Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team

FCCS VERSION 1.1 RELEASED
The Fuel Characteristic Classification System is software that allows users to describe the physical properties of wildland fuelbeds and then calculate the associated characteristics and potential fire behavior, potential crown fire, and the available fuel potential.

POST-FIRE LOGGING PAPER PUBLISHED
Jim McIver and Roger Ottmar examine stand structure and fuel mass before and after a post-fire logging operation conducted 2 years after a wildfire.

2ND FIRE BEHAVIOR AND FUELS WORKSHOP
FERA will be presenting a short course, paper, and exhibit at the 2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Workshop in Destin, FL March 26-26. The 4-hour short course will introduce users to 3 fuels evaluation tools – Natural Fuels Photo Series, Fuel Characteristic Classification System, and Consume 3.0. Roger Ottmar will present a paper on litter and duff bulk densities in the Southern U.S., and the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab will make its tools and publications available at an exhibit booth during the conference.

FIELD CREW IN THE SOUTHEAST
FERA’s fire-qualified field crew is traveling throughout the Southeast collecting fuels data for a photo series estimating post-hurricane fuels.

FERA SCIENTISTS LEAD DISTURBANCE WORKSHOP

FERA scientists Don McKenzie and Dave Peterson, in collaboration with the Western Mountain Initiative and the University of Arizona Tree-Ring Laboratory, convened an interdisciplinary group of 25 scientists for a 2 1/2 day intensive workshop to identify new directions in climate change research.  Four workgroups focused on different aspects of the response of disturbance regimes. Outcomes will be reported in a Forest Service General Technical Report, a synthesis paper in an ecological journal, reports at international conferences, and topical papers in other peer-reviewed journals.

BIOMASS CONSUMPTION DURING PRESCRIBED FIRES IN BIG SAGE ECOSYSTEMS

Clint Wright and Susan Prichard's paper outlines how they conducted research to develop models to predict biomass consumption in big sagebrush ecosystems using variables readily obtainable.

UPDATE ON FCCS JOURNAL ARTICLES
Six journal articles presenting the Fuel Characteristic Classification System to the international science community have been submitted to the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. A special issue of the journal dedicated to these papers is expected to be published later this year. You may read the papers in their current form.

SPRING REGIONAL FUELS WORKSHOPS
FERA has led five 2.5 day regional fuels workshops during the past 14 months that demonstrate four fuel management tools including the FCCS, Consume 3.0, photo series, and digital photo series. The FCCS version 1.1 will be presented at three up coming workshops including the Southern California Regional Fuels Workshop March 13-15, Idaho Regional Fuels Workshop April 3-5, and at the Southwestern Fuels Regional Workshop May 1-3.