraft Services (there may have been a layer between the OAS and the Secretary’s office)

From about 2004 until the present:

• Office of the Secretary of Interior
• —-Asst. Secretary, Policy, Management and Budget
• ——-National Business Center
• ———-Aviation Management Directorate

Possible new structure, perhaps beginning around April, 2012:

• Office of Secretary of Interior
• —-Asst. Secretary, Policy, Management and Budget
• ——-Office of Wildland Fire Coordination
• ———–Office of Aviation Services

This is not confirmed and should be treated as a rumor for now.