Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team

FERA TOOLS FEATURED IN "A TOOLKIT FOR ASSESSING FIRE HAZARDS"

The Joint Fire Science Program put together a 6-page briefing on the suite of applications developed by FERA to allow resource managers to estimate fuel loads, fire hazards, and smoke emissions characteristics.

ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST

FERA’s Dave Peterson was captured presenting a way that national forests can plan for climate change. The co-presenter was Olympic National Forest Supervisor Cathy O’Halloran. You can view this presentation online at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pep/climatechange/peterson_ohalloran/

JGR PUBLISHES ON SMOLDERING EMISSIONS IN STUDIED EXERIMENTAL FIRE IN BRAZIL

The amount of emissions contributed during the residual smoldering phase of tropical fires was measured and analyzed in this paper by Ernesto Alvarado and others, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

WESTERN REGIONAL AIR PARTNERSHIP INCORPORATES CONSUME 3.0 IN EMISSIONS TRACKING SYSTEM

The fire emissions task force of the Western Regional Air Partnership has chosen Consume 3.0 as their best candidate to calculate emissions in the new Fire Emissions Tracking System (FETS). Consume 3.0. Of the 3 standalone programs considered, Consume 3.0 was the only calculator with a command-line executable capable of accepting a batch file of any number of fire events at one time.

VEGETATION DATA MAY HELP LOCATE MILITARY MUNITION

Morris Johnson and Ernesto Alvarado spent a few days at the former Camp Beale Military Base, near Yuba City, CA, collecting vegetation data that may help locate mines detected by LIDAR (remote sensing). This validation work was done in cooperation with the Department of Defense and URS Corporation.

STATE-OF-THE-SCIENCE UPDATE ON MANAGING FORESTS AFTER FIRE

The Pacific Northwest Research Station recently published an issue of their Science Update series featuring what scientifically understood about managing forests after a fire. Contributions were made by David L. Peterson.

SCIENCE-BASED STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR HAZARDOUS FUEL TREATMENT

A 5-page outline of a process for planning hazardous fuel treatments which takes into consideration the multiple objectives and responsibilities of land managers. Dave Peterson and Morris Johnson prepared this article for Fire Management Today as a short work complementing the Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests of the Western United States.

PAPER ON THE CROSS-SCALE ANALYSIS OF FIRE REGIMES PUBLISHED IN ECOSYSTEMS

This paper is an examination of fire regimes in forests of western North America, focusing on how observed patterns of fire frequency change across spatial scales. FERA's Don McKenzie contributed to this paper published in the journal Ecosystems.

“NATURAL FUELS PHOTO SERIES FOR THE SOUTHWEST" POSTER ABSTRACT SUBMITTED

Bob Vihnanek and Dave Peterson will be participating in the January 2008 “Fire in the Southwest” conference. Bob plans to present a poster that will explain the development of the natural fuels photo series for the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. Dave will be featured in the closing plenary session “Climate Change and the Future of Southwestern Fire.”