Outthink Wildfire, a new plan from the National Fire Protection Association, calls for ending the destruction of communities by wildfire in 30 years. Achieving that goal will require a coordinated effort among all levels of government and the cooperation of residents in fire-prone areas.
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USFS Urban Forestry South: Fire in the Interface
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.
Continue ReadingWildland Fire in the Appalachians: Discussions Among Managers and Scientists
Proceedings: Wildland Fire in the Appalachians: Discussions Among Managers and Scientists Download and read the full GTR here (pdf).
The USFS SRS-199 abstract:
Continue ReadingMany challenges face fire managers and scientists in the Appalachian Mountains because of the region’s diverse topography and limited research supporting prescribed burning. This conference was designed to promote communication among managers, researchers, and other interested parties. These proceedings contain 30 papers and abstracts that describe ongoing research, successful technology transfer, and management tools for planning prescribed fires. Five categories of papers include ecology of plants and plant communities, wildlife ecology, fire history and fire effects, tools for forest management, and manager-scientist success stories.
Partner Webinar: Ecological Drought: Drought, Wildfire, and Recovery
Drought can exacerbate wildfire frequency, intensity, and severity. This webinar will explore wildfire management approaches based on ecological principles, including those that embed traditional ecological knowledge.
Speakers:
• Dr. Jeremy Littell, Research Ecologist, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center, USGS
• Bill Tripp, Deputy Director of Eco-Cultural Revitalization, Department of Natural Resources, Karuk Tribe
This webinar is the third in a four-part series that seeks to raise awareness of ecological drought, share actions that strengthen ecosystems resilience and mitigate the impacts of droughts, and discuss research and management needs for future drought planning and preparedness. The series is co-hosted by NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System and the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center, with expert speakers from the research community, tribal nations, and government agencies.
Continue ReadingEcological Drought National Webinar Series
A webinar series will be held February and March to raise awareness of ecological drought, share actions that strengthen ecosystem resilience and mitigate the impacts of droughts, and discuss research and management needs for future drought planning and preparedness. The series is co-hosted by NIDIS and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Adaptation and Science Center, with expert speakers from the research community, tribal nations, and government agencies.
Continue ReadingPartner Webinar: Southeast Climate Monthly Webinar + Fires in the Southeast
The Southeast Climate monthly webinar series is held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 10:00 am ET. This series is hosted by the Southeast Regional Climate Center, in partnership with the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and the NOAA National Weather Service. These webinars will provide the region with timely information on current and developing climate conditions such as drought, floods and tropical storms, as well as climatic events like El Niño and La Niña. Speakers may also discuss the impacts of these conditions on topics such as agriculture production, water resources, wildfires and ecosystems.
Register for the webinar here.
Continue ReadingInequality and Wildfire Response
Two recent articles addressed recent research showing that some communities benefit more from wildfire management than others while whiter, higher-income, and more highly educated communities receive more vigilant wildfire response.
Evidence from Wildfire Events in the Western United States Reveals Inequalities in Wildfire Management (Resources Magazine)
When wildfires hit, richer and whiter neighborhoods are more likely to get government support (Mic)
Continue ReadingScienceline: Prescribed fires may mean safer smoke
“When comparing how smoke from wildfires and prescribed burns affected children, “we saw worse effects from the wildfire,” says Dr. Mary Prunicki, who directs air pollution and health research at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University. In a study published in the journal Allergy in 2019, her team found that children who lived near where a wildfire occurred suffered more severe respiratory and immune effects than those who lived near a prescribed burn.”
Continue ReadingPartner Webinar: Preventing COVID-19 Exposures During Natural Disasters – 12/07
This webinar in partnership with AIHA and the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice, Subcommittee on Environmental Justice and Natural Disasters, will provide guidance on keeping those who deploy as volunteers to assist with natural disaster response and clean-up safe from COVID-19. It will address suggestions for how and why to deploy, expectations for volunteer supervisors/organizations, controls for indoor and outdoor safety measures, PPE supply, HAZMAT training, and more.
PLEASE NOTE: Live Section 508 Compliant Captioning will be provided during this meeting.
Continue ReadingHeadwaters Economics: Structures Destroyed by Wildfires Data Visualization
Headwaters Economics has developed a free data visualization tool that shows state and national structure losses by wildfires over time. The accompanying article argues that structure losses are a more useful metric for understanding wildfire impacts than ‘acres burned.’ Measuring wildfires by assessing ‘acres burned’ does not discern the positive impacts of wildfires in terms of fuel reduction, ecosystem restoration and wildlife habitat from the negative impacts of wildfire. In comparison, tracking structures lost, while imperfect due to reporting processes, can provide a more nuanced measure of the human and economic toll of wildfires.
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