As spring wildfire season approaches, the USDA Forest Service Urban Forestry South Fire in the Interface Fact Sheet series maybe useful to once again share with residents living in the WUI.
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Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy
Garret College, located in Western Maryland, will host the Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy both virtually and in-person. The last day to register is April 29, 2021.
Full information, including registration can be found here.
Continue ReadingAnnouncement of USGS’ first Wildland Fire Science Strategic Plan
The USGS’ first Wildland Fire Science Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan) has been published and is now available. Links are provided below to access the Strategic Plan, Fact Sheet and other information about the program.
The new strategy guides USGS research in the 21st century. It prioritizes the production of innovative science, tools and resources that inform land management and provide an understanding of fire’s role in ecosystems and in human communities, before, during and after wildfires.
The new USGS fire science strategic plan prioritizes the production of state-of-the-art, actionable fire science. We seek to collaborate in this effort with federal, Tribal, state and other stakeholders, to ensure that data and tools are timely, relevant and widely disseminated. Finally, the plan sets up an organizational structure that helps ensure these outcomes.
- U.S. Geological Survey Wildland Fire Science Strategic Plan: 2021-26: https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1471
- Fact Sheet on Wildland Fire Science at the USGS : https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20193025
- 12-year compendium of wildland fire science at the USGS: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191002
- USGS Wildland Fire Science web page: https://www.usgs.gov/fire
LANDFIRE: LANDFIRE 2019L Coming Soon, Office Hours
Important updates from the recent LANDFIRE Postcard include:
- LANDFIRE 2019 Limited is coming soon. The LF 2019L product includes CONUS and will only include 2017, 2018 and 2019 disturbances submitted to LANDFIRE directly or available in national data bases (e.g., FACTS, NFPORS, MTBS, etc.).
- LANDFIRE will host informal “office hours” the last Thursday of every month. These 1-hr open office hours are designed to provide quick feedback, troubleshoot common LANDFIRE questions, familiarize users with the best (and worst) uses of LANDFIRE data and provide an opportunity for the LANDFIRE user community to get quick help with their LANDFIRE questions.
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Fire In the Great Plains Series: Why Burn?
This video is the first in a series from our friends at the Great Plains Fire Science Exchange describing fire in the Great Plains. The series features ranchers in the region and local experts discussing prescribed fire. This video focuses on the need for burning grasslands in the region.
Continue ReadingNew Guidance: Emergency Evacuation and Sheltering during the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 has changed the way we respond to natural hazards, from how populations are evacuated to how shelters operate. Even with vaccination programs ramping up, disaster responses will need to continue to take the virus’s spread and impact into account throughout 2021’s emergencies, including wildfires.
New guidance from the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) identifies strategies for emergency planners and decision-makers to consider as they update their disaster plans for sheltering, mass care, and evacuation amidst COVID-19.
Continue ReadingSFE Webinar Recording Available: COVID-19 Impacts on Southeast Prescribed Fire and Strategies for Keeping Fire on the Ground
The recording of the Southern Fire Exchange webinar from Thursday, February 11th “COVID-19 Impacts on Southeast Prescribed Fire and Strategies for Keeping Fire on the Ground” is now live on the SFE YouTube webinar archive. This webinar featured a research presentation on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Southeastern prescribed fire as well as a fire manager panel discussion that covered strategies for managing prescribed fire programs in 2020 and 2021. Webinar presenters included: Benjamin Poulter, Ph.D., NASA Earth Sciences Division and Morgan Varner, Ph.D., Tall Timbers Research Station. The webinar fire manager panelists included: Greg Titus, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Brett Williams, US Air Force Wildland Fire Branch, and Sasha Ernst, Florida Park Service
Click here to view the archived webinar
Click here to download the webinar slides
New Book: The Fire Manager’s Guide to Blue Ridge Ecozones
In “The Fire Manager’s Guide to Blue Ridge Ecozones” a new book from the Southern Blue Ridge Fire Learning Network, TNC fire manager Adam Warwick explores a wide range of fire maintained ecosystems across the Blue Ridge. The beautiful 165 page guide includes full color photographs and illustrations. You can download the full .pdf file here. A print version of the book is expected soon.
Continue ReadingNature Knowledge Biodiversity through Pyrodiversity
Nature Knowledge is a speaker series developed to share current knowledge on issues affecting nature in Florida. Dr. Shelly Johnson, State Specialized Agent in Natural Resources with UF/IFAS Extension, hosts an expert each month to discuss an environmental topic relevant to Florida’s natural resources.
This month’s program featured the Florida Fire Manager with The Nature Conservancy, Zachary Prusak, to discuss the important role of fire within Florida’s ecosystem!
Continue ReadingMission Unstoppable – How Does Fire Spead?
In this January 2021 CBS Mission Unstoppable episode, University of Florida fire ecology professor and Southern Fire Exchange program Principle Investigator Dr. Rae Crandall uses match stick forests, metal trees, and a recent prescribed fire to explain basic principles of fire behavior and effects. This short five minute video would be a great introduction to fire in the Southeast.
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