Webinar
Webinar recording.
Description: The idea of using sensors to remotely measure things is not new. Aerial photos taken from hot air balloons were first proposed as a tool for mapping streets in the 1850s. In 1941, a US Forest Service ranger developed a technique for mapping fuels with aerial photos. Recent advances in remote sensing have dramatically increased the amount of spatial information that can be generated for a given area. This webinar will look at some of the ways the Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team at the Seattle Fire Lab is using remote sensing to measure fuels and fire behavior. We’ll also discuss how this information can improve our capacity to model fires.
Presenter: Jim Cronan is a forester at the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab in Seattle, WA. He coordinates field data collection for scientists on the Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team and has been involved with research on fuels and fire behavior for 20 years.
Webinar recordings.
The SCIENCEx webinar series brings together scientists and land management experts from across U.S. Forest Service research stations and beyond to explore the latest science and best practices for addressing large natural resource challenges across the country. These webinars will be primarily management focused, but with applicability for participants from across sectors. SCIENCEx will typically be organized as week-long webinar ‘blitzes’ around salient topics, allowing for deep-dives into subtopics or dynamics within specific geographies.
Webinar recording.
In coordination with the Western Assoc of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, BLM, USFWS, and USGS, we are hosting a webinar that will introduce the content of the first part of the Sagebrush Conservation Strategy. The strategy highlights continuing pressures from unprecedented wildfires fueled by invasive annual grasses, as well as cropland conversion and disturbance associated with the development of other resources. These changes impact not just wildlife but also diverse human communities that depend on healthy sagebrush for their wellbeing.
Webinar recording.
This webinar shares research on forest structure and understory vegetation responses to three restoration treatments (thin/burn, burn, and control) over 10 years on a mixed-conifer site in southwestern Colorado. Forest density, canopy cover, and crown fuel loads were consistently lower, and crown base height was higher, in thin/burn than burn or controls, but the effects diminished over time. There was more than a 250% increase post-treatment in shrub density and an increase in the average shrub height. Taken together, these conditions create challenges for managers aiming to reestablish natural fire patterns and sustain mixed-conifer forests. The second part of the webinar will be a dialog with managers about how common these results are across the region and how to respond to the challenge presented by the increase potential for crown fire.
Webinar recording.
As our societies grow and change, the wildland fire community has to continue to evolve in its workforce and practices to better meet the expectations place upon it. Although the thought of and having diversity, equity, and inclusion conversations can be challenging, they represent opportunities for each of us to engage and lead from where we are. This session will focus on learning through sharing stories and experiences to provoke introspection problem solving.
Webinar recording.
Rapid advancements in wildland fire modeling are promoting innovations in how we characterize and map wildland fuels. Before these models can be widely used, more research on fuel characterization and mapping methods is needed to support3D model inputs. The 3D Fuels Project is characterizing surface and canopy fuels on pine-dominated sites in the southeastern and western United States and western grasslands that represent fuels commonly characterized for prescribed burning. Through this project, researchers are developing a library of tools and datasets to leverage multi-scale estimates of 3D fuel structure and consumption that can be used directly within models of fire behavior and smoke production.
This is the last of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features: How do we move forward in an era of uncertainty: Facilitated panel Q & A – Jeremy Maestas, NRCS, Justin Boeck, BLM, and Michele Crist, BLM
This is the fifth of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features:
A fuels treatment success story in the Pine Nut Mountains of Nevada – Keith Barker, BLM
Successes and challenges with a suite of fuel break projects – Lance Okeson, BLM
This is the fourth of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features:
Targeted grazing: A large multiregional fuel breaks project – Pat Clark, ARS
Sheep grazing success in the WUI – Lyndsey Boyer, Carson City Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
This is the third of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features:
Science and data gaps: How we’re addressing them – Doug Shinneman, USGS
Current use of fire and fuels models – Russ Parsons, USFS
SageSTEP: What are the most effective treatments for constructing fuel breaks? Lisa Ellsworth and Claire Williams, Oregon State University