The APA has released a new document providing guidelines for inclusive language. These guidelines aim to raise awareness, guide learning, and support the use of culturally sensitive terms and phrases that center the voices and perspectives of those who are often marginalized or stereotyped. They also explain the origins for problematic terms and phrases and offer suitable alternatives or more contemporary replacements. The document will be flexible and iterative in nature, continuing to evolve as new terminology emerges or current language becomes obsolete.
Continue Readingresearch
How Does Prescribed Fire Affect Soil?
In the eastern U.S., a long absence of fire has shifted forests towards trees adapted to moist conditions, and away from fire-tolerant species that were historically dominant. Forest Service scientists are co-authors on a recent study to see how fire affects soils in pine barrens. The team found that repeated prescribed fire encourages drier soils that favor fire-tolerant trees. Additional management that clears other vegetation is also helpful.
Continue ReadingPrescribed Burn Geodatabase for the Southeastern United States
Tall Timbers Research Station is undertaking a project that aims to do the following:
1) Survey Southeastern states to understand their prescribed fire permitting systems.
2) Develop minimum attribution for geodatabase (specific to prescribed fire)
3) Create a geodatabase to include how permit location is tracked, what attributes are collected, spatial characteristics, period of record and data stewardship.
4) Generate a formal updating process for each state.
View a storymap about the project here.
Continue ReadingU.S. Forest Service R&D News: November 2021
Oklahoma State University Survey on Risk Management in Fire Management
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma Climatological Survey/Mesonet is conducting a research study on risk perceptions and decision-making, as well as related processes, among different organizational levels within the fire management field. Individuals who are at least 18 years old and work or volunteer in fire management, firefighting, or any related trade may participate. Participation will involve the completion of an online survey that will take roughly 20 minutes to complete. If you are interested, please visit the linkhttps://ousurvey.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1THfdsjGvRpHJJk to participate in the survey by December 3. There are no known risks or compensation involved in this research.
For more information about this study, please contact Monica Mattox, by phone at 517-605-1853 or email at [email protected].
Continue ReadingPartner Webinar: Comparing Air Quality and Public Health Impacts from Prescribed Fire and Wildfire Smoke
Join us for a conversation about the recent release of the EPA Report on Comparing Air Quality and Public Health Impacts from Prescribed Fire and Wildfire Smoke. Jason Sacks, with the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be joining us for an overview of the studies that provided the information for this report aimed at helping federal, state, local and Tribal partners and fire organizations make risk management decisions to reduce the impacts of wildfire smoke in their communities.
Continue ReadingJob: Research Ecologist, Fire & Carbon Cycle Sciences, USDA Forest Service
This is a Pre-Announcement Notice. The Northern Research Station (NRS) plans to advertise the following position soon. Please circulate this outreach notice to as many potential candidates as possible; we are seeking a diverse pool of qualified applicants, and therefore especially encourage applications by groups under-represented in science and in the US Forest Service. The online outreach notice can be found at this link: https://fsoutreach.gdcii.com/?id=B868C1BF6C7848AFAADF6AD33B2F8C3C.
Information on the vacancy announcement will be posted at this link at a later date, as well as being sent to all who respond to this pre-announcement notice. If you would like to be notified of the vacancy please respond to the online outreach link above, or send the optional form at the end of this document to Warren E. Heilman, [email protected].
Continue ReadingUpcoming SFE Webinar: Exploring Spatial Scale in Prescribed Fire Regimes with Examples from the Southeast
SFE Webinar: Exploring Spatial Scale in Prescribed Fire Regimes with Examples from the Southeast
Date: November 17, 2021 at 1:00pm-2:00pm ET
Webinar Registration Link: https://ufl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MnVeZNiVTOSAn3NmA1gJuA
Description: Land managers often incorporate ecological principles into their planned fire regimes. One ecological principle that may affect the conservation outcome of prescribed fires is that ecological interactions are often spatial scale-dependent. While this principle is well researched in ecology, our review of the fire ecology literature indicated it is rarely studied in this context. Moreover, we analyzed trends in the size of prescribed fires over the past few decades to reveal that they tend to be larger than unsuppressed lightning ignited fires. We don’t know for sure if or how mismatches in the spatial scale of fire may impact wildlife and plants but we used previous literature from the southeastern United States to highlight some important interactions that may be fire spatial-scale dependent. Our series of analyses indicates that additional research focused on understanding spatial scale dependent patterns are needed to inform management which often occurs at larger scales than the research informing it.
Speaker: David Mason, PhD Student, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida
Webinar Partners: The Southern Fire Exchange, NC State University, and the University of Florida.
Webinar Target Audience: Natural Resource Managers, Park Rangers, Researchers, Public Information Officers, Outreach Specialists, Cooperative Extension Agents
Continue ReadingFueling Collaboration Season 2
Fueling Collaboration is a series of interactive panel discussions designed to connect fire managers and researchers. Each discussion will be built on questions from the registered attendees. We’re working to bring people together to discuss, explore, and address the latest fire science and fire management issues across the eastern United States. The currently schedule discussions are:
- November 18 Fire and the Carbon Cycle
- December 16 Fire and Timber Management in Mixed Woods
- January 20 Smoke is NOT Just Smoke
- February 17 Fire and the Wildland Urban Interface in the Eastern US
- March 17 Thinking Beyond Fuel Reduction
Register for the sessions here.
Continue ReadingDrones in Forest Management Survey
A survey is being put forth by Elisabeth McElwee, a Master of Forestry candidate at Duke University and the 2021 Charles Collins Intern with The Forestland Group. The purpose of this survey is to better understand the use of drones in forest management today.
Continue Reading