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2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference will be held in Destin, Florida March 26-30, 2007.

The Teakettle Ecosystem Experiment and Fire and Forest Health DVD Site!

SageSTEP Land Management Treatments

The 2007 EastFIRE Conference will be held in Fairfax, Virginia June 5-8, 2007.

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JFSP Projects in Progress

You may search JFSP Project Information by the following: Project Number, Title, Principal Investigator, Cooperators or key words contained in a brief description of the project.


Workshops and Symposia

FY 2006 Projects

06-S-03: International Symposium Forest Fires and Air Quality Issues

Andrzej Bytnerowicz
Pacific Southwest Research Station
Atmospheric Deposition RWU-4451
Riverside, CA 92507-6099
Phone: (909) 680-1562
E-mail: abytnerowicz@fs.fed.us

 

Presenting state-of-science information and discussion of broadly defined air pollution and forest fire issues. Among others, the following topics will be discussed: effects of forest fires on air quality in the remote and urban-wildland interface forests; effects of forest fires on air quality of nearby urban communities; management and ecological factors predisposing forest to fires (including catastrophic one as those in southern California in 2003); remote sensing of fire events and smoke/air pollution plumes; effects of climate change on probability of fire occurrence; models describing genetation of air pollutants such as ozone and particulate matter down-wind from fires; effects of fires on water quality of mountain watersheds; effects of fires on nitrogen and carbon cycling (including effects on C resources); ecological changes in forest caused by fires. The meeting will result in in publication of a peer-reviewed volume (Elsevier Publishing Company).

FY 2005 Projects

05-S-06: East Wildland Fire, Remote Sensing, Modeling, and Management Decision Support Systems (Eastfire)

G. Sam Foster
USFS, WO
Rosslyn Plaza-C 4th Floor
1601 North Kent St
Arlington, VA 22209
Ph: (703) 605-5251
E-mail: gfoster@fs.fed.us

Other Cooperators:
Allen R. Riebeau, USFS

This conference will specifically address wildland fire in the Eastern US, a topic of cruicial interest to the USDA, Forest Service and Department of Interior fire managers. Although the conference will focus on the East, the scientific and technology topics have national and international implications. Topics now proposed for the conference include: 1)Remote Sensing and Modeling of Fire Occurrence, Behavior and Burned Areas 2) Modeling of Climate Change and Wildland Fire 3) Remote Sensing and Simulation Models to Assess Social, Cultural, and Economics of Fire 4) Remote Sensing and Modeling of Fire and Air Quality 5) Fire, Biodiversity, Landscapes, and Remote Sensing Applications 6) Remote Sensing and Modeling Tools for Wildland Fire in Landscapes and Watersheds 7) Remote Sensing and Modeling Applications for Wildland Fire Fueld Treatment 8) Decision Support Systems for Wildland Fiire in the Eastern States.

05-S-09: 1st Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference

Pat Andrews
USFS, RMRS
5775 W. Hwy 10
Missoula, MT 59802
Ph: (406) 329-4827
E-mail: pandrews@fs.fed.us

 

Conference to address fuels management and how to measure success. IAWF (International Association of Wildland Fire) has worked with the Interagency Fuels Committee on initial planning.

FY 2003 Projects

03-S-02: 2nd International Wildland Fire Ecology and Fire and Management Congress and the 5th Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology

Jim Brenner
Fire Management
Administrator
Florida Division of Forestry
3125 Conner Blvd.
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Other Cooperators:
Joe Ferguson

The purpose/objectives of the 2nd Congress is an open exchange of information between fire managers, land managers, fire ecologists and the meteorological and climatological community. As stated above, the issue of wildland fire has become one of great concern. The economic costs alone on an annual basis have attracted the attention Congress and OMB. These costs do not take into consideration the ecological costs associated with types of fire activity we have seen over the past few decades.

03-S-03: A Workshop to Develop a Comprehensive Approach to Identifying the Essential Elements of Collaboration

Pamela Jakes
USFS, NCRS
1992 Folwell Avenue
St. Paul , MN 55108
Phone: 651-649-5163
E-mail: pjakes@fs.fed.us

Other Cooperators:
Daniel Williams, RMRS

This JFSP proposal seeks to characterize and compare different collaborative planning efforts for community protection and ecosystem restoration related to wildfire, and to determine key elements of collaborative success (Task 2 of AFP, 2003-1). There is a rich literature on collaboration on a broad range of natural resource issues, and a soon-to-be completed project supported by the USDA Forest Service will provide a synthesis of this literature in terms of what it means for hazardous fuels management. We propose holding a facilitated workshop of land managers, partners, and social science researchers who would use this synthesis as the foundation to build a research proposal to identify the essential elements of collaboration and blueprint for managers seeking more collaborative relationships with their partners.

03-U-01: II International Symposium on fire, economic, planning and policy: a global vision

Armando Gonzales-Caban
PSW, Forest Fire Lab
4955 Canyon Crest Dr .
Riverside , CA 92507
Phone: 909-680-1525
E-mail: agonzalezcaban@fs.fed.us

 

This symposium will focus on seven major themes:

Regional and global vision of the forest fire problem. Theory and methods for strategic fire planning. Nonmarket and market valuation methods for strategic fire planning. Forest firs and sustainable forest management. Public policies and forest management. Poster session: Local, Regional, and National fire management plans. Round table session: Where do we go from here? Future economic implications, of forest fires.

FY 2002 Projects

02-S-02: Fire in the West: a climate fuels assessment symposium

Tom Swetnam
Univ. of Arizona
104 West Stadium
Tucson, AZ 85721
Ph: (520) 621-2112
E-mail: tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu

 

Forum: Bring together key decision makers, information providers, researchers, and managers.to discuss climate implications for management of forest fire hazards and prescribed burning.

Consensus Climate Forecast. Climate forecast experts will present their latest seasonal climate forecasts. They will also convene in a special session to create a consensus climate forecast for the Western U.S. for the 2002 fire season. The consensus forecast will be summarized to participants at the conference, and conveyed in print, in the Web, and as a press release.

Stimulate Thought and Discussion: Top researchers will present results of cutting-edge research on the interaction between climate and fire in a half-day symposium. Folks will include commentary by regional fire managers on the relevance of this research to fire management practices. A second half-day symposium will explore the climate-fire nexus from the perspective of social context and community interaction.

Outlook: Climate forecasters and fuels experts will present information essential to determining the potential severity of the upcoming fire season.

Feedback: As in past years, participant feedback is a key element to improving communication between climate and fire professionals, and to improving these workshops. Participants will contribute much valued ideas and viewpoints on fire management needs for climate information, and climate research needs for information on fire management practices.

Special Session: A small group of specialists, coordinated by Sam Billington of the Southwest Coordination Center (SWCC) and Tim Brown of CEPA/Desert Research Institute will prepare an outlook for the upcoming fire season and an accompanying expert report. Their work will be informed by the climate forecast and fuels assessment talks of the previous two meeting days. plus specific material that they will be requested to bring just for this occasion. They will devote part of their time to scenario building, based on climate, fuels and other factors; the other part of their time will be devoted to writing. The report will be prepared for immediate distribution to land management administrative units, and it will be made available via the SWCC web site and mirrored at the CEFA/DRI and CLIMAS iceS sites. 4 press releases will accompany the report.

02-S-03: Symposium, fire and invasive plant ecology

Matt Brooks
USGS, WERC
160 N. Stephanie St
Henderson, NV 89074
Ph: (702) 564-4615
E-mail: matt_brooks@usgs.gov

 

2002 Symposium in Tucson, AZ on the inter-relationships between fire and invasive plants.

FY 2001 Projects

01-S-02: 4th Symposium on Fire & Forest Meteorology

Sue Ferguson
USFS, PNW
4043 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Phone: 206-732-7828
E-mail: sferguson@fs.fed.us

 

The 4th Symposium on Fire and Meteorology was held on November 13-15, 2001 in Reno, Nevada. This symposium was designed so that scientists could share experiences and information on new or changing technologies in weather and climate that affect fire, fuels and smoke. The additional money supplied to the American Meteorological Society to sponsor this conference was directed toward deepening the scope of the symposium in addressing the relationship between weather and climate with fuels inventory, treatments, evaluation and monitoring. A second goal was to foster interest and broaden understanding of fire among a new generation of scientists as they consider careers in wildland research. Both a proceedings and a special issue of the International Journal of Wildland Fire are expected products of this Symposium.

01-S-03: Fire and Climate 2001 Workshop

Francis Fujioka
4955 Canyon Crest Drive
Riverside, CA 92507
Phone: (909) 680-1552
E-mail: ffujioka@fs.fed.us

 

A Fire and Climate Workshop was conducted on February 14-16, 2001 in Tucson, Arizona. The workshop was designed to bring together key individuals from fire prone regions in the continental United States, climate experts, and officials from federal land management agencies to review the 2000 fire season, discuss potential fire risk for 2001, and identify ways that climate information can be better integrated into planning and decision making activities. An additional goal was to identify a process for sustaining interactions between fire managers, researchers, and climate forecasters to assure timely and appropriate provision of climate information. A proceedings volume was produced and distributed to share knowledge from this workshop.

01-S-04: Climate Variability and Associated Wildfire Implications

James Brenner
Forest Protection Bureau
Florida Division of Forestry
3125 Conner Blvd., Suite A
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Phone: 850-488-6111
E-mail: brennej@doacs.state.fl.us

 

A Climate Variability and Wildland Fire Workshop is planned to bring together fire managers (public and private), climate scientists (climatologists and oceanographers), and fire researchers to explore the connection between climatic phenomena (such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation and global warming) and wildland fire activity in the Southeast and Western United States. Primary goals of the workshop are to identify fire management questions related to climate and identify individuals and tools available to help supply answers to these questions. This information exchange will help in anticipating and planning for severe fire seasons.

01-U-02: Workshop on Fire and Climate History in Western North and South America

Tom Swetnam
Laboratory of
Tree Ring Research
104 West Stadium
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone: (520) 621-2112
E-mail: tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu

Additional Cooperators:
Donald A. Falk - University of Arizona

Fire is the most ecologically important climate-linked disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems, from grasslands to shrublands and woodlands to forests. Fire frequency over long time scales is controlled by climate, and as climate varies the importance of fire in shaping and maintaining patterns of vegetation also changes. The linkages and feedbacks among changes in climate, fire regime, and vegetation, however are poorly understood. A workshop planned for April 2002 at the University of Arizona will focus on the current state of knowledge on fire and its linkages with climate and ecosystem change. The workshop provides an opportunity for comparing existing data sets, examining possible climate linkages, and identifying areas for future research.

FY 1999 Projects

99-1-2-04: National conference on social acceptability of fuel treatments in forest and grassland environments

Alan Watson
USFS,
Aldo Leopold
Research Institute
P.O. Box 8089
Missoula, MT 59807
Phone: (406) 542-4197
E-mail: awatson@fs.fed.us

Additional Cooperators:
Ron Wakimoto - Univ. of MT
James Burchfield - Bolle Center for People and Forests
William Borrie - Univ. of MT

The treatment of fuel build-ups in forest and grassland environments, especially through fire, is an ancient practice of human communities, yet the social acceptability of these treatments in today’s society is poorly understood. Agencies attempting to move forward with fuel treatments in the absence of social and political consent may meet with resistance. This project will assemble current information on the social acceptance of fuel treatments and convene a national conference to identify the function of social science in understanding and applying fuel treatment options.

FY 1998 Projects

98-1-1-07: Mapping fuels using remote sensing and biophysical modeling

Robert Keane
USFS, RMRS
Fire Sciences Lab
5775 W. Hwy. 10
Missoula, MT 59802
Phone: (406) 329-4846
E-mail: rkeane@fs.fed.us

Additional Cooperators:
Greg Gollberg, Univ. of Idaho
Leon Neunschwander, University of Idaho
Neil Sampson, American Forests
Jan van Wagendonk, USGS
LLoyd Queen, University of Montana and others

Across the globe, advances in our ecological understanding of fire have and must continue to play a preeminent role in shaping the course of wildland fire management. However, the role that technology plays is proportionately important and equally pervasive. In recent years, developments in communication, spatial, and modeling technologies are changing how we perceive the process of wildfire, and they affect how we manage it. In June 1999 in Boise, Idaho, USA, an effort was made to bring wildland fire professionals together to begin to address how to integrate and utilize these technologies. A 3-day conference and workshop was held, entitled ‘Crossing the Millennium: Integrating Spatial Technologies and Ecological Principles for a New Age in Fire Management’. In total, 17 invited papers and 105 contributed and poster papers were presented to an international audience of wildland fire researchers, managers and technicians. An all-day workshop on the final day of the conference produced seven general recommendations. These recommendations are presented in the Workshop Summary Report along with the contributed and poster papers, in a two-volume set of proceedings published in 2000 by the University of Idaho. The proceedings are available online at: http://jfsp.nifc.gov