Exploring Information Needs for Wildland Fire and Fuels Management

Exploring Information Needs for Wildland Fire and Fuels Management

Author: Carol Miller

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

We report the results of a questionnaire and workshop that sought to gain a better and deeper understanding of the contemporary information needs of wildland fire and fuels managers. Results from the questionnaire indicated that the decision to suppress a wildland fire was most often influenced by factors related to safety and that the decision to allow a fire to burn was influenced by a variety of factors that varied according to land management objectives. We also found that managers anticipated an increase in the use of wildland fire, but that these increases will be moderate due to a variety of constraints that will continue to limit the use of wildland fire. From the workshop, we learned that managers will need to become increasingly strategic with their fire and fuels management planning, and that the information used to support tactical fire operations may prove to be insufficient. Furthermore, the managers participating in the workshop indicated the functional linkage between land management and fire management planning is lacking. We suggest that effective fire management planning requires information on the benefits and risks to a wide variety of values at landscape scales, integration with land management objectives, and a long-term perspective.


The Public and Wildland Fire Management

The Public and Wildland Fire Management

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presents key social science findings from three National Fire Plan-sponsored research projects. Articles highlight information of likely interest to individuals working to decrease wildfire hazards on both private and public lands. Three general topic areas are addressed: (1) public views and acceptance of fuels management, (2) working with homeowners and communities, and (3) tools that can help us understand social issues.


Bridging the Worlds of Fire Managers and Researchers

Bridging the Worlds of Fire Managers and Researchers

Author: Seth M. White

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In March and April of 2003, over 250 managers, researchers, and other participants gathered for a series of workshops at Oregon State University, the University of Arizona, and Colorado State University, near the largest wildfires of 2002. In response to the need for better understanding of large fires, the Wildland Fire Workshops were designed to create an atmosphere for quality interactions between managers and researchers and to accomplish the following objectives: (1) create a prioritized list of recommendations for future wildland fire research; (2) identify the characteristics of effective partnerships; (3) identify types of effective information, tools, and processes; and (4) evaluate the workshops as a potential blueprint for similar workshops in other regions. Through a series of professionally facilitated workshops, participants worked toward speaking with one voice about many key issues. Although differences emerged among individuals, disciplines, and geographic locations, many common themes emerged. Participants suggested that research should be framed in the larger picture of fire ecology and ecosystem restoration, be interdisciplinary, be attentive to the effects of fire at different scales over the landscape and through time, and be focused on social issues. Effective partnerships occur when direct interaction takes place between people at multiple stages, adequate time is allowed for partnership building, partners are rewarded and held accountable for their roles, and when dedicated individuals are identified and cultivated. Participants identified effective information, tools, and processes as those that are adequately and consistently funded, user-friendly, interactive between people at multiple levels, and often championed by key, dedicated individuals. A survey of participants at the final meeting in Colorado revealed that the workshops did in fact create an atmosphere for positive interactions between managers and researchers, and that with some refinements, similar workshops could be carried out in other regions with productive results.


Wildland Fuel Fundamentals and Applications

Wildland Fuel Fundamentals and Applications

Author: Robert E. Keane

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-11-04

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 3319090151

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A new era in wildland fuel sciences is now evolving in such a way that fire scientists and managers need a comprehensive understanding of fuels ecology and science to fully understand fire effects and behavior on diverse ecosystem and landscape characteristics. This is a reference book on wildland fuel science; a book that describes fuels and their application in land management. There has never been a comprehensive book on wildland fuels; most wildland fuel information was put into wildland fire science and management books as separate chapters and sections. This book is the first to highlight wildland fuels and treat them as a natural resource rather than a fire behavior input. Moreover, there has never been a comprehensive description of fuels and their ecology, measurement, and description under one reference; most wildland fuel information is scattered across diverse and unrelated venues from combustion science to fire ecology to carbon dynamics. The literature and data for wildland fuel science has never been synthesized into one reference; most studies were done for diverse and unique objectives. This book is the first to link the disparate fields of ecology, wildland fire, and carbon to describe fuel science. This just deals with the science and ecology of wildland fuels, not fuels management. However, since expensive fuel treatments are being planned in fire dominated landscapes across the world to minimize fire damage to people, property and ecosystems, it is incredibly important that people understand wildland fuels to develop more effective fuel management activities.