Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team

FUEL TREATMENT AND FIRE HAZARD GUIDEBOOK PUBLISHED – This guide to fuel treatments analyzes a range of fuel treatments for representative dry forest stands in the Western United States with overstories dominated by ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and pinyon pine. Six silvicultural options are considered in combination with three surface fuel treatments, resulting in a range of alternative treatments for each representative stand. The immediate effects of treatments on surface fuels, fire hazard, potential fire behavior, and forest structure were calculated, as well as . The FFE-FVS was also used to calculate a 50-year time series of treatment effects at 10-year increments. Fuel treatment scenarios presented here can be used by resource managers to examine alternatives for National Environmental Policy Act documents and other applications that require scientifically based information to quantify the effects of modifying forest structure and surface fuels. Morris Johnson, David L. Peterson, and Crystal Raymond are the authors.

Copies are available online at http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/27293

or may be ordered using the form available at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/order.shtml
and requesting PNW-GTR-686.

LARA KELLOGG DIED IN CLIMBING ACCIDENT – For those of you who haven't already heard, FERA’s GIS Specialist Lara-Karena Kellogg died in a rappelling accident while descending the NE Ridge of Mount Wake in Denali National Park on April 23. Lara had climbed extensively in Alaska, Yosemite, the Himalayas, China, South America and elsewhere. She was also a former bicycle racer and a member of the ski patrol. Lara was an employee of the University of Washington and had been with FERA for about 8 years; she was a good friend, talented and creative colleague, and she will be deeply missed.

SOUTHWESTERN REGIONAL FUELS WORKSHOP – The final of 8 workshops focusing on the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS), Consume 3.0, the Natural Fuels Photo Series and the Digital Photo Series, took place east of Albuquerque at the Sandia Ranger Station the first week in May. This 2½ day workshop was attended by fire and fuels specialists from around the region and from various public and private partners. Materials to help teach a workshop in your own area can be found at online.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/research/outreach/tutorials.shtml

BOREAL FIRE HISTORY PROJECT WEBSITE – Work is beginning on this Joint Fire Science Program-sponsored project to review, compile, synthesize, and provide access to existing Alaska fire history datasets and, if possible, conduct large-scale spatial and temporal analyses. Diana Olson leads this project.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/research/climate/fire_history.shtml

FERA TEAM-TEACHES TECHNICAL FIRE MANAGEMENT CLASSES – Dr. David L. Peterson coordinated presentations for the Fire Effects module of the May 2007 Technical Fire Management class held in Bothell, Washington. Among the many presenters were FERA’s Dr. Don McKenzie, Roger Ottmar, Morris Johnson, and Susan Prichard.

http://www.washingtoninstitute.net/tfmclasses.html

TREATMENT EFFECTS ON FIRE SEVERITY ON THE TRIPOD FIRE COMPLEX – FERA recently received funding from the Joint Fire Science Program to evaluate how a large number of well-documented fuel treatments affected the fire severity and facilitated the operational aspects of fire suppression in the Tripod Fire Complex of the Okanogan National Forest (Washington). This 3-year project is led by Dr. Susan Prichard.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/research/treatment/tripod/index.shtml