Great Basin Fire Science Exchange

The "right" scale for effective rangeland fire planning and management
2024-03-07 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
View webinar recording.
Helping landowners and agencies engage in collaborative planning. Instructor: Katie Wollstein.

Pinyon-Juniper Management on the Colorado Plateau Workshop
2024-03-12
Save the date flyer.
In-person attendance is full, but stay tuned for some post-event resources and recordings.

Prescribed fire and wilderness: Barriers and opportunities in a time of change
2024-03-13 09:00 - 10:00
Webinar recording.
Sean Parks, USFS RMRS.

Fuels treatment effectiveness
2024-03-19 09:00 - 10:00
Webinar recording.
Fire and land manager-focused panel discussion hosted by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

Update on the Bruneau-Owyhee Sage Grouse Habitat Management (BOSH) Project
2024-03-21
Video recording (16:27).
The Bruneau-Owyhee Sage Grouse Habitat (BOSH) Project has been under way for six years now, and approximately 140,000 acres of land have been treated to reduce juniper encroachment and open up the sage-steppe habitat for sage grouse, song birds, spotted frogs and more.
This is the largest sage grouse habitat restoration project in the Western United States in Owyhee County, Idaho. A strong partnership of state and federal agencies, wildlife advocacy groups and private landowners are supporting the project in an “All Hands, All Lands” approach that transcends property boundaries.

TreeMap is a tree-level model of U.S. forests. New data delivery and visualization improvements make it easier to use
2024-03-27 09:00 - 10:00
Webinar recording.

LANDFIRE data supports disturbance tools and assessments
2024-03-29 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar recording.
In this LANDFIRE Office Hour, USFS Research Ecologists, Jen Costanza and Matt Reeves walk viewers through the USDA Forest Service’s Resource Planning Act (2020) Assessment, with a focus on how LANDFIRE data supports understanding of recent and future drought exposure for rangeland vegetation types across the western U.S. The also discuss emerging technologies for evaluating vegetative drought response and fuels management reliant on several forms of LANDFIRE data.

Wildfire risk and mitigation opportunities in the US sagebrush biome
2024-03-29 12:00 - 13:00
Webinar recording.
Feb 29 2024 Missoula Fire Lab Seminar Series Presenter: Karen Short, RMRS Research Ecologist.

Defending and growing the core by breaking the cycle of annual grass invasion
2024-04-03
Virtual workshop recordings and resources.
Invasive annual grasses–such as cheatgrass, medusahead, and ventenata–are the leading cause of degradation and loss of America’s sagebrush grasslands, reducing forage and habitat, fueling more frequent and larger wildfires, and threatening rural economies. While invasive grasses are widespread, there remains a generational opportunity to proactively address this threat. However, many land managers may not be equipped with the information needed to plan and implement effective treatments.
​In this one-day virtual workshop, participants will learn about guiding principles, strategic planning processes, tools, and tactics for managing annual grass invasion in sagebrush country. Participants will be introduced to the proactive “defend and grow the core” management philosophy, which emphasizes protecting intact and functioning native plant communities, and expanding them through improved management techniques, rather than initially starting with the most degraded areas. This workshop seeks to inspire participants and start conversations across the sagebrush biome on how to meet the invasive annual grass problem head on in their own watersheds. We hope this information will be especially useful to any land manager, landowner, or conservation practitioner working to conserve and protect the sagebrush biome.

2024 Rangeland Fuel Overview: Reading the Tea Leaves S5E1
2024-04-15
Video recording (8:26).
Matt Reeves provides a westwide rangeland fuel assessment for 2024.

Words matter. Let burn dialogue and reality.
2024-04-18 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar recording (1:04:22).

Sifting through selective science and misinformation for collaborative forest management
2024-04-24 12:00 - 13:00
Webinar recording.
Land manager and public land partner-focused panel webinar dedicated to examining selective science use, some of the impacts to land management, and methods for reducing misinformation in collaborative forest management. The panel provides short talks on their perspectives, and address questions and issues provided by attendees. Discussion and Q&A during this session will facilitate information exchange between all attendees.

Tools for prioritizing, planning, and evaluating effectiveness of fuel treatments
2024-04-25
Webinar recording.
Sam “Jake” Price and Matt Germino, USGS Forest & Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, present findings from their recent publication on the Soda Fire fuel breaks and how they might help to break the annual grass-fire cycle. Q&A to follow the presentation.

Exploring the Land Treatment Exploration Tool & LANDFIRE's Role
2024-04-25 11:00 - 12:00
View webinar recording.
In this LANDFIRE Office Hour Forest Rangeland Ecosystem Sciences Center & USGS Biologist, Michelle Jeffries details the geoprocessing and hosting requirements for running the Land Treatment Exploration Tool. She explores the ins and outs of the tool and highlights LANDFIRE’s role in informing parts of their analysis. Additionally, she suggests how minor adjustments in LANDFIRE’s versioning and indexing could improve the efficiency of operating this ecological tool.

Oregon's diverse fire ecology
2024-05-02 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar recording.
The Oregon State University Extension Fire Program would like to take you on a journey of fire throughout Oregon. In this webinar, a team of regional fire specialists share diverse stories about how fire has shaped Oregon landscapes historically and currently. Understanding fire’s role in the place you live can help you become better prepared for fire and smoke, and more aware of your local ecological setting.

The meteorology of the 2023 Maui wildfire
2024-05-02 11:00 - 12:00
View recording (53:53).
Okay. Let me go back. Okay. So let’s go back to not even a year ago, August eighth two thousand twenty three. You know, large wildfires hit western and central Maui, and, it killed at least a hundred people and resulted in three to six billion dollars of damage, mainly in the area of of the historic town of Lahaina.
And and this here’s a picture right here of just a portion of Lahaina. This one famous house survived. We could talk about that maybe. But we’re looking in this picture towards the towards the east. These are the West Maui mountains there. You can see some of the some of the grassy areas that that would that burned there and here’s the town.

Ready, set, go! Personal wildland fire action guide
2024-05-03 11:00 - 12:00
Webinar recording (50:31).
Led by Hawai’i Wildfire Management Organization (www.hawaiiwildfire.org), this webinar equips you with essential strategies to prepare, respond, and stay safe in the face of wildfires. From creating defensible spaces to crafting evacuation plans, we’ll cover it all. Don’t wait until it’s too late – arm yourself with knowledge and confidence. Register now and take the first step toward wildfire readiness!

SCIENCEx Soils
2024-05-07 11:00 - 2024-05-10 12:00
Webinar recordings.
Exploring how the health of our forests — and planet — depends on what’s beneath our feet.
May 6: Why do foresters need soil scientists?
May 7: How can soil science be applied to forest management?
May 8: How can soil scientists and foresters build relationships?
May 9: How can soil science lead to resilient forests?
May 10: How can research support timber management and soil science?

Workshop on management and conservation of pinyon and juniper woodlands
2024-05-08 - 2024-05-09
Workshop information and registration.
The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service will host a public workshop to present information and gather feedback on a range of topics regarding the science and management of pinyon and juniper woodlands, particularly mature and old-growth forests.
The workshop will occur May 8, 1-5 p.m. and May 9, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 2024, at the Nugget Casino Resort, 1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks, NV, 89431. This event is part of BLM’s ongoing public comment period on pinyon and juniper woodlands, during which interested parties may also submit comments regarding management and conservation of pinyon and juniper ecosystems. Please see more information on how to comment below.
Workshop information and registration
Topics for the workshop will include classifying the various pinyon and juniper systems and understanding their geographic and population dynamics, methods for assessing woodland conditions, values associated with old-growth pinyon and juniper woodlands, management objectives and effectiveness, and opportunities for increasing climate resilience. Participants will have opportunities to engage and interact on a range of topics.
To attend the event, individuals are required to reserve a spot. This is a two-day workshop, but you must register for both days to attend. To attend on May 8, please register through the eventbrite portal for day one. To attend on May 9, please register through the eventbrite portal for day two.

A new foundation for LANDFIRE
2024-05-09 10:00 - 11:00
Webinar recording.
The LANDFIRE program is aware that our stakeholders are interested in obtaining more comprehensive 3D vegetation structure information to inform vegetation and species mapping, carbon accounting, and physics-based fire behavior models. Understanding how to provide annually updated 3D vegetation and fuel metrics in a way that is useful to the most stakeholders and accounts for the logistical and resource constraints within the program is a LANDFIRE goal over the next few years. LANDFIRE wants to connect with innovators who are motivated by the shared challenge of pulling together disparate data sources across scales and dimensions into logical machine learning or deep learning classification methodologies that are accurate, repeatable, and usable by managers. We hope to build these relationships by increasing our engagement across research and management communities to create a new foundation for LANDFIRE.

SageSTEP Field Tour of Onaqui Sites
2024-05-21
The SageSTEP research team invites you to join us for a tour of the Onaqui research site near Tooele, Utah on May 21, 2024. We will tour the SageSTEP (https://sagestep.org/) shrubland network, SageSTEP woodland network and NEON sites (https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/onaq), hear results from the past 15 years of data collection, and discuss management needs and research priorities for the next decade. We are particularly interested in hearing management perspectives on areas of greatest future need. 2024 field tour flyer
Logistics
Tooele is less than an hour from SLC. Lodging options include the Holiday Inn and Best Western. We recommend SUV/Trucks, particularly if there is rain prior to the tour.
Meet at 8am on Tuesday, May 21 at the Holiday Inn in Tooele (Address: 1531 N Main St, Tooele, UT 84074) to carpool/caravan to the Onaqui site. We plan to return to Tooele by 5pm. Please bring adequate food/water and be prepared to be outside all day.
There will be a no-host dinner on Monday, May 20 at 6 pm for any who can join.
Please RSVP to Lisa Ellsworth at: lisa.ellsworth@oregonstate.edu

Threat-Based Strategic Rangeland Management field workshop for natural resource professionals
2024-05-22 - 2024-05-23
Workshop flyer.
The first day will cover a variety of topics such as soil ecology, plant identification, invasive annual grass and juniper management, and the foundations behind applying remotely sensed data. The second day will focus on taking the foundations from day 1 and learning how to ensure that planning and management meaningfully influences landscape scale dynamics. Topics will include defending and growing core rangelands, identifying threats, prioritizing areas of ecological importance, synthesizing remotely sensed data, and applying different types of knowledge to address threats at multiple scales on the ground knowledge to manage at meaningful scales. For those of you familiar, this will be similar to the college science in the sagebrush steppe field training we do for universities but targeted for natural resource professionals.
The training is $100 and will include all meals. Registration will open in March.

Home hazard assessments: Back to basics
2024-05-24 11:00 - 12:00
View webinar recording (58:54).
In this webinar from Fire Adapted Communities NM, knowledgeable fire and forestry professionals from New Mexico and Colorado introduce an important fire risk and readiness tool: Home Hazard Assessments (HHAs). Topics include guidance and digital and printed tools to complete HHAs, local partners who can guide the process or travel to complete HHAs on-site alongside property owners and residents, how different Assessment programs are structured, why HHAs are an important fire readiness tool, how county ordinances and insurance providers can influence the need for HHAs, and what opportunities may open up as a result of completing them.

Front range grassland fire workshop
2024-05-29
Workshop registration, closes May 15.
In Colorado, the Front Range can present unique fuel and weather conditions for wildfires. Combined with numerous wildland/urban interface and intermix settings, these conditions can be critical in wildfire management.
Register now for the Front Range Grassland Fire Workshop to increase your knowledge and understanding of the ecology, behavior, risks, and management of grassfire conditions on the Front Range.
Hear speakers from both the Front Range and the Great Plains to discuss grassland fire.
Information Packet (agenda, speaker bios, hotel, parking)

Location:
Dickens Opera House, 302 Main St, Longmont, CO 80501

PNW Society for Range Management Summer Meeting and Tour
2024-05-29 - 2024-05-30
Event website.
The PNW Section Summer Meeting and Tour will be May 29-31 in Chewelah, WA.

Forest grazing, cover crop grazing, silvopasture, hay production, seedstock beef production, water quality, apex predators, tribal history and issues
Headquarters: Mistequa Casino Hotel (pronounced Mist-a-quah), 2545 Smith Rd, Chewelah, WA 99109

Working with the media: How to know your messages and communicate them
2024-05-30 12:00 - 13:30
Webinar recording.
Communication professionals and fire practitioners with significant media experience discuss challenges and success in communicating about fire through media outlets. Panelists share their experiences and provide suggestions for those looking to begin or improve communication through various forms of media. Following a moderated panel discussion, there will be time for audience Q/A.
Panelists:
Lorena Williams is a Public Affairs Specialist and Public Information Officer for the San Juan National Forest in Colorado.
Bob Crimian is a program manager for COMPASS, a science communication organization that champions, connects, and supports diverse scientist leaders to improve the well-being of people and nature.
Eytan Krasilovsky is the deputy director for the Forest Stewards Guild based out of the Southwest office

What goes into a burn plan? Examples and results from White's Creek
2024-06-04 10:00 - 15:00
Burn Plan Event information and registration.
Event flyer to forward to others.
Join us in the field to discuss prescription burn planning, treatments, monitoring, and results with Duncan Leao, Steve Howell, and Ali Paulson, USFS. This is an informal discussion open to all.

Western Governors' Association 2024 Annual Meeting
2024-06-10 - 2024-06-12
Meeting webpage.
The 2024 Annual Meeting of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) will be held June 10-12 in Olympic Valley, California. WGA’s Chair, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, will be joined by his fellow Western Governors for conversations with special guests and experts on a variety of topics, including the Decarbonizing the West chair initiative, modernizing disaster response, combating the opioid crisis, and maximizing water supplies through reuse and reclamation. The WGA Annual Meeting will kick off at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, and conclude around 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12.
On Monday, June 10, WGA will celebrate its 40th anniversary as an organization. The afternoon of programming will include fireside chats with former Western Governors and other WGA alumni to celebrate 40 years of bipartisan leadership. The 40th anniversary celebration will kick off around Noon on June 10th.

Nuances in fire history and management: Lessons from Oregon
2024-06-12 10:00 - 11:00
View recording.
For this webinar, we are joined by Dr. Andrew Merschel, Postdoctoral Scholar with ORISE and the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station and Dr. Chris Dunn, Assistant Professor at Oregon State University.
Dr. Andrew Merschel: The largest, tallest, and often the longest-lived species of nine conifer genera are found in temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. Newly developed fire and tree establishment histories are challenging paradigms regarding how old-growth trees and forests developed their iconic structurally diversity and their tremendous biomass. This presentation will review annually precise reconstructions of fire and forest development history that reveal how low- to moderate-severity fire and Indigenous fire stewardship historically shaped old trees and forests.
Dr. Chris Dunn: In 2021, Oregon’s Legislature passed Senate Bill 762 requiring Oregon State University, in collaboration with Oregon Department of Forestry, to create a wildland-urban interface map coupled with a wildfire hazard map to narrow regulation of the home ignition zone to only those properties at high or extreme risk. Upon release, the public exploded with anger, fueled in part by misinformation and false-narratives, including threats of violence, leading to retraction of the map. In this talk I will discuss the difficulty of integrating science with policy, how the public responded, and lessons learned relevant to state and local government policy actions.

Southwest fire season 2023 overview and 2024 outlook
2024-06-18 11:00 - 12:00
View recording (1:03:34).
Wildfire is part of the landscape in the Southwest. It can be a threat to lives and property, but it is also crucial to maintaining healthy ecosystems. Please join the Southwest Fire Science Consortium for a webinar reviewing the top 8 biggest fires in the region in 2023 and looking ahead toward fire conditions for summer 2024. Zander Evans and Mike Lynch of the Forest Stewards Guild place the 2023 Southwest fire season within the context of the last 10 years, pointing out trends and outliers in the timing, management costs, vegetation, and burn severity for each of nine fires larger than 10,000 acres. Rich Naden discusses the Region’s fire season outlook and 2024 summer weather forecast. This webinar sets the stage for the publication of “2023 Wildfire Season: An Overview Southwestern US”, the eleventh in a series of annual overviews available from the Southwest Fire Science Consortium and the Ecological Restoration Institute.
Presenters: Dr. Zander Evans, Executive Director, and Mike Lynch, Midwest Region Director with the Forest Stewards Guild; Richard Naden, Fire Weather Meteorologist with the National Park Service
