The next National Extension Wildland Fire Initiative quarterly meeting (hosted by the Association for Natural Resources Extension Professionals) on August 15th at 3PM ET (Zoom) will focus on topics related to smoke and air quality. David Godwin, Ph.D., Eytan Krasilovsky, and Jess Downing will talk about DIY air filters, air cleaner loaner programs, and opportunities to engage communities on smoke related topics. If you work in Cooperative Extension or similar community outreach join the meeting and find out more about NEWFI and their quarterly meetings.
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New Prescribed Fire Sign Templates
Can you or your organization use some FREE prescribed fire-themed signs designs? Are you looking for a sign template that can easily be adopted with organization logos or language?
The Southern Fire Exchange in partnership with a committee from the School of Forests, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences at the University of Florida IFAS recently developed a suite of customizable prescribed fire signs. Signs were developed with three different use scenarios in mind: roadside signs, property entrance signs, and trailside signs. These signs are available in PNG, EPS, and PSD formats so that graphic designers can further modify them for use by agencies, organizations, prescribed fire councils, prescribed burn associations, and landowners. The artwork is original and these graphics are free for non-commercial use.
Check out all of the sign designs and let us know ([email protected]) if you have any feedback!
Continue ReadingAmerica’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative 2022 Annual Report
Over the past 10+ years, the Southern Fire Exchange team has had the pleasure of partnering with many of the programs and projects involved with the America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative (ALRI). ALRI partners have widely applied fire science research and tools in their management decisions. The 2022 Annual Report produced by the ALRI provides updated details on regional progress towards restoring the legendary longleaf pine across the southeastern US. Through the Initiative, since 2010:
- 1.7 million acres of longleaf have been planted
- 17 million acres have been treated with prescribed fire
- 363,000 acres have been protected
If you’ve interested in longleaf pine ecosystem restoration and management, check out our Southern Fire Exchange Fact Sheets, explore our Regional Fire Science Publication Database, or visit the Longleaf Alliance produced Longleaf Library.
Continue ReadingJFSP Fire Science Funding Opportunities are now Open!
Today the Joint Fire Science Program announced their 2023 funding opportunities! This is the annual chance to submit research proposals for fire science funding. Scroll down to read the notice from the Joint Fire Science Program or jump straight to the funding page with additional details.
We’re always interested in talking about how the Southern Fire Exchange can support regional fire science delivery and coproduction. If you’re interested in partner with us, please send us an email ([email protected]). We have historically provided letters of support for proposals that are interested in collaborating on science delivery programs.
From the Joint Fire Science Program Friday Flash:
It’s time to apply! The interagency Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) is soliciting proposals from both government and non-government entities through several formal Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcements beginning July 13th and remaining open through September 28th at 5 pm MT.
Topics and funding opportunities are as follows:
Primary NOFO
Task Statement I – Accelerating science to action in fire-prone ecosystems: Spurring innovation in adaptation through knowledge exchange and place-based partnerships (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to strengthen partnerships among scientists, practitioners, managers, and other interested parties to accelerate the identification and adoption of science-based management strategies that facilitate adaptation to changing fire regimes.
Task Statement II – Effective fire communication and outreach (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to better understand public perception of wildfire management and effectiveness of fire-related communication strategies to inform effective public fire communication and outreach programs.
Task Statement III – Prescribed fire effects on water quality and quantity (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to inform the use of fire in highly valued watersheds by evaluating the effects of prescribed fire on water quality and quantity.
Task Statement IV – Managing carbon emissions in ecosystems with deep organic soils (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to inform effective strategies for managing carbon stores in deep organic soils that are increasingly impacted by wildfire.
Task Statement V – Social equity and wildland fire impacts, mitigation, response, and recovery (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to gain better understanding of a broad range of direct and indirect wildfire impacts borne by different sectors of society, the time horizons over which these impacts occur, and factors that influence the ability of individuals and communities to prepare for, respond to, and recovery from wildfire.
Task Statement VI – Characterizing wildfire risk in wildland-urban interface and urban settings (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to evaluate and improve existing methods to characterize wildfire risk to wildland urban interface (WUI) and urban settings.
GRIN – Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) Award (view NOFO)
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, changing 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 NOFO (view NOFO)
The objective of this task statement is to solicit proposals to lead and execute a particular regional fire science exchange for a period of two years. The JFSP funds and provides oversight to a national collaborative of 15 regional wildland fire science exchanges: the Fire Science Exchange Network (FSEN). The FSEN provides the most relevant, current wildland fire science information to federal, state, local, tribal, and private stakeholders within ecologically similar regions. This solicitation is seeking individual proposals (i.e., each proposal must be specific to one region) for the following nine regions of the FSEN: Appalachians, California, Great Plains, Lake States, North Atlantic, Southern, Southern Rockies, Southwest, and Tallgrass Prairie.
For those involved in wildland fire science, please consider applying to advance important research and support sound decision-making on the ground.
Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.
Watch the 2023 North Georgia Prescribed Fire Council Meeting Presentations Online!
Thanks to our partnership with the North Georgia Prescribed Fire Council, we were able to record and archive the presentations from their 2023 meeting held last week in Jasper, Georgia. You can watch the entire meeting as a YouTube Playlist or select to watch the individual presentations. Presentations included:
- Georgia Forestry Commission Update – Tim Lowrimore, Georgia Forestry Commission
- Prescribed Fire and Wild Turkey Habitat – Dr. Michael Chamberlain, University of Georgia
- Prescribed Fire Initiatives for Private Landowners in Georgia – Panel Discussion
- The Importance of Prescribed Fire in the #1 Forestry State – Nick DiLuzio, Georgia Forestry Foundation
- Considering Air Quality Impacts from Prescribed Fire – Melanie Pitrolo, US Forest Service
- Reintroduction of Prescribed Fire to Fire Suppressed Pines – John McGuire, Tall Timbers Research Station
- Fire Management for Ruffed Grouse in the Southern Appalachians – Nick Biemiller, Ruffed Grouse Society – American Woodcock Society
USFS and EPA Fire and Smoke Map
Are you getting questions about smoke and poor air quality this summer? Are you looking for a national map of modeled smoke plumes and observed air quality conditions? The Fire and Smoke Map is your go-to resource to address those questions. Be sure to add the website to your list of favorites so that you can find it next time things get smoky or you’re thinking about burning.
Continue ReadingJob Opportunity: Georgia DNR
The Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division is advertising a “Wildlife Biologist 2” position for Laurens County. This position will support restoration of Northern Bobwhite quail populations and other grassland dependent species. For more information see the GA DNR Careers page. Additional information about the position can be found below or on this pdf. Please direct all questions to GA DNR staff. The position closes June 9th.
Continue ReadingThis is a Private Lands Biologist working with landowners, farmers, natural resource agency personnel, and others to promote the implementation of wildlife habitat management practices on a private farm and forest lands to benefit Northern Bobwhites and other grassland dependent species. Primary duties include 1) the development of comprehensive wildlife management plans
2) providing education and training to landowners and other user groups on the use of prescribed fire 3) providing direct assistance to landowners with the planning and implementation of prescribed fire 4) conducting surveys and evaluate impacts wildlife management practices on wildlife populations on private lands 5) contribute the development and implementation of the Bobwhite Quail Initiative Plan and other
conservation plans by working with state, federal, and non-profit organizations to increase the use of prescribed fire on private lands.
Forest History Society Webinar Looks at the 1825 Miramichi Fire in Maine
The Forest History Society webinar series will be looking at the 1825 Maine-New Brunswick Miramichi Fire next week. If you’re already tired of the early summer heat here in the South, consider joining their webinar next week to learn about a major wildfire from nearly 100 years ago. Check out all of their past webinars on their YouTube Channel.
“Firebreak: How the Maine-New Brunswick Border Defined the Miramichi Fire of 1825”
On 7 October 1825, the Miramichi region of New Brunswick, Canada, experienced one of the largest forest fires in recorded history while, across the border, Maine suffered the most extensive fire in its history. The fires burned in the same environmental and climatic conditions, of course – and may well have been connected. Yet these fires, which consumed more than 4.6 million acres total, are largely forgotten today. Depending on which country they lived in, even the survivors remembered them very differently. Historian Alan MacEachern will describe efforts to reconstruct the fire’s history, and discuss how the international border served as a cultural firebreak, diminishing its fame in both the United States and Canada.
Alan MacEachern is the author of The Miramichi Fire: A History (2020). This webinar is approved for 1 hour of CFE credit. Register here. Direct all questions to the Forest History Society.
Continue ReadingNational Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Update
At the Southern Fire Exchange we have been strong supporters of our Southern Regional Strategy Group of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. We’re proud that the southern fire community engaged in the Cohesive Strategy put strong emphasis on active fire management, partnerships, collaboration, and science.
The Wildland Fire Leadership Council has just released an update to the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The update builds on the original 2014 strategy framework and provides new guidance for stakeholders addressing today’s wildfire challenges. See the update announcement: https://bit.ly/3NpwUt9
Check out or download the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Addendum Update below.
#CohesiveStrategy#WildlandFireSouthern Group of State Foresters
Continue ReadingFire Science Exchange Network Annual Report 2022
The Joint Fire Science Program 2022 Annual Summary from the Fire Science Exchange Network is out. This report documents the impacts and products of the 15 regional fire science exchanges from fiscal year 2022. The Annual Summary includes narrative impact examples from each of the regional Fire Science Exchanges (including us – the Southern Fire Exchange). Check it out!
To stay up to date on the JFSP Fire Science Exchange Network and all of the other great programs coming from JFSP, subscribe to their Friday Flash eNews!
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