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NWFSC September Newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
215 Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
September 2023 Newsletter --> Hello NW Fire Science Readers,
We hope you enjoy this September roundup of new fire science publications, resources, news, and online learning opportunities. We'll have some exciting updates for you next month as well (drumroll/ countdown please...our new website is just about ready!). If you have items you want us to highlight in the next newsletter, we'd love to hear from you. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
New Journal articles (pdf available):
- Belongia et al. Science Advances: Building water resilience in the face of cascading wildfire risks
- Birch et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Heading and backing fire behaviours mediate the influence of fuels on wildfire energy
- Carter et al., Frontiers in Ecol. & Env.: Prioritizing science efforts to inform decision making on public lands
- Chwalek et al., Fire: Downwind Fire and Smoke Detection during a Controlled Burn—Analyzing the Feasibility and Robustness of Several Downwind Wildfire Sensing Modalities through Real World Applications
- Francis et al., Landscape Ecol.: Proportion of forest area burned at high-severity increases with increasing forest cover and connectivity in western US watersheds
- Hoecker et al., Nature: Widespread exposure to altered fire regimes under 2 °C warming is projected to transform conifer forests of the Western United States
- Jenkins et al., Env. Res. Comms.: Human and climatic influences on wildfires ignited by recreational activities in national forests in Washington, Oregon, and California
- McGinnis et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Future regional increases in simultaneous large Western USA wildfires
- Parisien et al., Nature: Abrupt, climate-induced increase in wildfires in British Columbia since the mid-2000s
- Peeler et al., Env. Res. Ltrs.: Identifying opportunity hot spots for reducing the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss in western US conifer forests
- Peterson et al., Ecosphere: Snag decomposition following stand-replacing wildfires alters wildlife habitat use and surface woody fuels through time
- Pietruszka et al., Fire Ecol.: Consequential lightning-caused wildfires and the “let burn” narrative
- Ritter et al., Fire: Vertical and Horizontal Crown Fuel Continuity Influences Group-Scale Ignition and Fuel Consumption
- Taccaliti et al., Fire: Wildland–Urban Interface: Definition and Physical Fire Risk Mitigation Measures, a Systematic Review
- Vorster et al., J. For: Metrics and Considerations for Evaluating How Forest Treatments Alter Wildfire Behavior and Effects
Paywall articles (pdf not available on NWFSC page):
- Donato et al., For. Ecol. & Mgmt.: Does large area burned mean a bad fire year? Comparing contemporary wildfire years to historical fire regimes informs the restoration task in fire-dependent forests
- Rodman et al., Global Change Biol.: Refuge-yeah or refuge-nah? Predicting locations of forest resistance and recruitment in a fiery world
Report:
- Stories of Fire: Resources for Media Covering Wildfire Events and Topics in Oregon. Davis et al., Oregon State University Extension Service and University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. This guide was created for media covering wildfires & related topics in OR with the goal to increase mutual learning between OR journalists & fire scientists to improve science-based coverage of wildfire events and issues. Report.
Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- Fire & Climate Change: Adaptation Planning for Tribes Workshop. Sept. 26-28. Santa Cruz, CA.
- Tenth World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Sept. 26-30. Darwin, Australia
- Two upcoming RX Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) in Washington:
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
Questions: Email: kara@washingtonrcd.org - Columbia Gorge TREX. October 9-20, 2023 - Glenwood, WA
Questions? Email: sarah@mtadamsstewards.org
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
- California Wildfire Conference. Oct. 24-26. Simi Valley, CA
- Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition 19th Annual Meeting. Nov. 1-3. South Lake Tahoe, CA
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 6th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop. Nov. 6-10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Register.
- National Assoc. of Extension Program & Staff Professionals Conference. Nov. 28-30. Salt Lake City, UT
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
- After the Flames Conference & Workshop. Apr. 15-17. Estes Park, CO
- Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference. Apr. 15-19. Boise. ID. (Locations also in Ireland and Australia).
- New Short Movie (28m): Co-Existing with Wildfire (Rocky Mountain PBS).
- NEW Community Navigators Program: The USDA Forest Service has started the Community Navigators Program (CNP) to support leaders in historically underserved communities to find and access funding and partnership support.
- New podcast: Fuel Treatment Effectiveness at the Landscape Scale: A Systematic review of Simulation Studies Comparing Treatment Scenarios in N. America (Fire Ecology Chats)
- Living with Fire Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide: Now available in Spanish.
- Living With Fire Social Media Toolkit
- New WildfireSAFE App Improves Firefighter and Public Safety
- The Wildland Fire Histomap: 1st version from USFS Innovation & Organizational Learning team, now available.
- New Website: Wildfire Risk to Communities: free, easy-to-use website with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk. Created by USDA Forest Service.
- ICYM our new Storymap: Fire in the Western U.S. Big fires. Big challenges. Big need for regional learning & action
- Prescribed Fire Basics: a collection of 11 short modules for introductory audiences. OR State University Extension.
- IFTDSS for prescribed fire plans- An online course
Note: As of 9/5, the NW is at Preparedness Level 4, while the national Preparedness level is 3. These levels change throughout the fire season.
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.
Additional resources:
WA DNR Current Wildfire Incident Information
Oregon Department of Forestry Wildfire News
National Significant Fire Potential Outlook as of September 1: HERE
Jobs and funding opps:
- POSITION: CA Fire Science Consortium is hiring for a Fire Science Outreach Specialist
- POSITION: Wildland Fire Project Coordinator, Fort Collins, CO.
- FUNDING: USDA announces new round of investments in wildfire protection through Community Wildfire Defense Grants (closing Oct. 31)
- FUNDING: Joint Fire Science Program has new Open Funding Announcements, closing Sept. 28. (If you are planning to submit a proposal in the NW, we'd love to hear from you!)
- FUNDING: Ready, Set, Go! Program Fuels Reduction Funding 2023. The Ready, Set, Go! (RSG) Program is managed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and is accepting proposals from fire departments for Fuels Reduction Projects. This opportunity is provided by the USDA Forest Service through a cooperative agreement with the IAFC. Closing September 30.
- The OR Certified Burner Manager Program is seeking applications from instructors and training providers for the CBM Program
- NFPA urges action to mitigate wildfire risks following major US blazes (International Fire & Safety Journal)
- The US is spending billions to reduce forest fire risks – we mapped the hot spots where treatment offers the biggest payoff for people and climate (The Conversation)
- Preparing homes for wildfires is big business that's only getting started (NPR)
- Record-breaking wildfires have occurred all over the Northern Hemisphere during 2023, new report finds (ABC News)
- REBURN: A new tool to model wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and beyond (UW News)
- Hotter climate means a never-ending fire season for the National Guard (NPR)
- How wildfires are impacting outdoor recreation in Washington (Crosscut)
- North America’s summer of wildfire smoke: 2023 was only the beginning (The Conversation)
- Are we causing more wildfires? (Yale Climate Connections YouTube series)
- Some insects feast on burnt trees after wildfires. Experts worry they could cause further destruction (CBC News)
- WA’s wildfire seasons will last longer, cut deeper (Seattle Times)
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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NWFSC July / August Newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
201E Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
July / August 2023 Newsletter --> Hello NW Fire Science Readers,
As we all collectively move into the thick of summer, our hearts go out to our friends, family, and colleagues reeling from recent fires in Hawaii.
While we also anxiously refresh our Inciweb pages here in the NW in the middle of this heatwave, we are busy wrapping up our final deliverables for this funding cycle that ends in September. We'll have some new research briefs, a synthesis, and a case study coming your way very soon. At the same time, we are gearing up & very excited for our newly-funded FY 24-25 proposal. If you haven't seen it yet: NWFSC FY24-25 proposal and plan of work & FY 24-25 logic model. For this next funding cycle, we are excited to welcome new team members from WSU Extension, an expanded partner sensing team, and deliverables arranged in 3 topic bundles (westside fire, smoke, landscape resiliency strategies).
The JFSP Open Funding Announcements for fire science research proposals have also been announced. We are excited to see topics that build off our work in previous cycles (e.g., our most recent synthesis on Communicating with the public about wildland fire preparation, response, and recovery), and eager to work with collaborators on new research in the NW that may come from these funding opportunities in the future.
Our roundup of new fire science publications, news, and online learning opportunities you may be interested in are recapped below as usual (and gosh, there's a lot of them). If you have items you want us to highlight in future newsletters, we'd love to hear from you. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
New Journal articles (pdf available):
- Albores et al., Atmos. Env.: Continental-scale Atmospheric Impacts of the 2020 Western U.S. Wildfires
- Barnard et al., Agri. Water Mgmt.: Wildfire and climate change amplify knowledge gaps linking mountain source-water systems and agricultural water supply in the western United States
- Bowman, Fire: Detecting, Monitoring and Foreseeing Wildland Fire Requires Similar Multiscale Viewpoints as Meteorology and Climatology
- Davis et al., Fire: Multiple Stories, Multiple Marginalities: The Labor-Intensive Forest and Fire Stewardship Workforce in Oregon
- Finney et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Effect of flame zone depth on the correlation of flame length with fireline intensity
- Higuera et al., PNAS Nexus: Shifting social-ecological fire regimes explain increasing structure loss from Western wildfires
- Hoffman et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Assessment of wildland firefighter opinions and experiences related to incident medical providers
- Hwang et al., PMC: Face-to-face with scorching wildfire: potential toxicant exposure and the health risks of smoke for wildland firefighters at the wildland-urban interface
- Jiang et al., AMC: Projected Future Changes in Vegetation in Western North America in the Twenty-First Century
- Johnson et al., Fire: Exploring and Testing Wildfire Risk Decision-Making in the Face of Deep Uncertainty
- Kelp et al., Earth’s Future: Prescribed Burns as a Tool to Mitigate Future Wildfire Smoke Exposure: Lessons for States and Rural Environmental Justice Communities
- Kieta et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Post-wildfire contamination of soils and sediments by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in north-central British Columbia, Canada
- Paveglio et al., J. For.: Variable Support and Opposition to Fuels Treatments for Wildfire Risk Reduction: Melding Frameworks for Local Context and Collaborative Potential
- Rao et al., Geophy. Res. Letters: Dry Live Fuels Increase the Likelihood of Lightning-Caused Fires
- Santos et al., Func. Ecol.: The eco-evolutionary role of fire in shaping terrestrial ecosystems
- Sonti et al., Env. Res. Ltrs: Expanding wildland-urban interface alters forest structure and landscape context in the northern United States
- Turco et al., PNAS: Anthropogenic climate change impacts exacerbate summer forest fires in California
- Woinarski et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire:: Making choices: prioritising the protection of biodiversity in wildfire
- Wells et al., Fire Ecol.: Connecting dryland fine-fuel assessments to wildfire exposure and natural resource values at risk
Paywall articles (pdf not available on NWFSC page):
- Bone et al., Appl. Geography: Evaluating the potential role of federal air quality standards in constraining applications of prescribed fire in the western United States
- Buonanduci et al., Ecol. Ltrs: Consistent spatial scaling of high-severity wildfire can inform expected future patterns of burn severity
- Burnett et al., Intrl. J. Dis. Risk Reduction: Factors influencing flood risk mitigation after wildfire: Insights for individual and collective action after the 2010 Schultz Fire
- Jaffe et al., For. Ecol. & Mgmt: Mesic mixed-conifer forests are resilient to both historical high-severity fire and contemporary reburns in the US Northern Rocky Mountains
- Kabeshita et al., Nature: Pathways framework identifies wildfire impacts on agriculture
- Parks et al., For. Ecol. & Mgmt: Contemporary wildfires are more severe compared to the historical reference period in western US dry conifer forests
- Siddiqi et al., Disasters: Disaster preparedness and community helping behaviour in the wake of the 2020 Oregon wildfires
Reports:
- 2023 Washington Prescribed Fire Barriers Assessment Report and Strategic Action Plan. Washington DNR. This strategic action plan presents a barriers assessment and strategic action plan to serve as a common starting point for DNR and other prescribed fire partners’ future planning efforts to meet our shared stewardship goals. Link to Action Plan.
- Missing the Mark: Effectiveness and Funding in Community Wildfire Risk Reduction. Headwaters Economics and Columbia Climate School. This analysis finds that the most effective strategies for reducing community wildfire risk—those that manage the built environment—tend to receive the least funding and policy support when compared to the suppression or fuel management strategies most deployed at the federal and state levels. Link to report || Link to online overview.
Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- Restoring Riparian Habitats Field Training. Aug 28-29. Baker City, OR.
- 2023 Northeast-Midwest Regional Prescribed Fire Workshop. Aug. 29-31. Madison, WI.
- Fire & Climate Change: Adaptation Planning for Tribes Workshop. Sept. 26-28. Santa Cruz, CA.
- Tenth World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Sept. 26-30. Darwin, Australia
- Two upcoming RX Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) in Washington:
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
Questions: Email: kara@washingtonrcd.org - Columbia Gorge TREX. October 9-20, 2023 - Glenwood, WA
Questions? Email: sarah@mtadamsstewards.org
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
- California Wildfire Conference. Oct. 24-26. Simi Valley, CA
- Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition 19th Annual Meeting. Nov. 1-3. South Lake Tahoe, CA
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 6th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop. Nov. 6-10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Register.
- National Assoc. of Extension Program & Staff Professionals Conference. Nov. 28-30. Salt Lake City, UT
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
- After the Flames Conference & Workshop. Apr. 15-17. Estes Park, CO
- Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference. Apr. 15-19. Boise. ID. (Locations also in Ireland and Australia).
- New Podcasts episodes: Some really excellent episodes out of the Life with Fire Podcast so far this summer:
- Expanding Prescribed Fire Capacity in Washington State, with Lucas King. This podcast focuses on our friends at Mount Adams Resource Stewards (MARS), and their efforts to expand capacity for (and acceptance of) local burning in MARS’ backyard—primarily through private lands burning and engaging community members through contractual opportunities and their Stewardship Crew itself.
- Community-Informed Wildfire Communications, with Isabeau Ottolini. Wildfires are often highly localized—and dependent on a number of factors like community values, history and available resources. However, the things that make for successful risk communication are largely universal.
- Humble Fire and Traditional Ecological Practices with Cultural Fire Scholar, Dr. Melinda Adams. This episodes covers translating Indigenous knowledge into Indigenous-led action—which means giving Indigenous practitioners the “space, opportunity and action” to see their knowledge systems play out on the landscape.
- Webinar: Fires of Unusual Size: Does it mean what you think it means? USDA PNW Research Station. 8/24 10am. Register.
- Webinar series on wildland fires. International Fire Safety Consortium.
- Webinar Series: Assessing Postfire Debris-Flow Hazards. After the Flames. Register.
- Recorded Webinar: Accessing Federal Funding for Rural and Tribal Community Development and Conservation. Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition.
- Recorded Webinar: Data and Communications: Utilizing Innovative Tools to Communicate Climate Impacts. Salazar Center for North American Conservation.
- Living with Fire Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide: Now available in Spanish.
- Living With Fire Social Media Toolkit
- New WildfireSAFE App Improves Firefighter and Public Safety
- The Wildland Fire Histomap: 1st version from USFS Innovation & Organizational Learning team, now available.
- New Website: Wildfire Risk to Communities: free, easy-to-use website with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk. Created by USDA Forest Service.
- ICYM our new Storymap: Fire in the Western U.S. Big fires. Big challenges. Big need for regional learning & action
- Prescribed Fire Basics: a collection of 11 short modules for introductory audiences. OR State University Extension.
- IFTDSS for prescribed fire plans- An online course
Note: The NW moved to Preparedness Level 4 on 8/12.
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.
Additional resources:
WA DNR Current Wildfire Incident Information
Oregon Department of Forestry Wildfire News
National Significant Fire Potential Outlook as of August 1: HERE
Jobs and funding opps:
- POSITION: The National Forest Foundation is hiring for a Wildfire Resilience Program Coordinator and Wildfire Resilience Program Manager.
- POSITION: The Nature Conservancy is seeking an Assistant Director of Fire Management; preference for based in Western US.
- FUNDING: USDA announces new round of investments in wildfire protection through Community Wildfire Defense Grants
- FUNDING: Joint Fire Science Program has new Open Funding Announcements, closing Sept. 28. (If you are planning to submit a proposal in the NW, we'd love to hear from you!)
- Why can't Canada just put the fires out? Here are 5 answers to key questions (NPR)
- Maui Fires:
- What Caused Maui’s Devastating Wildfires? (Scientific American)
- How Invasive Plants Fueled an Inferno in Maui (Heatmap)
- Fiery Invasions (Science.org). This article from last year looks at how flammable invasive grasses are increasing the risks of damaging wildfires worldwide.
- Scientists dig into wildfire predictions, long-term impacts (Science Daily)
- Taming the flame, from local to global extreme wildfires (Science.org)
- Not What Scientists Thought – What Causes Mudslides and Floods After Wildfires? (Sci Tech Daily)
- A giant Oregon wildfire shows the limits of carbon offsets in fighting climate change (OPB)
- EPA approves Washington’s Smoke Management Plan to allow strategic use of prescribed fires to manage forest health and protect air quality (EPA)
- What WA’s new wildfire smoke rules might mean for outdoor workers (Crosscut)
- DNR Issues 3-Year Status Report on Agency Climate Plan (WA DNR)
- ODF:
- Why It’s So Hard to Forecast Wildfire Smoke (New Yorker)
- People are starting a lot of fires in the Pacific Northwest (High Country News)
- ‘We have fire all around us and we can’t get out’ (High Country News)
- 90 years ago, the devastating Tillamook Burn series of fires began (OPB)
- Why are so many climate records breaking all at once? (The Conversation)
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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NWFSC June Newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
201E Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
June 2023 Newsletter --> Hello NW Fire Science readers!
As I prepare to send this, wildfire is on the front page of news outlets across the globe as dense smoke from a profusion of fires across Canada drift across the US and affect some of the nations's biggest cities like New York City and Philadelphia. In the Northwest as well, more days of poor air quality from smoke over the last decades have been well documented, with more bad air days expected in the future (see OR DEQ report). As the NW prepares for the upcoming wildfire season, these trends highlight once again how important partnerships and the efficient transfer of emerging science on-the-ground are to help prepare for and adapt to this future with more fire.
We've had a busy month. In addition to the Oregon SAF Annual Meeting and the Oregon Prescribed Fire Council annual meeting, we also hosted a fire and fuels monitoring workshop, and in between I participated in a guard school course to get FF2 certification. Plus the usual collection on new fire science publications, news, and online learning opportunities you may be interested in, recapped below. If you have items you want us to highlight in future newsletters, we'd love to hear from you. And as always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> Students learning progressive hose lays and more for FF2 certification. May 2023.
Photos courtesy Autumn Ellison --> Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
New Journal articles (pdf available):
- Abatzoglou et al., Earth's Future: Downslope Wind-Driven Fires in the Western United States
- Bosher et al. Disaster Prev. & Mgmt: Stop going around in circles: towards a reconceptualisation of disaster risk management phases
- Brodie et al., Ecol. Appl.: Wildfire facilitates upslope advance in a shade-intolerant but not a shade-tolerant conifer
- Coble et al., Fire Ecol.: Fire severity influences large wood and stream ecosystem responses in western Oregon watersheds
- Charnley et al., J. Forestry: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Forest Service: Insights for Local Job Creation and Equity from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Chuvieco et al., Fire: Towards an Integrated Approach to Wildfire Risk Assessment: When, Where, What and How May the Landscapes Burn
- Dahl et al., Env. Res. Letters.: Quantifying the contribution of major carbon producers to increases in vapor pressure deficit and burned area in western US and southwestern Canadian forests
- Hubert et al., Ecosphere: Contrasting effects of urbanization and fire on understory plant communities in the natural and wildland–urban interface
- Hoffman et al., Fire: A Comparison of Four Spatial Interpolation Methods for Modeling Fine-Scale Surface Fuel Load in a Mixed Conifer Forest with Complex Terrain
- Johnson et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: A comparison of smoke modelling tools used to mitigate air quality impacts from prescribed burning
- Jose et al., Nat. Hazards: A data‐driven analysis and optimization of the impact of prescribed fire programs on wildfire risk in different regions of the USA
- Lambrou et al., Landscape & Urb. Planning: Social drivers of vulnerability to wildfire disasters: A review of the literature
- Low et al., Fire Ecol.: Shaded fuel breaks create wildfire-resilient forest stands: lessons from a long-term study in the Sierra Nevada
- McCormack et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Prescribed burning on private land: reflections on recent law reform in Australia and California
- MacDonald et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Drivers of California’s changing wildfires: a state-of-the- knowledge synthesis
- Porter et al., Sci. Report: All boreal forest successional stages needed to maintain the full suite of soil biodiversity, community composition, and function following wildfire
- Wheatley et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Exploring the impact of airtanker drops on in-stand temperature and relative humidity
Paywall articles (pdf not available on NWFSC page):
- Carrasco et al., J. Env. Mgmt.: A firebreak placement model for optimizing biodiversity protection at landscape scale
- Fertel et al., Forest Ecol. & Mgmt: Vegetation type change in California’s Northern Bay Area: A comparison of contemporary and historical aerial imagery
- Jung et al., Glob. Change Biol.: Topographic information improves simulated patterns of post-fire conifer regeneration in the southwest United States
- Kee et al., J. Forestry: The Shared Stewardship Strategy in the Southern United States: Lessons Learned
- McDanold et al., Ecol. Modelling: DUET - Distribution of Understory using Elliptical Transport: A mechanistic model of leaf litter and herbaceous spatial distribution based on tree canopy structure
- Tihay-Felicelli et al., Fire Safety J.: Flammability study of decking sections found at the Wildland–Urban interface at different scales
- Tom et al., Ecopsychology: Solastalgia to Soliphilia: Cultural Fire, Climate Change, and Indigenous Healing
Reports and chapters:
- Book Chapter: McFayden et al., Appl. Data Sci.: A Conceptual Framework for Knowledge Exchange in a Wildland Fire Research and Practice Context
- Wildfire Smoke Trends and the Air Quality Index (State of Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality)
- Got Seeds? Strengthening the Reforestation Pipeline in the Western United States. Tree Planters' Notes.
In May we helped facilitate a fire and fuels monitoring workshop with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The workshop had a mixed format with 3 half-days of virtual learning, and a field day that took place in 2 locations (Warm Springs, OR and Colville, WA). Participants came from 7 different tribes across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho for this inaugural workshop that we hope to expand on and offer in future years as well! --> Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- 2023 Northeast-Midwest Regional Prescribed Fire Workshop. Aug. 29-31. Madison, WI.
- Society for Ecological Restoration Conference. June 11-15. Quebec City, Canada
- Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Fire Science Workshop. June 27-28. Darby, MT.
- Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. July 9-12. Broomfield, CO
- Tenth World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Sept. 26-30. Darwin, Australia
- Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition 19th Annual Meeting. Nov. 1-3. South Lake Tahoe, CA
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 6th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop. Nov. 6-10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. More details coming soon.
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
- Save the date for 2 Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) hosted in Washington!
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
Questions: Email: kara@washingtonrcd.org - Columbia Gorge TREX. October 9-20, 2023 - Glenwood, WA
Questions? Email: sarah@mtadamsstewards.org
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
- New Podcast: Climate Hits Home: Wildfires in the American West, with Kimi Barrett. Resources Radio.
- New Podcast Series: Sandcastles. Description: On the night of the Woolsey Fire, no one could have imagined where they’d be today–they couldn't think much past survival. It was life or death. But in the days and years that followed what this unlikely band of surfers pioneered could have global consequences. When emergency first responders were overwhelmed by Los Angeles County’s most destructive fire, these neighbors and friends stepped up to defend their home turf in Point Dume, Malibu. Their devotion to home drove them to show up for their community in ways no one expected-not even them. Sandcastles is a podcast about home, how we create it, and why we fight so hard for it.
- Living with Fire Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide: Now available in Spanish
- New WildfireSAFE App Improves Firefighter and Public Safety
- The Wildland Fire Histomap: 1st version from the USFS Innovation & Organizational Learning team is now available
- New Website: Wildfire Risk to Communities: free, easy-to-use website with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk. Created by USDA Forest Service.
- ICYM our recent webinar, Recorded: Landscape Fuels Treatment Effectiveness
- ICYM our new Storymap: Fire in the Western U.S. Big fires. Big challenges. Big need for regional learning & action
- ICYM our recent webinar, Recorded: Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke impacts in frequently affected communities
- Prescribed Fire Basics: a collection of 11 short modules for introductory audiences. OR State University Extension.
- Recorded: How wildfire policies governing management of natural ignitions have evolved over the past century (SW Fire Science Consortium)
- IFTDSS for prescribed fire plans- An online course
Note: For current info on fires and smoke in the region, please check out the CURRENT FIRE INFO page on our website.
National Significant Fire Potential Outlook as of June 1: HERE
News:
- How to stay safe from the smoke that's spreading from the Canadian wildfires (NPR)
- Where wildfire smoke is hitting the U.S. the hardest — and when it will end (Washington Post)
- How global warming and a wet winter may impact the U.S. wildfire season (NBC News)
- Wildfire smoke costs U.S. workers more than $100 billion a year in pay (CBS News)
- Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests in our nation’s wildland firefighters (NIFC)
- Almost 40% of land burned by western wildfires can be traced to carbon emissions (LA Times)
- Wildfire smoke continues to cause unhealthy air quality across Oregon, study finds (Statesman Journal)
- Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Helps Fight Fire and Restore Rare Habitat in the Willamette Valley (US Fish and Wildlife Service)
- The Future of Wildland Fire Management: Investing in Our Workforce (US DOI News)
- Oregon Public Broadcasting:
- Jury begins deliberations in 2020 Labor Day wildfire lawsuit against PacifiCorp
- A wetter spring in Oregon has forecasters worried about an extended fire season
- Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help
- Stalled Oregon Legislature hobbles climate action once again — with millions on the line
- Oregon fire officials urge people living near forests to create a buffer around property
- Wildfires inspire Pacific Northwest artists into action (The Columbian)
- Canada’s record wildfires should be ‘wake-up call’, experts warn (Al Jazeera)
- Cultural Burning: How Age-Old Practices Are Reshaping Wildfire Policy (Federation of American Scientists)
- The Last of the Fire Watchers (Backpacker)
- Prescribed burns need insurance. It’s increasingly hard to get (Marketplace)
- When fire goes feral (High Country News)
- This Lawsuit Could Change How the Forest Service Fights Wildfires (The Atlantic)
- USDA: Biden-Harris Administration Invests in Watershed Infrastructure to Help Communities Recover from, Prepare for Natural Disasters as Part of Investing in America Agenda
- DOI: Update on Expanding Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Services
- ODF: Department seeks scientific articles about salvage logging
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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May newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
201E Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
May 2023 Newsletter -->
Hello NW Fire Science readers!
Continue on down this newsletter to see some of the exciting things we've been up to in the past month—from Great Plains burning and bison to Smokey Bear. Also get the recap on new fire science publications, news, and online learning opportunities you may be interested in. If you have items you want us to highlight in future newsletters, we'd love to hear from you. And as always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> NWFSC sent three of its team to Kansas for the JFSP Fire Science Exchange Network Annual Meeting, hosted this year by Great Plains Fire Science Exchange. We learned all about burning on the tall grass prairies, and even got to participate in 2 prescribed burns. It was also invigorating to meet in-person with all of the other folks working in fire science exchanges across the country after several years of Covid-postponed meetings. And, there were bison. --> Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
New Journal articles (pdf available):
- Berman et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Quantifying burned area of wildfires in the western United States from polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite active-fire detections
- Billings et al., J. Env. Mgmt.: Unprotected lands: A case study of a wildland-urban interface community in “No-Man's land”
- Braziunas et al., Ecol.: Less fuel for the next fire? Short-interval fire delays forest recovery and interacting drivers amplify effects
- Harvey et al., Glob. Ecol. & Biogeo.: Spatial interactions among short-interval fires reshape forest landscapes
- Hawbaker et al., Ecosphere: Changes in wildfire occurrence and risk to homes from 1990 through 2019 in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA
- Henne & Hawbaker, Ecol. Modelling: An aridity threshold model of fire sizes and annual area burned in extensively forested ecoregions of the western USA
- Huang et al., Science: Smoke-weather interaction affects extreme wildfires in diverse coastal regions
- Kirschner et al, Ecol. & Soc.: Governing wildfires: toward a systematic analytical framework
- Link & Maranghides, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Burnover events identified during the 2018 Camp Fire
- Lucash et al., Ecol. Modelling: Burning trees in frozen soil: Simulating fire, vegetation, soil, and hydrology in the boreal forests of Alaska
- Marsh et al., For. Ecol. & Mgmt.: Effects of nurse shrubs and biochar on planted conifer seedling survival and growth in a high-severity burn patch in New Mexico, USA
- Masri et al., Intl J. Env. Res. & Pub. Health: Assessing Perception of Wildfires and Related Impacts among Adult Residents of Southern California
- McClure et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Consistent, high-accuracy mapping of daily and sub-daily wildfire growth with satellite observations
- Miller et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Projecting live fuel moisture content via deep learning
- Pau et al., Canadian J. For. Research: Response of forest productivity to changes in growth and fire regime due to climate change
- Singh et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Intermittent fireline behaviour over porous vegetative media in different crossflow conditions
- Steen-Adams et al, Land Use Pol.: Cross-boundary cooperation in wildfire management during the custodial management period of the US Forest Service: A case study of the eastern Cascades of Oregon, USA, 1905–1945
- Zhang et al., For. Ecol. & Mgmt.: Forest water-use efficiency: Effects of climate change and management on the coupling of carbon and water processes
Paywall articles:
- Stillman et al., Ecol. Appl.: Incorporating pyrodiversity into wildlife habitat assessments for rapid post-fire management: A woodpecker case study
- Black et al., J. Reg. Sci.: Wildfire risk, salience, and housing development in the wildland–urban interface
Reports:
- Mature and Old-Growth Forests: Definition, Identification, and Initial Inventory on Lands Managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (USDA Forest Service)
- Manager Perspectives on Fuel Break Effectiveness and Configurations (JFSP Final Report)
- Managed Wildfire: A Research Synthesis & Overview (SW Fire Science Consortium)
- Wildfire Smoke: Opportunities to Strengthen Federal Efforts to Manage Growing Risks (US Government Accountability Office)
Special Issue Call:
Upcoming Special Issue on Reimagining the Future of Living and Working with Fire in the Fire Social Science section of the journal Fire. Deadline May 31. See the full call for more details. --> NWFSC was at the Cross-Boundary Landscape Restoration Workshop in Fort Collins, CO the first week of May, sharing resources and getting very special signups to our newsletter. (If this newsletter was forwarded to you--you too can sign up here!) --> Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- Photoload Workshop, May 8. Cheney, WA. REGISTER.
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 2023 Oregon Society of American Foresters Annual Meeting. May 10-12; Canyonville, OR.
- Oregon Prescribed Fire Council Annual Meeting 2023. May 18-19. Baker City, OR
- 8th International Wildland Fire Conference- May 16-19; Porto, Portugal
- Society for Ecological Restoration Conference. June 11-15. Quebec City, Canada
- Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop. July 9-12. Broomfield, CO
- Tenth World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Sept. 26-30. Darwin, Australia
- Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition 19th Annual Meeting. Nov. 1-3. South Lake Tahoe, CA
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 6th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop. Nov. 6-10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. More details coming soon.
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
- Save the date for 2 Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) hosted in Washington!
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
Questions: Email: kara@washingtonrcd.org - Columbia Gorge TREX. October 9-20, 2023 - Glenwood, WA
Questions? Email: sarah@mtadamsstewards.org
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
- Western Prescribed Fire Training Needs Survey: Weigh in on the training needs of prescribed fire practitioners across the Western United States
- New Prescribed Fire Basics: a collection of 11 short modules for introductory audiences. OR State University Extension.
- New Website: Wildfire Risk to Communities: free, easy-to-use website with interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore, and reduce wildfire risk. Created by USDA Forest Service.
- USGS CASC Webinar Series: Incorporating Indigenous Knowledges into Federal Research and Management. Bi-Weekly from Apr. 6- June 1.
- Science X Webinar Series: Planning for Forests of the Future. May 15-19.
- ICYM our recent webinar, Recorded: Landscape Fuels Treatment Effectiveness
- ICYM our new Storymap: Fire in the Western U.S. Big fires. Big challenges. Big need for regional learning & action
- ICYM our recent webinar, Recorded: Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke impacts in frequently affected communities
- Recorded: Identifying opportunity hot spots for reducing wildfire-caused carbon loss in western US conifer forests (USDA Forest Service)
- Recorded: How wildfire policies governing management of natural ignitions have evolved over the past century (SW Fire Science Consortium)
Note: For updates, news, and current info on fires and smoke in the region, please check out the CURRENT FIRE INFO page on our website.
In the media:
- Protecting neighborhoods from future flames: Equitable wildfire preparedness requires community-level fixes (High Country News)
- EPA funds University of Oregon’s new center that will research wildfire smoke (OPB)
- Wildfire information app expands to Oregon (KLCC, NPR)
- Trip Jennings’ award-winning wildfire documentary now screening (Wildfire Today)
- Western fires could be delayed after months of rain and snow, but risk remains (Washington Post)
- More firefighters needed to control wildfire hotspots in eastern Washington (Spokane Public Radio)
- Smoke Ready Communities: A Resource Roundup from the Blog Archives (Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network)
- Tips for Creating Consistent Messaging About Fire (Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network)
- House bill to improve accountability for wildfire prevention work advances to floor (ABC)
- As climate warms, overlapping wildfires are changing forest resilience (University of WA)
- Time-lapse: Oregon without any ‘exceptional’ drought for first time since 2021 (KOIN)
- Several States Are Under Red Flag Warnings. What Does That Mean? (Slate)
- Wildfire Season Threatens, Time to Prepare is Now (American Red Cross)
- Oregon Department of Forestry prepared for upcoming fire season (KDRV)
Agency press releases:
- USDA:
- DOI: Update on Expanding Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Services
- WA DNR:
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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March newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
201E Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
March 2023 Newsletter -->
Hello and happy spring NW Fire Science readers!
March was busy with new fire science publications, news, and online learning opportunities. Here are some highlights from the last month:
- The Fire in the Western U.S. storymap went live. We worked on this storymap with 4 other fire science exchanges to illustrate some of the diverse inputs and outcomes to what is often summarized as the "western fire problem." Watch the recording of the LANDFIRE office hours where all 5 exchanges presented on the storymap.
- We were excited to learn that many projects (24!) in OR and WA were chosen to receive funding in the first round of funded Community Wildfire Defense Grants. These grants will help partners work better together, across boundaries for better fire outcomes for at-risk communities.
- See below and register for our upcoming webinar with a panel of scientists presenting findings on fuel treatment effectiveness at the landscape scale.
- If you missed our webinar earlier this month on strategies to reduce community smoke impacts, see recording.
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> FINAL CALL: WEDNESDAY APRIL 5!
Don't miss this opportunity to hear from and interact with leading scientists around their research on landscape-scale fuel treatment effectiveness.
See the event page for more information.
*** REGISTER HERE ***
Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
New Journal articles (pdf available):
- Bennett et al., Joural For: Recent Douglas-fir Mortality in the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion of Oregon: Evidence for a Decline Spiral
- Bernal et al., For. Ecol. & Mgmt.: Tree resistance to drought and bark beetle-associated mortality following thinning and prescribed fire treatments
- Bixler et al., Ecol. & Soc.: How social and ecological characteristics shape transaction costs in polycentric wildfire governance: insights from the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Ecosystem, California, USA
- Davis et al., PNAS: Reduced fire severity offers near-term buffer to climate-driven declines in conifer resilience across the western United States
- Greenler et al., Plos One: Too hot, too cold, or just right: Can wildfire restore dry forests of the interior Pacific Northwest?
- Hill et al., PNAS Nexus: Low-elevation conifers in California’s Sierra Nevada are out of equilibrium with climate
- Kane et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Conifer encroachment increases foliar moisture content in a northwestern California oak woodland
- Karasmanaki et al., Land: Proposing a Governance Model for Environmental Crises
- Miller et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Different approaches make comparing studies of burn severity challenging: a review of methods used to link remotely sensed data with the Composite Burn Index
- Morris et al., Ecosystems: Fuel Profiles and Biomass Carbon Following Bark Beetle Outbreaks: Insights for Disturbance Interactions from a Historical Silvicultural Experiment
- Ott et al., Fire Ecol.: Fuel treatment effectiveness at the landscape scale: a systematic review of simulation studies comparing treatment scenarios in North America
- Potter, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Examining the influence of mid-tropospheric conditions and surface wind changes on extremely large fires and fire growth days
- Quarles et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Factors influencing ember accumulation near a building
- Stephens et al., Ecol. Appl.: Climate and fire impacts on tree recruitment in mixed conifer forests in Northwestern Mexico and California
- Suzuki & Manzello, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Comparing particulate morphology generated from human-made cellulosic fuels to natural vegetative fuels
- Weise et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Comparing two methods to measure oxidative pyrolysis gases in a wind tunnel and in prescribed burns
- Zaiats et al., Landscape Ecol.: Forecasting natural regeneration of sagebrush after wildfires using population models and spatial matching
- Baig & Gavin, Quaternary Sci. Reviews: Postglacial vegetation and fire history with a high-resolution analysis of tephra impacts, High Cascade Range, Oregon, USA
Reports:
- Roadmap for Wildfire Resilience: How to Get There from Here (The Nature Conservancy)
- The National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook, March-June (NIFC)
- Wildfire Smoke: Opportunities to Strengthen Federal Efforts to Manage Growing Risks (US Government Accountability Office)
Special Issue Call:
Please note there will be an upcoming Special Issue on Reimagining the Future of Living and Working with Fire in the Fire Social Science section of the journal Fire. Deadline May 31. See the full call for more details. Snowy trees on the Willamette National Forest.
Photo: Autumn Ellison Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- CO Wildland Fire Conference- April 11-14; Fort Collins, CO
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Cross-Boundary landscape Restoration Workshop- May 2-4; Fort Collins, CO. Early registration ends 3/1
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 2023 Oregon Society of American Foresters Annual Meeting. May 10-12; Canyonville, OR.
- 8th International Wildland Fire Conference- May 16-19; Porto, Portugal
- 6th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop. Nov. 6-10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. More details coming soon.
- Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
- Save the date for 2 Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) hosted in Washington!
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
Questions: Email: kara@washingtonrcd.org - Columbia Gorge TREX. October 9-20, 2023 - Glenwood, WA
Questions? Email: sarah@mtadamsstewards.org
- Selkirk TREX. October 2-13, 2023 - Northeast Washington
- Upcoming multi-exchange webinar: Landscape Fuels Treatment Effectiveness. REGISTER
- New storymap: Fire in the Western U.S. Big fires. Big challenges. Big need for regional learning & action
- ICYM our recent webinar, Recorded: Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke impacts in frequently affected communities
- ICYMI, Recorded: Western Wildfires LANDFIRE Office Hour
- Webinar, 4/7: Soil Moisture Modeling for Post-Fire Reforestation Support
- Spring 2023: Restoring Oregon’s Dry Side Forests: 2 webinars/month through April 2023. Schedule
- If you missed any of the webinars during Science X's Fire Week, find recordings here
- USFS PNW Region FY21 Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Monitoring (FTEM) Dashboard
- NEW Podcast episode: Life with Fire: EP. 46: Making your own spark, with Amanda Rau
Note: For updates, news, and current info on fires and smoke in the region, please check out the CURRENT FIRE INFO page on our website.
Jobs & Funding:
- Prescribed Fire Planner (2 positions) - Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
- Fire Ecologist - Direct Hire Authority- Bureau of Indian Affairs NW Regional Office, based in Portland, OR
- Forestry Project Manager- Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance
- NEW FUNDING OPP: Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings grant program- EPA
- The West’s iconic forests are increasingly struggling to recover from wildfires – altering how fires burn could boost their chances (The Conversation)
- Pacific Northwest forests are heating up and drying out (Crosscut)
- Oregon Senate passes bill forbidding insurance companies from using state wildfire risk map (KOIN)
- Remarks by Vice President Harris on Wildfire Resilience Funding (White House)
- Oregon Senate mulls legislation to revise the state's wildfire risk map (Jefferson Public Radio)
- Proposed legislation would help Oregon’s fairgrounds to shelter wildfire evacuees (OPB)
- Wildfire Smoke Might Be Coming For Your Favorite Vegetable (The Weather Channel)
- Increasingly Large and Intense Wildfires Hinder Western Forests’ Ability to Regenerate (Inside Climate News)
- Lawsuit jeopardizes use of crucial wildfire retardant, US Forest Service claims (Phys.org)
- USDA: Biden-Harris Administration Invests Nearly $200M from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Reduce Wildfire Risk to Communities across State, Private and Tribal Lands
- USDA: President’s 2024 Budget Advances Efforts to Address the Nation’s Wildfire Crisis through Workforce Reform and Other Investments in Wildland Fire Management Programs
- WA DNR:
- Commissioner Franz Announces New AI Wildfire Fighting Technology Pilot Partnership
- ‘Cascading Impacts of Wildfire’ Bill Passes House with Unanimous Vote, Heads to Senate
- Federal Government to Fund $25M in Wildfire Defense Grants in Washington
- DNR Planning Prescribed Burns on More than 2,100 Acres of State Trust Lands
- ODF: Seedling giveaways aim to help forestlands recover after devastating 2020 wildfires
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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Smoke reduction strategies- TOMORROW
Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke in frequently impacted communities in SW Oregon
---------
Webinar: Tomorrow @12-1pm PDT
In this webinar, Rick Graw, US Forest Service, will:
- Go over recent research investigating what can be done to reduce the amount of smoke experienced by frequently impacted communities during wildfire season;
- Summarize a case study showing how strategic fuel treatments can reduce smoke by 40% from subsequent wildfires.
- Cover how raster images from meteorological monitoring and fuel reduction strategies can be integrated into planning and implementation strategies including regional wildfire crisis strategies, forest restoration plans, and community wildfire protection plans.
REGISTER HERE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kdeutqjMrGdbK5Wxim1xiY3tvoEa51uT1
(click on link, or copy and paste above address into your browser)
Fire in the Western US
Wednesday March 29, 10am PDT.
Join multiple Fire Science Exchange Networks as we unveil our collaborative Story Map discussing the nuances and diversity of Western Wildfires. The webinar is part of the LANDFIRE Office Hours webinar series--register here (https://tnc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYvdeCqpzsrHNfyAy8G8I3KoGe7YGm3uZSB)
Landscape Fuel Treatment Effectiveness
Wednesday April 5, 10am PDT.
Maximizing the effectiveness of fuel treatments at the landscape scale is a key research and management need given the inability to treat all areas at risk from wildfire, and there is a growing body of scientific literature assessing this need. Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists, in collaboration with the Joint Fire Science Network, synthesized existing scientific literature on landscape-scale fuel treatment effectiveness in North American ecosystems through a systematic literature review. See event page to register (https://www.nrfirescience.org/event/landscape-fuel-treatment-effectiveness-webinar) --> We'd like to hear from you!
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
autumn.ellison@oregonstate.edu
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Forward to a friend Join our mailing list
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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NWFSC February '23 Newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
201E Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
February 2023 Newsletter -->
Greetings fellow fire science aficionados!
Here providing you with all the new fire science pubs, news, and resources out this past month. We've had a busy month with stops in Wenatchee, WA for a prescribed fire barriers workshop and in Corvallis, OR for the Oregon Post-fire Research and Monitoring Symposium. It's been great to learn about new efforts and research while sharing our resources and meeting new partners! We've also been working on some great new learning opportunities for you-- scroll down to the highlight boxes for 2 new webinars on topics we get asked about all the time (smoke, fuel treatment effectiveness).
Be sure to check out all of the news and resources below, and if you have items you want us to highlight in future newsletters, we'd love to hear from you. And as always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> A symposium attendee peruses the NWFSC table at the Oregon Post-fire Research and Monitoring Symposium in Corvallis, OR in early February. We shared resources and learned about so much new post-fire research happening in our region.
Photo: Autumn Ellison Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES:
PDF available:
- Alvarez-Ruiz et al., Animal Beh.: Lizards' response to the sound of fire is modified by fire history
- Belavenutti et al., Fire: Multi-Objective Scheduling of Fuel Treatments to Implement a Linear Fuel Break Network
- Cova et al., Forest Ecol. & Mgmt.: The outsized role of California’s largest wildfires in changing forest burn patterns and coarsening ecosystem scale
- Fillmore & Paveglio, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Use of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) for full suppression and managed fires within the Southwestern Region of the US Forest Service
- Hino & Field, PLOS One: Fire frequency and vulnerability in California
- Kramer et al., Sci. of Total Env.: Environmental justice analysis of wildfire-related PM2.5 exposure using low-cost sensors in California
- Krueger et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Using soil moisture information to better understand and predict wildfire danger: a review of recent developments and outstanding questions
- Paveglio, Local Dev. & Soc.: The interactional approach to adaptive capacity: Researching adaptation in socially diverse, wildfire prone communities
- Weeks et al., Ecosphere: High-severity fire drives persistent floristic homogenization in human-altered forests
- Whelton et al., AWWA Water Sci.: The Marshall Fire: Scientific and policy needs for water system disaster response
- Williams et al., Ecosphere: High-severity burned area and proportion exceed historic conditions in Sierra Nevada, California, and adjacent ranges
- York et al., Trees, Forests, & People: Merging prescribed fires and timber harvests in the Sierra Nevada: Burn season and pruning influences in young mixed conifer stands
- Heilman, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Atmospheric turbulence and wildland fires: a review
- Kasraee et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Identifying building locations in the wildland–urban interface before and after fires with convolutional neural networks
- Wolters, J. Env. Mgmt: Homeowner firewise behaviors in fire-prone central Oregon: An exploration of the attitudinal, situational, and cultural worldviews impacting pre-fire mitigation actions Author links open overlay panel
- See coverage of this article in High Country News
- National Interagency Coordination Center Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics Annual Report 2022 (pdf)
Special Issue Call:
Please note there will be an upcoming Special Issue on Reimagining the Future of Living and Working with Fire in the Fire Social Science section of the journal Fire. This special issue aims to foreground the diverse experiences of the formal and informal workforce in fire management and highlight what a more equitable fire future would look like. The objective is to bring together novel future-thinking and future-ready practices on reimagining life and work with fire in ways that can achieve caring, equitable, sustainable, and just outcomes. See the full call for more details. UPCOMING WEBINAR:
Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke in frequently impacted communities in Southwestern Oregon
Presented by Rick Graw, USDA Forest Service
March 21, 12pm PT.
*** REGISTER HERE *** Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- Native Seed Conference. March 27-30; Washington, DC.
- IAFC Wildland Urban Interface Conference. March 28-30; Reno, NV
- CO Wildland Fire Conference- April 11-14; Fort Collins, CO
- 2023 Central Oregon Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX): April 24th - May 5th, 2023. Application form.
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Cross-Boundary landscape Restoration Workshop- May 2-4; Fort Collins, CO. Early registration ends 3/1
- NWFSC SPONSORED! 2023 Oregon Society of American Foresters Annual Meeting. May 10-12; Canyonville, OR.
- 8th International Wildland Fire Conference- May 16-19; Porto, Portugal
- 6th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop. Nov. 6-10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. More details coming soon.
- Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
We've been working with partners to put this upcoming webinar together.
See the event page for more information.
*** REGISTER HERE ***
New online resources:
- Wildfire Effects on Wildlife Webinar Series. March 6, 13, & 20. Presented by Northern Rockies Fire Science Exchange and the Association of Fire Ecology. See event page for more information, speakers, and registration.
- It's FIRE WEEK! at the ScienceX Webinar Series. Webinars daily with fire scientists on topics like ecology, smoke, fire behavior, modeling risks, and looking toward the future. Feb 27-March 3.
- Community-focused programs, datasets, and planning resources for wildfire risk mitigation. March 9. Missoula Fire Sciences Lab Seminar Series.
- Short-interval high-severity reburns change the playing field for forest recovery. March 15. Northern Rockies Fire Science Network.
- How an evidence-based approach to community-focused wildfire education programs can put people at the center of wildfire solutions. March 16. Missoula Fire Sciences Lab Seminar Series.
- Slack & Scarcity in Wildfire Management. March 23. Missoula Fire Sciences Lab Seminar Series.
- Spring 2023: Restoring Oregon’s Dry Side Forests: 2 webinars/month through April 2023. Schedule.
- Recorded: Wildfire and Climate Change Adaptation of Western North American Forests: A Case for Proactive Management. SW Fire Science Consortium.
- NEW Podcast episode: Life with Fire: Prescribed Fire, Managed Fire and Community Engagement in Oregon, with Christopher Adlam
- NEW Podcast episode: AFE Fire Ecology Chats: Potential Operation Delineations: New Horizons for Proactive Risk-informed Strategic Land and Fire Management
In the News:
Note: For updates, news, and current info on fires and smoke in the region, please check out the CURRENT FIRE INFO page on our website.
Job announcements:
- University of Oregon Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments: Research Assistant/Associate/Postdoc
- OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension is hiring for THREE positions:
- Extension Forester (Benton, Linn, Polk Counties)
- Extension Forester (Klamath, Lake Counties)
- Coordinator- Master Woodland Manager and Women Owning Woodlands Network
- WA Resource Conservation & Development Council: Program Associate Washington Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network
Funding:
- NW Climate Adaptation Science Center 2023-2024 Research Fellowship Program Request for Proposals. Deadline March 13.
- Congrats to the Joint Fire Science Program FY22 Primary Research Recipients (pdf). Scientists from the PNW have been awarded research funding for projects under both funded task statements!
In the media:
- Western wildfires destroyed 246% more homes and buildings over the past decade – fire scientists explain what’s changing (The Conversation)
- New BLM forest plan in Southern Oregon speeds up wildfire prevention. But it has its critics (OPB)
- Some of Eastern Oregon’s smallest communities look for wildfire protection through Firewise (OPB)
- Forest Service Chief on Wildfire Resiliency (C-SPAN) U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore and others discussed land management and wildfire resiliency at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. 2/13/23.
- Does thinning work for wildfire prevention? (High Country News)
- How far will you go to reduce your wildfire risk? (High Country News)
- A double whammy: Wildfire debris pollutes drinking water (Yale Climate Connections)
Agency press releases:
- WA DNR: Commissioner of Public Lands Testifies in Favor of Statewide Wildfire Impacts Bill
- US DOI: Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Releases Strategy to Meet Aerial Firefighting Equipment Needs
- US EPA: EPA Announces $21M in Research Grant Funding to Investigate Cumulative Health Impacts of Climate Change on Underserved Communities
- NOAA: Towering wildfire clouds have big impacts on the stratosphere
- NRCS: USDA Invests More than $48.6 Million to Manage Risks, Combat Climate Change: 2 projects in Oregon are funded under Joint Chiefs' Landscape Restoration Partnership (North Wasco All Lands, Southern Blues Restoration)
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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NWFSC January '23 Newsletter
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
NW Fire Science Consortium
201E Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
nw.fireconsortium@oregonstate.edu Northwest Fire Science Consortium
January 2023 Newsletter --> Happy 2023 from NWFSC
Greetings Northwest Fire Science Consortium subscribers,
We hope that you all had an enjoyable end of 2022, wherever the season took you. December was very busy for us as we submitted our proposal for FY 24-25--we'll keep you updated about our exciting new ideas and work plans for the future as we get word back! Be sure to check out all of the new resources below, and if you have any news or resources you want us to highlight in future newsletters, we'd love to hear from you. And as always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Autumn Ellison
NWFSC Program Coordinator --> Photo from the field tour during the 5th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop in Asheville, NC in November, where we learned how diverse partners are working together to put prescribed fire on the Asheville watershed landscape, protecting public infrastructure.
Photo: Autumn Ellison Recent publications:
(Published an article? Send it to us!)
NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES:
PDF available:
- Arispe et al., Rangeland Ecol & Mgmt: Strategic Partnerships to Leverage Small Wins for Fine Fuels Management
- Champ et al., Intl. J. Disaster Risk Reduction: Actionable social science can guide community level wildfire solutions. An illustration from North Central Washington, US
- Chavardès et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Converging and diverging burn rates in North American boreal forests from the Little Ice Age to the present
- Crist, J. Env. Mgmt.: Rethinking the focus on forest fires in federal wildland fire management: Landscape patterns and trends of non-forest and forest burned area
- Graw & Anderson, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Strategies to reduce wildfire smoke in frequently impacted communities in south-western Oregon
- Hood et al., Fire Ecol.: A framework for quantifying forest wildfire hazard and fuel treatment effectiveness from stands to landscapes
- Hunter & Taylor, Forests: The Economic Value of Fuel Treatments: A Review of the Recent Literature for Fuel Treatment Planning
- Laughlin et. al., Forest Ecol. & Mgmt.: Trends in forest structure restoration need over three decades with increasing wildfire activity in the interior Pacific Northwest US
- Long et. al., Ecol. & Soc.: Comparing smoke emissions and impacts under alternative forest management regimes
- McKinney et al., Fire Ecol.: A systematic review of empirical evidence for landscape-level fuel treatment effectiveness
- Roos et al., Sci. Adv.: Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire-climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE
- Sachdeva & McCaffrey, Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Themes and patterns in print media coverage of wildfires in the USA, Canada and Australia: 1986–2016
- Thompson et al., Fire Ecol.: Comparing risk-based fuel treatment prioritization with alternative strategies for enhancing protection and resource management objectives
- Urza et al., Fire Ecol.: Landscape-scale fuel treatment effectiveness: lessons learned from wildland fire case studies in forests of the western United States and Great Lakes region
- Vanderhoof et al., Intl. J. Wildland Fire: Contemporary (1984–2020) fire history metrics for the conterminous United States and ecoregional differences by land ownership
- Williams et al., PNAS: Growing impact of wildfire on western US water supply
Paywall articles:
- Chang et al., J. Forestry: The Cost of Forest Thinning Operations in the Western United States: A Systematic Literature Review and New Thinning Cost Model
- Paveglio, Local Devp & Society: The interactional approach to adaptive capacity: Researching adaptation in socially diverse, wildfire prone communities
- Santo et. al., Applied Env. Educ. & Comm.: Communicating with the public about wildland fire preparation, response, and recovery: a review of recent literature. This article was made possible with funding from the Northwest Fire Science Consortium, and presents the work included in our last (2021) synthesis and community-resource infographic guide:
- NWFSC Synthesis: Communicating with the public about wildland fire preparation, response, and recovery. This review paper synthesizes peer-reviewed empirical research published between 2010 and 2021 about wildland fire communication practices.
- NWFSC Resource Guide: Communicating with the public about wildland fire: A resource for practitioners to plan engagement strategies. This infographic summarizes recommendations from a review of 32 research studies about communicating with the public about wildland fire and smoke.
- Wood & Varner, Property and Environmental Research Center with Tall Timbers: Burn Back Better How Western States Can Encourage Prescribed Fire on Private Lands
- Wildland Fire Metareview. USDA Forest Service.
- The True Cost of Wildfire in the Western U.S. 2022 Report. Western Forestry Leadership Coalition.
- An assessment of American Indian forestry research, information needs, and priorities. USDA Forest Service, RMRS.
RECORDED WEBINARS
Developing and Social Vulnerability Index for Wildfire in Oregon
Presented by Mindy Crandall & Caitlyn Reilley; OSU College of Forestry
RECORDING: https://youtu.be/SVGjwycrnrg
Addressing Equity and Environmental Justice in the Forest Service's Wildfire Crisis Strategy
Presented by Susan Charnley & Mark Adams, USFS PNW Research Station
RECORDING: https://youtu.be/XXGYbT2EUwE
Wildfires, Communities, and Environmental Justice
Presented by Francisco Escobedo, US Forest Service Pacific SW Research Station with Alex Enna, Partnership Program Manager Deschutes National Forest
RECORDING: https://youtu.be/hokvaJ9VbAw
Considering Equity in Wildfire Risk and Protection
Presented by Matthew R. Auer, US Forest Service PNW Research Station
RECORDING: https://youtu.be/H-Y5J2qOE6U Conferences, lectures, workshops, and summits:
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Oregon Post-Fire Research and Monitoring Symposium. Webpage. Share what's been learned; Discuss how new discoveries can inform future decisions; Promote collaboration. Feb. 7-9; Corvallis, OR.
- Wildfire Resilient Structures (WiReS) Conference and Tradeshow. Feb. 7-10; San Diego, CA
- Native Seed Conference. March 27-30; Washington, DC.
- Wildland Urban Interface Conference. March 28-30; Reno, NV
- CO Wildland Fire Conference- April 11-14; Fort Collins, CO
- 2023 Central Oregon Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX): April 24th - May 5th, 2023. Application deadline: Feb. 15. Application form.
- NWFSC SPONSORED! Cross-Boundary landscape Restoration Workshop- May 2-4; Fort Collins, CO. Early registration ends 3/1
- 8th International Wildland Fire Conference- May 16-19; Porto, Portugal
- Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) 10th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. Dec. 4-8; Monterey, CA.
New online resources:
Storymaps:
- NEW Storymap: THE WILDFIRE CRISIS STRATEGY. US Forest Service on 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy & allocation of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to date.
- Storymap: FireEarth: Understanding what makes people vulnerable to wildfire. National Science Foundation supported FireEarth project.
- New Firetopia Toolbox app illustrates how land use planning can help your community to survive a wildfire. By Headwaters Economics.
- Storymap: Wildfires in North Central Washington. Exploring geography and impacts of recent fires in the region.
- Storymap: Changing Wildfire, Changing Forests. How climate change is affecting fire regimes and vegetation in the Pacific Northwest.
- Eco-Anxiety & Wildfire, Living with Fire Podcast.
- Come Rain or Shine--Rangelands and Climate change
- New episodes on the Life with Fire Podcast:
- 1/19 Fueling collaboration: Fire and Wildlife- Register
- 2/7 How is fire ecology different than classical ecology? Register
- Spring 2023: Restoring Oregon’s Dry Side Forests: 2 webinars/month through April 2023. Schedule.
- How States Can Better Budget for Wildfires. The Pew Charitable Trust's expert panel will build on the key findings and recommendations from a new Pew study, “Wildfires: Burning Through State Budgets.”
- Detecting Wildland Fire at Night, Southwest Fire Science Consortium
- South-Central Oregon Post-Fire Resilience Strategy, Forest Stewards Guild
- Use of RPAS (aka drones) for wildfire mitigation, operations, modeling, and research directions. Canada Wildfire
Note: For updates, news, and current info on fires and smoke in the region, please check out the CURRENT FIRE INFO page on our website.
- Funding: National Forest Foundation 2023 Matching Awards Program, Apply by 1/23
- Job: Wildland Fire Extension Specialist/ Assistant Professor, Utah State University
- White House Releases First-of-a-Kind Indigenous Knowledge Guidance for Federal Agencies (US White House Press Release)
- USDA Forest Service signs 11 new agreements to advance tribal co-stewardship of national forests (USDA Forest Service Press Release)
- Fire risk map ignites controversy (High Country News)
- What if Indigenous women ran controlled burns? (High Country News)
- Millions of homes are being built in fire-prone areas of Mountain West as wildfire risks grow (KUNR Public Radio)
- An arrest in Oregon worries those who want to prescribe more fire on the land (OPB)
Copyright © 2023 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
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Considering Equity in Wildfire Risk and Protection--TOMORROW
Considering Equity in Wildfire Risk and Protection
---------
Tomorrow @10-11:00am PST
In this webinar, Matthew R. Auer will summarize recent research examining the equity implications of rising wildfire risk and associated costs, including insurance coverage and the comparative costs for risk management activities in populations with different incomes.
We hope you will join us.
REGISTER HERE: https://bit.ly/3dWM1Lw
YouTube:
Developing a Social Vulnerability Index for Wildfire Risk in Oregon
Addressing Equity & Environmental Justice in the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy
Wildfires, Communities, and Environmental Justice This webinar part of the:
Equity and Environmental Justice in Wildfire Webinar Series
Wildfire poses disproportionate hazards to vulnerable populations. Access to resources to prepare and recover from fire events can also be uneven. This series highlights new knowledge, ideas, and efforts focused on integrating equity and environmental justice into the management of wildfire risk and recovery.
Series co-hosted by NWFSC and the Oregon State University Extension Fire Program.
See FLYER for links to all webinars --> We'd like to hear from you!
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
autumn.ellison@oregonstate.edu
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Forward to a friend Join our mailing list
Copyright © 2022 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Wildfires, Communities, and Environmental Justice--TOMORROW
Wildfires, Communities, and Environmental Justice
---------
Tomorrow @10-11:00am PST
In this webinar, presenter Francisco Escobedo of the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station will go over results from a recent literature review of studies that focus on the environmental justice aspects of wildfire (see: A burning issue: Reviewing the sociodemographic and environmental justice aspects of the wildfire literature). He will then present preliminary findings from ongoing research looking at how different socio-demographic groups have been affected by wildfires across California in the last decade.
We hope you will join us.
REGISTER HERE: https://bit.ly/3SprpKI
YouTube:
Addressing Equity & Environmental Justice in the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy This webinar part of the:
Equity and Environmental Justice in Wildfire Webinar Series
Wildfire poses disproportionate hazards to vulnerable populations. Access to resources to prepare and recover from fire events can also be uneven. This series highlights new knowledge, ideas, and efforts focused on integrating equity and environmental justice into the management of wildfire risk and recovery.
Series co-hosted by NWFSC and the Oregon State University Extension Fire Program.
See FLYER for links to all webinars --> We'd like to hear from you!
Autumn Ellison, Program Coordinator
autumn.ellison@oregonstate.edu
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Forward to a friend Join our mailing list
Copyright © 2022 Northwest Fire Science Consortium, All rights reserved.
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
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