NW Fire Science January Newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
215 Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Subscribe to this newsletter! January 2025 Newsletter --> Hello NW Fire Science Readers,
Happy 2025, we look forward to continuing to share breaking fire science reserarch, publications, news, and resources this year and beyond. We have a quick recap of pubs, resources, and news below as usual with a few special highlights from both recent and upcoming events:
- New webinar series at the end of this month--don't miss the 3 webinars in the new series "Human Causes and Human Consequences of Wildfires in the Western United States."
- New recordings and playlists. Did you miss all or some of our virtual events in the last couple months? Catchup with recordings via the YouTube playlists:
- Post-fire recovery webinar series (5 webinars in October and November, 2024)
- Equity and Environmental Justice in Wildland Fire Virtual Workshop (Sessions over 3 days in November, 2024). Also see the event page for more info and resources.
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> Upcoming webinar series--THIS MONTH!
Join us at the end of the month for a new web series!
NWFSC along with the other 5 western JFSP Fire Science Exchanges are excited to present this enlightening webinar series featuring breaking research, new tools, and land management implications.
Day 1: Interdisciplinary understanding and prediction of wildfires
Presenters: Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; Karen Short, USDA Forest Service
REGISTER: https://oregonstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_84eei80CQF2RnNe4WuotHQ#/registration
Day 2: Disproportionate exposure of socially vulnerable populations to wildfires
Presenters: Erica Fleishman, Oregon State University; Eric Main & Carol Trenga, Oregon Health Authority
REGISTER: https://oregonstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-hEGbKlyR2O5mB5gpUBxMA#…
Day 3: Spatial and temporal trends in causes of human-ignited wildfires
Presenter: John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced
REGISTER: https://oregonstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NdA5Gq7uQyOgB5aiHr0XPw#…
Please see the event page for more info, and share the event with anyone you know who may be interested! --> Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
New Journal articles (pdf available):
- Adams, Fire: Indigenous Fire Data Sovereignty: Applying Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles to Fire Research
- Cansler et al., Ecosphere: Drought before fire increases tree mortality after fire
- Copes-Gerbitz et al., Intrnl. J. Disaster Risk Red.: Cooperative Community Wildfire Response: Pathways to First Nations’ leadership and partnership in British Columbia, Canada
- Cordner, Int. J. Wildland Fire: External drivers of changes in wildland firefighter safety policies and practices
- Frisvold et al., Atmosphere: Demand for Information for Wildland Fire Management
- Hakkenberg et al., Commun Earth Environ: Ladder fuels rather than canopy volumes consistently predict wildfire severity even in extreme topographic-weather conditions
- Hope et al., International Journal of Digital Earth: Exploring the use of satellite Earth observation active wildland fire hotspot data via open access web platforms
- Kirchmeier-Young et al., NPJ Clim Atmos Sci: Human driven climate change increased the likelihood of the 2023 record area burned in Canada
- Martin-Ducup et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology: Unlocking the potential of Airborne LiDAR for direct assessment of fuel bulk density and load distributions for wildfire hazard mapping
- Nguyen et al., PLoS ONE: An optimization model to prioritize fuel treatments within a landscape fuel break network
- O’Neill et al., Int. J. Wildland Fire: Pixels to pyrometrics: UAS-derived infrared imagery to evaluate and monitor prescribed fire behaviour and effects
- Schammel et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.: Metals in Wildfire Suppressants
- Wells et al., Int. J. Wildland Fire: Before the fire: predicting burn severity and potential post-fire debris-flow hazards to conservation populations of the Colorado River Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus)
- White et al., Int. J. Wildland Fire: The influence of wildfire risk reduction programs and practices on recreation visitation
Paywall articles (pdf not available on NWFSC site):
- Abatzoglou et al., J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol.: The Efficacy of Red Flag Warnings in Mitigating Human-Caused Wildfires across the Western United States. **See our upcoming webinar on this research Jan. 30**
- Alan Roebuck et al., Sci. Total Environ.: Molecular shifts in dissolved organic matter along a burn severity continuum for common land cover types in the Pacific Northwest, USA
- Bowman, Nat Sustain: Pathways for sustainable coexistence with wildfires
- Elser et al., JAMA Neurol: Wildfire Smoke Exposure and Incident Dementia
- Nagelson et al., Ecological Applications: Repeated fuel treatments fall short of fire-adapted regeneration objectives in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest, USA
- Xie and Meng, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction: Spatial and temporal analysis of vulnerability disparity of minorities to wildfires in California
Reports:
- Wildfires: Additional Actions Needed to Address FEMA Assistance Challenges. Government Accountability Office. December, 2024. See report.
- Changing Hazards, Exposure, and Vulnerability in the Conterminous United States, 2020–2070. Working Paper, Resources for the Future. December, 2024. See paper.
- West Bend Prescribed Fire Pilot after action review. Ecosystem Workforce Program Working Paper. University of Oregon. December 2024. See Paper.
Fire west of the Cascades: Understanding the past, living in the present, preparing for the future
November 5-7, 2025, Skamania Lodge, WA.
The NWFSC invites you to an engaging and dynamic event designed to transform how we think about and approach management of wet/mesic forests west of the Cascades. This summit will unite experts and community practitioners for an interactive exchange of cutting-edge science and local knowledge and insights. We will dive into critical topics that connect our past, present, and future.
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of an innovative dialogue that shapes the future of these forests.
Save the date! November 5-7, 2025
Stay tuned for information on sponsorship opportunities and other ways to participate in the near future, and bookmark the event page—more details will be posted soon! --> Conferences, workshops, and trainings:
- Wildland Firefighter Mindfulness Retreat. Clatskanie, OR. Jan 14-19. FUSEE. More info and apply.
- Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Spokane, WA. Feb. 9-13, 2025.
- 2025 Central Oregon TREX. May 5-16, 2025. More info & Apply by Feb. 7.
- California Forest Science Symposium. March 24-25. Sacramento, CA. CA Fire Science Consortium. Proposals accepted through Jan.20. More info.
- Wildland-Urban Interface Conference 2025. March 27-29. Kansas City, MO. Early bird registration closes February 19. International Association of Fire Chiefs. More info.
- Wildland Fire Peer-Learning Exchange. April 15-17. Wawona, CA. ANREP National Extension Wildland Fire Initiative. More info.
- Fish & Fire 2025: Where There Are Fish, There is Fire. April 29-May 2. Santa Cruz. CA. Salmonid Restoration Federation. More info.
- 50th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. July 13-16. Broomfield, CO. Natural Hazards Center. More info.
- The 11th World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Sept. 30-Oct. 4. Denver, CO. Society for Ecological Restoration. More info.
- Fire west of the Cascades: Understanding the past, living in the present, preparing for the future. November 5-7, 2025. Stevenson, WA. NWFSC. SAVE THE DATE! Event page.
- 11th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 2-6, 2025. New Orleans, LA. Association for Fire Ecology. SAVE THE DATE!
Equity and Environmental Justice in Wildland Fire Workshop recordings
Revive the Future: Transforming Post-Fire Recovery in the Northwest webinar series recordings --> New & upcoming online events & resources:
- New Web series: Human Causes and Human Consequences of Wildfires in the Western United States. JFSP Fire Science Exchange Network. Learn more.
- New Web series: SCIENCEx Fire: Fuels, Smoke and Post-Fire in the West - 2025 Panel Discussion Series. TEN panel discussions intended for fire, fuels and land managers on topics associated with the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and beyond! See the list of topics and register for one or all-- running from January 16 to April 24.
- New Web series: Fire Ecology of Oregon Forests webinar Series. 9 webinars from January through March, 2025. Oregon State University Extension. More info and register.
- Other upcoming webinars:
- Jan. 13: Prescribed Fire and Air Quality: Exploring three local organizing efforts to align public health and land management goals. Western Governors' Association.
- Jan. 16: Expanding the Fuels Planning Toolkit: Terrestrial Laser Scanning and 3D Fuels Characterization for Improved Wildland Fire Decision Support. Fueling Collaboration Webinar Series.
- Feb. 20: Social Acceptance and Communication Strategies for Wildland Fire Management. Fueling Collaboration Webinar Series.
- New Video: The Fire Problem Documentary. Wilderness Institute at the University of Montana. YouTube (57m).
- New Video: DNR 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan Progress Report. YouTube, 4m.
- Podcast episode, AFE Fire Ecology Chats: E34: Coexisting with wildfire: strengthening collective capacity by changing the status quo
- Storymap: Forest change in a future with more fire
- Video: Partnering with Fire – Learning from Tribal Nations and Indigenous Practices. SW CASC.
Due to the rapidly changing nature of fires, we do not cover news related to current/individual wildfires in our newsletter. For current info on fires and smoke in the region, please check out the CURRENT FIRE INFO page on our website.
Funding:
- Post-Fire Reforestation Financial Assistance Competitive Grant, Round 2. WA DNR Post-Fire Recovery Program. Competitive State Grant Opportunity, applications due January 31. Learn more.
- Fire Grand Challenge, Fire Science Competition: A global call to submit solutions to transform how we manage and live with fire. Learn more.
- Slip-on Tanker Pilot Program: Federal funding to help communities purchase firefighting slip-on tanker units to expand local wildfire response capacity. More info.
- CWDG applications: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is accepting applications for the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program to assist at-risk communities, including tribes and Alaska Native Corporations, with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks.
- Applications due Feb. 28. See news release.
- Round three CWDG application primer from the Fire Networks: https://fireadaptednetwork.org/cwdg-round-three-application-primer/.
- USDA Disaster Assistance Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP).
- USDA AFRI Grant Program: Rapid Response to Extreme Weather Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems.
News and feature articles:
- 1/10: Oregon and Washington ramp up resources heading to Los Angeles-area wildfires (OPB)
- 1/7: Oregon places new rules on homeowners living in certain high-risk wildfire areas (AP News)
- 1/4: Wildfire Smoke Is Even More Dangerous Than Anyone Knew (Wired)
1/3: Exposure to wildfire smoke is linked with higher risk of dementia, UW study shows (OPB Think Out Loud broadcast, 17m) - 12/24: What we learned about wildfire smoke in 2024 (High Country News)
- 12/19: Fighting fire with fire (Business Insider)
- 12/19: Federal government sues PacifiCorp over 2020 Oregon wildfire, as the costs of fires to the company climb (OPB)
- 12/18: Oregon gets $17 millon boost to fight wildfire risks on private and tribal lands (Central OR Daily)
- 12/12: Wildfire … in winter? (High Country News)
- 12/11: As destructive wildfires grow, Western states face a home insurance crisis (NV Current)
- 12/6: Study: Particle pollution from wildfires has ‘markedly stronger’ link to dementia than other sources (Boise State Public Radio)
- 12/6: Vicious cycle: Wildfires are making climate change worse (Yale Climate Connections)
- 12/5: Bill offering wildfire survivors relief from taxes and fees passes Congress (OR Capital Chronicle)
- 12/4: Rural Oregon Communities Have a 100+ Year Old Approach to Fighting Wildfire. A New ‘Era of Fire’ Makes Some Worry for the Future (Daily Yonder)
- 12/4: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $20 Million is Available to Strengthen Local Governments’ Wildfire Response (US DOI press release)
- 11/26: Oregon lawmakers will hold emergency session to pay wildfire bills (OPB)
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