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July 2021 Newsletter
In This Issue
Additional Events and Resources (Right Column)
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Upcoming JFSP Funding Opportunity Announcements
The interagency Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) intends to request proposals through one or more formal Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) beginning approximately July 2021 and remaining open approximately 60 days. The intent of this announcement is to provide an early alert to investigators interested in the topics listed below so that they can begin considering responsive ideas with potential partners and collaborators.
Investigators should recognize that final decisions regarding topic selection will not be made until July and that final topic selection may differ from that posted here. Investigators should recognize this uncertainty and not invest substantial time or resources working on proposals until the FOAs and their associated topics are formally posted.
Topics and funding opportunities are as follows:
1. Primary FOA
A. Social and ecological recovery of communities impacted by wildfire
B. Collaborative development of ecosystem mapping products for fire and fuels management
2. GRIN FOA - Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) Award
3. Regional Fire Science Exchange FOA
For six regions of the FSEN: Southern, Southern Rockies, Southwest, Appalachians, Great Plains and North Atlantic.
More information can be found here.
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New Fire Prediction Products from NICC
The Predictive Services Branch of the National Interagency Coordination Center has several excellent fuels and fire danger products that help users visualize current trends and how they compare to past years and averages. See local graphs of fuel moistures, energy release components, and burning indices. Many other products are also available here.
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Risk Management Assistance Dashboard for Fire Events
Make more risk-informed decisions and achieve safer and improved outcomes during fire events - check out the Interagency Risk Management Assistance Dashboard. The Dashboard links to products that can help line officers, agency administrators, fire managers, incident management teams, area commands, geographic area coordination centers, and multi-agency coordination groups.
--Adapted from the Risk Management Assistance Dashboard website
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LANDFIRE Releases Updated Fuels and Vegetation Data
LANDFIRE has just released an update that adds three new years of disturbances across the U.S. to its vegetation and fuels data layers. LANDFIRE 2019 Limited is one step toward annual updates for the program, which is relied upon nationwide to guide land management and fire planning.
LEARN MORE:
--From 6/15/21 LANDFIRE press release
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IAWF Workforce Resilience Ignite Talk Series
The International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) has been hosting webinars about wildland firefighter health with leading scientists and practitioners since last fall. The recordings for those talks are available here. Topics include Firefighter Mental Health and Well-being, Stress Reduction, Inclusivity in the Wildland Fire Community, plus many others.
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Northern Rockies Fire Season Outlook
Significant wildland fire potential for much of the Northern Rockies is expected to be above normal in July and August. The latest US Drought Monitor published in late June depicts extreme to exceptional drought over most of North Dakota and northeast Montana and drought appears to be developing west of the Continental Divide. During what is one of the wettest months of the year in the Northern Rockies it remained very dry overall. In southern Montana and north-central Idaho there is now moderate-to-severe drought. The overall picture in the Northern Rockies is still one of long-term drought interspersed with areas of short-term relief.
The past month has brought widespread warmth to the western U.S., including the Northern Rockies where overall it has been 3 to 5 degrees warmer than average. Southern Montana has been the most extreme – similar to the Great Basin and Wyoming – with temperatures 6 to 8°F above average in June. Mid-June brought a heatwave with record-breaking temperatures east of the Continental Divide in the 90s and low 100s. During this short-lived event, the Hot-Dry-Windy Index indicated that these conditions exceeded the 95th percentile of events for the Northern Rockies. ERC values are still running well-above average in most areas, along with very low to extreme fuel moistures in the heavier fuel classes. Fuels are most extreme in the Custer Gallatin National Forest and in the eastern Montana and North Dakota BLM lands.
The Northern Rockies saw an increase in fire activity over the past month with a combination of lightning and human-caused large fires. Notably, the Deep Creek Canyon (~4,500 acres), Crooked Creek (~4,000 acres), and Robertson Draw (~30,000 acres) fires in Montana grew significantly during the extreme hot, dry, and windy episode in mid-June and were relatively long-lived. Wetting rain fell on all those incidents during the third week in June, but the expectation is that warmer and drier conditions will resume for the foreseeable future. The Little Pine fire in the Idaho Panhandle has also been active with historically hot weather in late June and early July.
The monthly and three-month seasonal temperature and precipitation outlooks from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center for July and August suggest a continuation of warmer and drier than average conditions across the geographic area for the “core” fire season months, particularly along and west of the Continental Divide in Idaho and western Montana.
--Adapted from NIFC Predictive Services Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook published July 1, 2021.
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Wildland Fire Tract at Upcoming SAF Conference
The 2021 Society of American Foresters (SAF) National Convention will be held virtually November 3–6. The SAF D4 Wildland Fire Working Group is working with Conference Planners to develop a Wildland Fire Tract related to fire disturbance and is collaborating with other working groups where focus areas overlap (e.g. carbon sequestration on prescribed v. wildfire). With this, the D4 Wildland Fire Working Group is reaching out to solicit wildland fire science papers and presentations for the conference. Although the submission date for presentations has passed, the deadline for Science Flashes and Posters is open until August 31. More information on submissions can be found here. More information on the convention can be found here.
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Announcements and Awards
Karels chosen as new NASF Fire Director
The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) has announced the hiring of Jim Karels as the new NASF Fire Director. Jim will be replacing Dan Smith, who is retiring after serving 14 years as NASF Fire Director. Jim Karels has over 40 years of experience in wildland fire and forest management with the US Forest Service and the Florida Forest Service. Jim served as the Wildand Fire Committee Chair for the National Association of State Foresters and represented NASF on the Wildland Fire Leadership Council for 8 years. He also served as President of NASF in 2015. Most recently Jim has worked for the International Association of Fire Chiefs as the lead writer for the America’s Burning Wildland Urban Interface report.
Clairmont awarded Wilcox Award from Intertribal Timber Council
Darrell Clairmont received the Earle R. Wilcox Award from the Intertribal Timber Council at the group’s 41st annual symposium. Clairmont received recognition for collaboratively working to accomplish 15,607 acres of prescribed fire treatment on both the Flathead Reservation and other Confederated Salish and Kootenai traditional homelands.
Durglo Recognized as “White House Champions of Change for Climate Equity”
Michael Durglo, Jr. was one of ten people chosen nationally as a “White House Champions of Change for Climate Equity.” The CSKT tribal member and Division of Environmental Protection Manager and Climate Change Planning Coordinator, Durglo, was recognized for his work empowering low-income and underserved communities prepare for climate change. He led the effort to develop a climate change strategic plan for the Flathead Reservation.
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In the News
Rocky Mountain forests burning more now than any time in the past 2,000 years: Researchers at the University of Montana and the University of Wyoming recently published a paper that was highlighted by the web journal The Conversation. Using core samples taken from lake sediments, the study provides evidence that the current rate of forest burning has nearly doubled in the 21 st century.
High Country News recently produced an article on the social challenges of planning forest thinning projects on the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho. It discusses the multiple viewpoints about forest treatments and the design and approval processes for getting work done.
Two scientists from the Rocky Mountain Research Station Missoula Fire Sciences Lab were recently featured in PNW news outlets. Sharon Hood did an interview on different ways to manage forests in the WUI and mitigating fire risk for an article on the State of Washington’s recently passed wildfire bill. Read the article here. And Greg Dillon was a guest on a podcast with KOIN, the CBS affiliate in Portland OR. Greg also talked about mitigating wildfire risk in the WUI and the Wildfire Risk to Communities Project. You can listen to the podcast here.
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Skype-a-Scientist
Become a resource for teachers and students on fire science!
Skype-a-Scientist connects scientists with classrooms across the globe. Join as a scientist and you’ll be entered in a database of experts on different topics. Teachers can reach out to set up question and answer sessions.
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