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Introduction

Model Description

The Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM) is a disturbance effects model designed to simulate the tradeoffs between alternative land management practices over long periods of time (up to 300 years) and under diverse environmental conditions, natural fire regimes, and fuel and fire management strategies.  The most recent development of FETM was funded by a grant from the Joint Fire Science Program.

At its core, FETM is a vegetation dynamics model that simulates changes in vegetation composition over time in response to various human-caused and natural disturbances.  Examples of disturbances are: timber harvest, mechanical fuel treatments, prescribed fire, wildland fire, wind throw, insects, disease, as well as natural succession. 

Model Objectives

FETM has been designed to meet the needs of land management planners, fire planners, air quality specialists, and other resource specialists seeking a model to quantitatively assess the long-term consequences of alternative land management practices.  Specifically, the model may be used to:

	Assess the long-term impacts of human-caused and natural disturbances on ecosystems, including the long-term changes in vegetation composition, fuel loading, and wildland fire effects.
	Assist fuel specialists in identifying specific vegetation types to target for fuel reduction.
	Support fire planning and budgeting decisions by demonstrating the long-term costs and benefits of alternative fuel treatment and fire suppression programs.
	Identify the economic and environmental effects and tradeoffs of fuel treatment alternatives and wildland fire.

Examples of Outputs

Some of the outputs from FETM that were designed to achieve these objectives include: 

	Fuel treatment acres (annual, both planned and accomplished)
	Wildland fire acres by fire intensity level (annual)
	Vegetation composition (that is, number of acres by vegetation class within the Analysis Area; annual)
	Pollutant emissions for up to seven different pollutant species (annual)
	Expected wildland fire size in each of the four National Fire Danger Rating System fire weather classes: low, moderate, high, and extreme (annual)
	Net present value analysis of wildfire and prescribed fire treatment

Selecting a Model to Meet Your Specific Needs

For more information on which of the available landscape models−FETM, VDDT, SIMPPLLE, and others−would best meet your specific needs, click here (Consideration in Selecting a Landscape Model).