Hosted by International Association of Wildland Fire on July 14, 2021 Joe Sol shares their research on sustainment and maintenance throughout the fire season. Joe Sol is currently a Ph.D. student in interdisciplinary studies at the University of Montana with a research focus on the cardiovascular health of wildland firefighters.
Continue ReadingFire Research
This page features regionally relevant fire science news, publications, and resources. You can search for even more fire science publications in the SFE Regional Fire Science Publication Database (RFSPD).
Forecast Report on Longleaf Pine Cone Crop for 2021 and 2022
Dr. John Willis and Dr. Dale Brockway of the US Forest Service Southern Research Station in Auburn, Alabama have released their 2021-2022 regional longleaf pine forecast report. This report includes current cone counts and conelet observations from 11 sites ranging from Louisiana to Florida and up to North Carolina. Fire and land managers can use these data to inform plans to maximize natural regeneration opportunities in mature longleaf stands. Download the full report here. For questions about the report contact Dr. John Willis ([email protected]).
Continue ReadingHouse of Representatives Committee Holds Hearing on Wildland Fire Science
In a hearing Tuesday before the House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee the topic was “The state of federal wildland fire science: examining opportunities for further research and coordination.”
Read a summary from Wildfire Today here.
Continue ReadingSouthern Forest Research Centennial
With the impending centennial of formal Forest Service R&D approaching, the Southern Research Station would like to document as much of its history as possible.
Therefore, SRS is looking for people to contribute articles and images related to the history of the South’s forest experiment stations over the decades. They hope to assemble several collections of historical photographs, maps, blueprints, line drawings, and other documents that will be made permanently available through the Forest Service Research Data Archive as well as some other outputs.
Those interested in helping out—and these can include current and former SRS employees, National Forest System staff, university partners, outside collaborators, or any other knowledgeable persons—are asked to contact Dr. Don C. Bragg with their thoughts and suggestions.
Continue ReadingNew USFS Report: Research Improves Climate-Smart Management of America’s Forests and Grasslands
In response to the new administration’s focus on climate change, Forest Service R&D produced Research Improves Climate-smart Management of America’s Forests and Grasslands, a special report that highlights the agency’s contributions to climate science and land management.
Continue ReadingAldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute Research Scientist Position
The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute will soon be advertising for a research scientist position focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in relation to stewardship of Federally designated wilderness.
With the holiday weekend approaching, and the desire to recruit broadly for this position, those interested are advised that the positions will likely to be open for applications on, or about, July 5th, 2021. The posting will be open for applications on USA Jobs for 10 days or until we receive 50 applications, whichever happens first.
About the Position:
The scientist is expected to develop meaningful and impactful lines of research, partnerships, and outreach related to investigating and improving the relevance of Federally designated wilderness to communities who have been historically underrepresented and/or under resourced.
Although there is flexibility in research topics (due to funding opportunities, the Institute’s broad and evolving wilderness science agenda, and an incumbent’s expertise), example areas where the scientist will provide leadership include: 1) understanding recreation experiences, preferences, barriers, and incentives for communities who have historically been underrepresented and/or under resourced with respect to Federally designated wilderness; 2) improving the delivery of government benefits and services, related to management of wilderness, to ensure that families of all backgrounds can access opportunity; 3) improving information on how the demographics of society are changing and how those changes will impact the way people value and use wilderness; (4) explorations of the “relevancy” of wilderness, which is either related to long-standing relevancy that has not been emphasized or new relevancy emerging due to a changing society; and 5) studying new methods to assess whether proposed and existing wilderness management laws and policies advance equity and inclusion.
To be clear, applicants DO NOT need a wilderness background. Applicants must have experience with scholarship, tools, and/or methods, which can be from a broad range of academic backgrounds, but this experience must be applicable to research about the engagement of underrepresented or under-resourced communities in relation to Federally designated wilderness. Once a member of the Institute, most of the scientist’s work, most of the time must support stewardship of the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). But, the discipline of public lands management, and specifically wilderness stewardship, can be learned as part of on-the-job training.
About the Institute:
The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, part of U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), is an interagency, national research facility located on campus at the University of Montana. The Leopold Institute is the only federal research group in the United States dedicated to development and dissemination of knowledge needed to steward the 111-million acre, U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System. We have a long a long history of conducting and sharing science in support of the NWPS, as well as collaborating with academic, NGO, tribal, community, and other partners within the U.S. and internationally. In addition to being administered by the RMRS, the Institute’s work is responsive to an Interagency Wilderness Policy Council. This collaboration, defined by an interagency agreement among the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey, and facilitated through an Interagency Wilderness Steering Committee, helps to ensure the Institute’s work is relevant to wilderness managers.
It’s a great time to join the team. Wilderness and wilderness conservation remain important, at home and globally; and in many ways, are more important than ever. Wilderness is essential to climate change mitigation, fresh water supplies, habitat connectivity, food and economic security, and spiritual and physical health, to name only a few benefits. We have significant stewardship challenges in front of us and endless opportunities to conduct science and develop partnerships that make a difference to all people. We are in the process of building our next, ten-year, science strategic plan…and, you can help to shape this plan. We are a passionate and collegial group dedicated to stewarding wilderness in the U.S. and internationally, and we welcome you to join our team.
More information about the Leopold Institute can be found here: https://leopold.wilderness.net/
Continue ReadingEmerging Field of Science Could Explain How Wildfires Carry Microbes
When wildfires rage across the landscape, whether on grasslands or in forests, the massive plumes of smoke that rise into the air and travel for miles can carry more than a thousand different types of microbes with them.
Yet until University of Idaho associate professor Leda Kobziar came along, there was essentially no research on what bacteria and fungi might be carried in that smoke, how far those microbes might travel, or how they might impact soil ecology both where the fire started and where the microbes land.
Continue ReadingNotice of Upcoming JFSP Funding Opportunity Announcements
The interagency Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) intends to request proposals through one or more formal Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) beginning approximately July 2021 and remaining open approximately 60 days. The intent of this announcement is to provide an early alert to investigators interested in the topics listed below so that they can begin considering responsive ideas with potential partners and collaborators.
Investigators should recognize that final decisions regarding topic selection will not be made until July and that final topic selection may differ from that posted here. One or more topics could be dropped or added, and the specific focus of individual topics may be altered. Investigators should recognize this uncertainty and not invest substantial time or resources working on proposals until the FOAs and their associated topics are formally posted.
Topics and funding opportunities are as follows:
Primary FOA
A. Social and ecological recovery of communities impacted by wildfire JFSP is interested in proposals that will inform the development or improvement of strategies, tools, and resources used for post-fire community recovery, such that they facilitate recovery efforts that increase the resilience of social-ecological systems to future wildfires.
B. Collaborative development of ecosystem mapping products for fire and fuels management
JFSP is looking for proposals to develop, using a collaborative framework, prototype mapping protocols and products that capture current ecosystem condition, desired condition, and departure from desired condition at spatial and temporal resolutions relevant to fire and fuels management decisions.
GRIN FOA – Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) Award
The JFSP will continue awarding the Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) program for current master and doctoral students in the field of wildland fire and related physical, biological, and social sciences. Proposals must be directly related to the mission and goals of JFSP to be considered, and they must address management- or policy-related questions related to one or more of the following general topic areas: fuels management and fire behavior, emissions and air quality, fire effects and post-fire recovery, relative impacts of prescribed fire versus wildfire, or human dimensions of fire.
Regional Fire Science Exchange FOA
The JFSP is looking to solicit proposals to lead and execute a particular regional fire science exchange for a period of one to three years. This solicitation is seeking individual proposals (i.e., each proposal must be specific to one region) for the following six regions of the FSEN: Southern, Southern Rockies, Southwest, Appalachians, Great Plains and North Atlantic.
Prescribed Fire Effects on Soil Fertility
USDA Forest Service researcher John Butnor examined how dormant-season prescribed fire affects forest soil fertility in the months after a burn in a recent paper. While others have studied soil a year or more after a prescribed burn. Butnor’s research compares soil chemistry before burning and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after.
Read the CompassLive article and research paper here.
Continue ReadingNew Aerial Firefighting Technology
Skies Magazine latest issue includes a list of new developments in aerial firefighting technology.
Continue Reading