Fuels & Fuel Treatments
Webinar recording.
FTDSS is becoming a go-to tool for fuels planning across interagency partners. With its all-access web-based approach, IFTDSS makes fuels management planning accessible to fire practitioners at all levels. From viewing project areas on a user-friendly map interface to completing a full blown Quantitative Wildfire Risk Assessment, IFTDSS has something for everyone. IFTDSS contains fire behavior models, reference data sets, mapping tools, comparison workflows, and summary reports useful for prescribed fire planning, treatment prioritization, and NEPA analysis and reports. With upwards of 2800 user accounts, IFTDSS is being used across all federal agencies as well as state and private partners, NGOs, and Universities. This webinar will provide an overview of what the application can do as well as some examples of how it is being used in the field.
Meeting website.
The two-day event, hosted by Idaho Governor and WGA Chair Brad Little, featured the Western Governors and their specials guests in public conversations about western drought, cross-boundary land management, cybersecurity, clean energy, broadband deployment and telehealth expansion.
Virtual conference proceedings.
The Forest Health in Oregon: State of the State conference occurs every-other-year and is meant to summarize forest health issues in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The focus is on major forest insect and pathogen activity and emerging issues, as well as weather phenomena such as drought and heat waves, and of course fire. We seek to inform foresters, forest industry, agency forest managers, small woodland owners, forestry and natural resources extension volunteers and agents, and anyone interested in forest health in Oregon, about these important issues that influence forest health. In 2022 we are also focused on tree decline issues regarding western redcedar, big leaf maple, and Douglas-fir.
Webinar recording.
This webinar will include presentations and interactive breakout sessions to explore implications and opportunities for forest collaboratives:
Larry Chambers, Change Management and Communication Lead, U.S. Forest Service
Jake Donnay, Director, Legislative Affairs, U.S. Forest Service
Steve Moyer, Vice President of Government Affairs, Trout Unlimited
Bill Imbergamo, Executive Director, Federal Forest Resource Coalition
View article.
We conducted 53 interviews across four case studies in the western United States where federal land management agencies and cooperative actors are working together to accelerate the implementation of prescribed fire to understand the range of actors and associated roles they play. We found that interviewees identified 67 different organizations spanning local to national scales that played a variety of roles to support prescribed fire implementation, mainly communications, prescribed burn labor, fundraising, burning expertise, and burning on neighboring lands. Many actors did not serve in intentional bridging roles, but they filled key roles in the governance networks necessary to implement prescribed fire.
View the brief.
Katherine Zeller, a research biologist with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute housed within the Rocky Mountain Research Station, was part of a team of researchers who created a series of species distribution models to determine whether this concern was warranted. “What we wanted to know is how these conifer treatments might affect a greater suite of species,” she explains. “Not just the sage grouse but these other species of conservation concern.”
The Basic Identification of Grasses two-day short course covers the unique taxonomy of about 50 different grasses and grass-like plant genera. This class is for beginner through intermediate agrostologists and will include basic terminology, dissection, and use of a dichotomous key for identification. You will also learn how to collect and press grasses for future reference or for the purpose of mailing to others for identification/verification. The class may be taken for 1 unit of optional credit at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR).
When: Class will be March 14-15 OR 16-17, 2022
Where: 300G of Fleischman Agriculture, University of Nevada, Reno
How: Sign up by contacting the instructor, Arnold (Jerry) Tiehm | Atiehm@att.net | 775-742-9180. Be sure to include your preferred class date and indicate whether or not you want to receive class credit.
Cost: $ 150 for non-students, $ 80 for students. Bring cash or check (made to Board of Regents) to the first day of class.
Details: Class will be 8 am -5 pm with a one-hour lunch break. Tea and coffee will be provided.
Vegetation dynamics models: Comprehensive set for natural resource assessment and planning in the US
View article.
These products establish the first comprehensive national baseline for measuring vegetation change in the USA, providing land managers and policymakers with a tool to support vegetation restoration and fuel management activities at regional to national scales. Users have applied these products to support a variety of land management needs including exploring ecosystem dynamics, assessing current and desired conditions, and simulating the effects of management actions. In an era of rapid ecological change, these products provide land managers with an adaptable tool for understanding ecosystems and predicting possible future conditions.
View article.
Using two designed experiments from a central Oregon juniper woodland, we resampled slash piles and skid trails 8 years after seeding. Our objectives were to assess the long-term vegetation response to conifer removal, ground disturbance, and seeding source (cultivar and local) in slash piles and skid trails. We found that seeded species persisted in the long term, but abundance patterns depended on the species, seed source, and the type of disturbance. In general, there were more robust patterns of persistence after pile burning compared to skid trails. Seeding also suppressed exotic grass cover in the long term, particularly for the local seed source. However, the invasion levels we report are still problematic and may have impacts on biodiversity, forage and fire behavior. Our short-term results were not predictive of longer-term outcomes, but short- and long-term patterns were somewhat predictable based on species life history traits and ecological succession. The use of a mix of species with different life history traits may contribute to seeding success in terms of exotic grass suppression. Lastly, our results suggest that locally adapted seed sources may perform as well or better compared to cultivars. However, more aggressive weed treatments before and after conifer removal activities and wider seeding application may be needed to effectively treat exotic grass populations.
Salvage Science Summit Fall 2021 – Panel Discussion Day 1
Salvage Science Summit Fall 2021 – Panel Discussion Day 2