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Fire Management

Fire management involves activities ranging from the management and reduction of hazardous fuels vegetation to protect communities, municipal watersheds, and threatened and endangered wildlife species, to the rehabilitation and restoration of areas impacted by fire. The websites listed below provide information on some of the major programs currently underway (including tools that organize the information by state or even areas within a state).

National Wildfire Programs Database The National Wildfire Programs Database (NWPD) is a national database of state and local wildfire hazard mitigation programs. NWPD serves as a clearinghouse of information about nonfederal policies and programs that seek to reduce the risk of loss of life and property through the reduction of hazardous fuels on private lands.

The Fire Initiative The Nature Conservancy's Fire Initiative oversees fire management on TNC preserves nationwide, fosters fire ecology research, and promotes the judicious use of prescribed fire to meet biodiversity conservation needs through publications, information exchange, and fire policy reviews. The Fire Initiative publishes a technical newsletter, Rx Fire Notes, and has been active on the National Commission of Wildfire Disasters and the Federal Wildland Fire Policy and Program Review. The Fire Initiative also provides prescribed fire training for TNC staff and cooperators. Each year the Fire Initiative conducts intensive Workshops on Ecological Burning, which emphasize fire ecology, and the technical aspects of prescribed burning, and provide hands-on experience during training burns and site fire management planning exercises. Participants in these Workshops must have completed the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's S-390 Fire Behavior course.

Fire.org Fire management information systems and software products are provided by "fire.org". The website is designed for wildland fire professionals and students who require access to the latest software, documentation, and technical papers developed by Systems for Environmental Management and the USDA Forest Service, USDI National Park Service, USDI Bureau of Land Management for use by federal, state, and local fire management agencies. Fire.org is a cooperative effort by Systems for Environmental Management, Missoula, MT and the Fire Sciences Laboratory of the Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, MT.

Hazardous Fuel Reduction Research Successful reduction of hazardous fuel requires that managers have knowledge about the location of fuel accumulations, and are able to evaluate and prioritize treatment alternatives accounting for trade-offs among different objectives. Researchers with knowledge of remote sensing technology, spatial data analysis and modeling systems, and fundamental science and simulation techniques can help find solutions to complex managerial problems. more...