Archived Webinar

Media provide crucial information about wildfires and can be key messengers about fire’s role in our landscapes and communities. This summer, the Oregon State University Extension Fire Program and University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication collaboratively published a new resource guide to support effective media coverage of wildfires and related topics. Although developed for Oregon, the guide’s insights and suggestions are applicable across the Northwest. Join the authors to learn more about how media in all forms can report diverse stories of fire, including strategies for physical and mental preparedness, engaging with incident personnel, and using scientific knowledge.

To enhance Oregon’s wildfire resilience, the State Legislature passed the 2021 SB 762 Omnibus Wildfire Bill that enacted recommendations from the Governor’s 2019 Wildfire Council. This included a $220M investment in landscape resilience, suppression response, as well as some new regulations for the home ignition zone for community protection. Upon release of a map showing statewide hazard, there was a significant public outcry, often based on misunderstandings or misinformation, that ultimately led to the map being rescinded and reworked. Join us for this webinar, where we will explore the broader intent of the legislation, its requirements for mapping, where the effort stands today, and what we continue to learn from the public’s reaction.

This webinar highlights the findings of several recent studies looking at the effectiveness of fuel treatments conducted at a landscape scale. After a brief overview, it includes short presentations looking at the empirical evidence, simulation studies, case studies, and a new methodology for looking at the effectiveness of landscape-scale treatments. These studies were the outcome of a Joint Fire Science Program grant received by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. Webinar organized by several western Fire Science Exchanges. 

Smoke from wildfires is a well-recognized public health and safety issue. While there have been extensive efforts to help communities be “smoke ready”, most people would still prefer not to live with weeks of unhealthy air quality during the summer and fall. This webinar will address what could be done to reduce the amount of smoke experienced by frequently impacted communities during wildfire season. By knowing the frequent pathways that air moves into these communities during wildfire season, we gain some insights as to where fuel treatments can have a greater probability of reducing smoke from subsequent wildfires. Rather than using wind roses, meteorological modeling and GIS processing techniques provide raster images of these pathways for each community. A case study illustrates that these strategic fuel treatments can reduce smoke by 40 percent from subsequent wildfires. The webinar will also cover how raster images 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. Additionally, the frequent air pathways can be used during wildfire season for decision support to reduce smoke impacts to the public. Presenter: Rick Graw, USDA Forest Service

This webinar summarizes 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. Presented by: Matthew R. Auer, Dean and Arch Professor of Public and International Affairs at the School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia.

This webinar describes the development of a Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) for Oregon and its incorporation into the Wildfire Risk Explorer tool mandated through State Senate Bill 762. We present an overview of social vulnerability and how it is measured, along with information on reliability, strengths, and limitations of SV indices and maps. We also walk through the SVI tool within the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer and provide time for questions and answers. Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer: https://tools.oregonexplorer.info/OE_... OSU Scholars Archive record that includes county subdivision & tract level data: https://doi.org/10.7267/z890s265n Inquiries regarding the OSU wildfire risk maps should be directed to osuwildfirerisk@oregonstate.edu.

This webinar presented a preliminary overview of information collected from a recent survey of family forest owners in western Oregon and Washington. Presenters gave an overview of the larger project, presented results, and asked attendees about the data that was most interesting to them, as well as what other questions they had as the analysis phase for the data begins. Throughout the webinar attendees were welcomed to add insights and questions to a Jamboard session. The Jamboard for the webinar is available here: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1reS3q6...

Both the US Forest Service Wildfire Crisis Strategy and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is funding the agency’s initial investments to reduce wildfire risk under the Strategy call for considering equity and environmental justice when implementing projects. During this webinar presenters Susan Charnley and Mark Adams (USDA Forest Service) provide an overview of their recent research on the environmental justice implications of managing hazardous fuels on federal forest lands. They then present practical applications of this research, including new tools, that help address these needs expressed in the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and the Infrastructure Law. 

Then, Alex Enna, Partnerships Program Manager on the Deschutes National Forest, shares perspectives at the forest-level on how these current efforts may be valuable in informing planning and decision-making on the ground. The webinar ends with a session dedicated to questions, discussion, and feedback. This webinar offers an overview on equity and environment justice considerations that span wildland fire research, policymaking, and on-the-ground management implications.

In this webinar Francisco Escobedo of the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station summarizes a recent literature review of studies that focus on the environmental justice aspects of wildfire. He then presents preliminary findings on how different socio-demographic groups have been affected by wildfires across California in the last decade.

In this deep dive webinar, Dr. Becky Kerns and collaborating scientists will present and synthesize results from a Joint Fire Science funded project aimed at understanding the current and future Ventenata dubia (ventenata) invasion in the Blue Mountains Ecoregion. Wildfires in 2014 and 2015 in the ecoregion reportedly spread in an unusual fashion owing to this invasive annual grass. Concern was raised that ventenata might be a “game-changer” for wildfire. Results from our studies show that ventenata has ecosystem transformation potential and influences landscape-scale fire across the ecoregion. We report these findings with management implications and place our results in the context of other plant invasion research. The webinar includes 90 minutes of scientific presentations with short Q&A, and ends with a 30-minute wrap-up and panel discussion.