Southern Fire Exchange

Partner Webinar: Eastern U.S. old growth and prescribed fire
2025-11-04 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
When: November 4th, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by: Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium
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Learn more about this webinar series and the related events.

Presenters:

Dr. Jacob Fraser, USFS Northern Research Station

SFE Webinar: Burning Boundaries: Large Wildfire Patterns and Drivers in the Eastern United States Wildland-Urban Interface
2025-11-19 13:00 - 14:00 | Online, United States
When: Nov. 19th, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by: University of Florida IFAS, and Southern Fire Exchange
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Webinar Description: Large wildfires are increasing in the eastern United States, raising concern about the risk to human life and property within the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where development and vegetation intermingle. In this webinar, we will explore large wildfire patterns inside and outside the WUI and the factors driving these patterns over the past three decades in the eastern U.S. Although the WUI only covers 22% of this region by area, it plays a crucial role in large wildfire dynamics. We found that environmental factors—particularly higher woody cover and drier conditions—and, to a lesser extent, social factors, influence where wildfires occur in and near the WUI. Our findings highlight complex interactions between human development and large wildfire occurrence, as well as the need for proactive fuels management in the East.

Presenter: Noah Weidig, University of Florida

Partner Webinar: The effect of fire management and habitat characteristics on butterfly community composition in the Southern Great Plains
2025-12-16 14:00 - 15:00
When: December 16th, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by: Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium
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Presenters:

Dr. Emily Geest, Oklahoma City Zoo

Fueling Collaboration Webinar:Storms and Strategy - Understanding the Impacts of Hurricanes on Wildfire and Prescribed Fire in the Southeast
2026-01-15 11:00 - 12:30
When: January 15th, 11:00 – 12:30 PM ET
Hosted by: Fueling Collaboration Partners from the Eastern Fire Science Exchange Networks
Description: Hurricanes and tropical systems are powerful forces that continue to shape the landscape of the U.S. While much attention has been given to the immediate post-storm impacts, the influence of these large-scale weather events on prescribed fire and wildfire management remains underexplored. From altering fuel loads and fuel arrangement, to reshaping access and burn windows, tropical systems introduce both short-term and long-term challenges to regional fire managers.
In this Fueling Collaboration panel discussion, we’ll dive into the complex relationship between hurricanes and wildland fire. Join scientists, land managers, and fire practitioners as they share insights on how storm events affect prescribed fire planning, post-storm fire behavior, and ecosystems. We’ll explore case studies from the coastal and southern Appalachians, and discuss strategies for adapting fire management in a dynamic region.
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Partner Webinar: Developing new fuel models for fire modeling of novel ecosystems in the Cross Timbers ecoregion
2026-01-16 14:00 - 15:00
When: January 16th, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by: Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium
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In the forests of the Cross Timbers ecoregion, an increase in eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana; ERC) has resulted in a novel fuel type with higher fuel load, different fuel architecture, and potentially increased fire risk. As a novel fuel type, ERC has not been modeled in common fire modeling programs like FlamMap or BehavePlus. This webinar explores the work of DeSantis and colleagues where they modeled test burns in mechanically treated and untreated ERC-encroached Cross Timbers forests to assess common fire modeling program capability to match observed fire behavior using a commonly used regional fuel model, best match fuel model, custom fuel model, and plant canopy inputs.
Learn more about this webinar series and the related events.

Presenters:

Dr. Ryan DeSantis, Oklahoma State University

Partner Webinar: The Hot-Dry-Windy Index (HDWI)
2026-02-25 14:00 - 15:00
“The Hot-Dry-Windy-Index: Background, History, and Application to Fire Weather Forecasting in the Lake States and Northeast United States”

When: February 25th, 2026, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by: North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange
Presenters: Dr. Jay Charney, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station
Description: Atmospheric conditions can have a wide range of impacts on wildfire and prescribed fire. The key is recognizing when atmospheric conditions are such that management of the fire on the landscape could be difficult or nearly impossible to perform. This webinar will revisit and showcase the Hot-Dry-Windy Index, a tool developed to assist both meteorologists and fire operations in recognizing adverse atmosphere conditions that could have an impact. Dr. Jay Charney will provide relevant background information related to the tool, how to utilize it, and share examples that highlight its value for operations.​
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SFE Webinar: A Story of Fire and Fuels in Southwest Georgia
2026-03-13 13:00 - 14:00
When: March 13th, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Hosted by: Tall Timbers, Southern Fire Exchange, University of Florida IFAS
Speaker: George Jensen, Southwest Georgia PBA Coordinator, Tall Timbers
Description: Southwest Georgia and Northwest Florida represent the rekindling of prescribed fire culture in America, cast back on the landscape by Herbert Stoddard and the newly fledged field of wildlife biology. These new managers, researchers, and conservation advocates sought to restore a natural and essential process in an almost wholly anthropogenically changed landscape. These changes impacted how we approach restoring the most common disturbance in our ecosystems, tune in to hear the abridged tale of fire’s return to the landscape and how we fuel both the application and culture of prescribed fire in the present day.
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JFSP FSEN Webinar - Fire and Fire Surrogate Studies and SageSTEP: The Benefits of Long-Term Fire Research
2026-04-02 13:00 - 14:30
Fire and Fire Surrogate Studies and SageSTEP: The Benefits of Long-Term Fire Research Webinar
When: April 2nd, 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Collaboratively hosted by:
Great Basin Fire Science Exchange
Southern Fire Exchange
California Fire Science Consortium
Joint Fire Science Program
Northern Rockies Fire Science Network
North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange
Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists
Description: The goal of this webinar is to take an in‑depth look at two of the most influential long‑term fire research efforts supported by the Joint Fire Science Program: the Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) Study and the Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP). These landmark studies provide rare, decades‑long insights into how different fuel treatments and fire management strategies shape ecosystem resilience, fuel dynamics, vegetation structure, and wildlife habitat.
In this webinar, we​ will highlight why long-term research sites are ​integral in understanding ecosystem response and for informing ​management decisions today. ​
We will explore key findings from several FFS locations—including Blodgett Forest Research Station (CA), Lubrecht Experimental Forest (MT), Green River Game Land (NC), and Ohio Hills (OH)—as well as the network of SageSTEP sites across the sagebrush biome.
Guest speakers:

Molly Hunter, Joint Fire Science Program
Don Hagan, Clemson University
Sharon Hood, Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service
Scott Stephens, University of California – Berkeley
Lisa Ellsworth, Oregon State University and Beth Newingham, Agricultural Research Service
Alexis Bernal, University of California – Berkeley

More information and webinar registration: North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange website

SFE Webinar: Burning For Birds - A Manual for the Application of Prescribed Fire in High Marshes on the Northern Gulf Coast
2026-04-10 13:00 - 14:00
“SFE Webinar: Burning For Birds – A Manual for the Application of Prescribed Fire in High Marshes on the Northern Gulf Coast”

When: April 10th, 2026, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Tall Timbers, the Southern Fire Exchange, and the University of Florida IFAS.
Presenters:Auriel Fournier, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Description: The NOAA Firebird project (https://noaworkingrd.home.blogtogether) has been working together since 2019 to study the impacts of prescribed fire in gulf coastal high marshes on three birds, the mottled duck, eastern black rail and yellow rail. This webinar will focus on our newly published prescribed fire manual, which contains our results to date on the application of fire, as well as several case studies.
Register for and learn more about the webinar.

SFE Webinar: "The Integrated Research Management Team: A Novel Framework for Integrating Wildland Fire Research & Management"
2026-05-19 13:00 - 14:00
“The Integrated Research Management Team: A Novel Framework for Integrating Wildland Fire Research & Management”

When: May 19th, 2026, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Hosted by: Southern Fire Exchange, US Forest Service, The Ember Alliance
Presenters: James Furman, US Forest Service; Dan Gualtieri, The Ember Alliance
Description: Our landscapes face increasingly complex fire management challenges including fire exclusion, changing fire seasons, invasive species, and growing wildland-urban interface. To better address these challenges, timely and relevant fire science is needed to develop new knowledge, tools, and practices. Research has demonstrated that knowledge attained through coproduction is more readily applied by practitioners and research co-production is a pathway towards tackling ‘wicked problems.’ In wildland fire contexts, accomplishing co-produced science is often difficult, as hosting research on active incidents and operations presents many safety and logistical challenges. The Integrated Research Management Team (IRMT) is a framework modeled after the Incident Command System and developed collaboratively among the USDA Forest Service, US Department of War, and others. The IRMT bridges the gap between fire science researchers and wildland fire managers and practitioners, facilitating research campaigns on active, operational, prescribed fires. This webinar features James Furman, USFS Fire Management Specialist, exploring the IRMT’s origin, solving real challenges faced by wildland fire researchers and managers. Dan Gualtieri, Wildland Fire Science Coordinator for The Ember Alliance, dives deeper into the framework’s current IRMT structure.
Register for and learn more about the webinar.
