John Saltenberger, Meteorologist Predictive Services Program Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, Portland OR presents: Climate & Weather Outlook for the 2015 Fire Season in the PNWWatch the webinar on our YouTube Channel!

Rebecca Flitcroft, Research Fish Biologist with the USFS PNW Research Station presents: Vulnerability of spring Chinook and bull trout to broad-scale disturbance processes: wildfire and climate change
Recorded February 9th
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Over the past century, wildland fire management has been core to the mission of federal land management agencies. In recent decades, however, federal spending on wildfire suppression has increased dramatically; suppression spending that on average accounted for less than 20 percent of the USFS’s discretionary funds prior to 2000 had grown to 43 percent of discretionary funds by 2008 (USDA 2009), and 51 percent in 2014 (USDA 2014). Rising suppression costs have created budgetary shortfalls and conflict as money “borrowed” from other budgets often cannot be paid back in full, and resources for other program areas and missions are subsumed by suppression expenditures (Thompson et al. 2013). Significant policy making over the past 15 years has been designed, at least in part, to address these issues and temper wildfire costs. Effective political efforts and strategies to control public spending on suppression rely on a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the drivers of suppression costs and recent trends. Currently, scholars and policymakers have little understanding or agreement on the diversity of drivers behind wildfire suppression costs, how drivers vary in different situations, or what specific tactics or approaches might best reign in rising costs. There is great variability in costs between comparable wildfires in the same season, as well as between comparable fire seasons. Problematically, much of this variation is unexplained by frequently noted drivers. As speculation and scrutiny around potential drivers has increased, so too has a growing body of scholarly literature investigating the correlates and influences driving suppression costs. A more comprehensive understanding of the full suite of factors affecting suppression costs can inform how land management agencies can best leverage limited resources for wildfire management, and how budget allocations could more accurately accommodate annual suppression costs. This working paper gathers together existing scholarly literature on wildfire suppression cost drivers. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the diversity of drivers examined in scholarly literature that may influence suppression costs; be a resource for documenting the growth, parameters, and directions in this field of research; and serve as a central collection annotating this literature to date.

Jessica Halofsky presents Fire severity and post-fire vegetation recovery in riparian areas of the Biscuit and B&B fires, Oregon
Recorded January 26th
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TNC has recently completed with the USFS R6 Ecology Program assessing forest restoration needs across eastern WA, eastern OR and southwest OR.  TNC Forest Conservation Director Mark Stern will give a brief introduction from his perspective as a TNC program director and participant in several forest collaboratives. TNC’s Chris Zanger, forest analyst, and Ryan Haugo, senior forest ecologist, will handle the bulk of the presentation. The study, A New Approach to Evaluate Forest Structure Restoration Needs Across Oregon and Washington, appears in the January 2015 issue of Forest Ecology and Management. 
Recorded December 2, 2014
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Kori Blankenship, Fire Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy, brings it all together by looking at methodology involved in “Modifying LANDFIRE Data for Local Conditions,” so as to adapt LANDFIRE data for specific needs in the Northwest.  
Recorded April 2, 2014
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Ryan Haugo, Forest Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy, presents “Using LANDFIRE Products: Assessing Restoration Needs in PNW Forests,” about key datasets that were used to quantify reference conditions for Oregon/Washington Region 6 areas.  
Recorded on February 26, 2014.
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Randy Swaty, Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy, offers an intro “What is this thing called LANDFIRE?” with maps and examples specifically targeted to the Pacific Northwest region of the  U.S.  He will describes what LANDFIRE is, where to get the products, how you can use them, when and how often the data is updated and who to contact to learn more – all in 45 minutes or less!  Though examples and maps refer to PNW locations, information applies to all landscapes across the U.S.
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Webinar on the social motivation for firewise behavior in the Wildland Urban Interface. A discussion on effective ways to engage the public.
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A Case Study from Colorado Springs and the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire.
Produced by David C. Kosling. A production of Creative Media and Broadcast Center USDA Office of Communications, Washington, D.C.
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