The Wildfire Trends Tool: A data visualization and analysis tool to meet land management needs and facilitate scientific inquiry

Fighting wildfires and reducing their negative effects on natural resources costs billions of dollars annually in the U.S. We will develop the Wildfire Trends Tool (WTT), a data visualization and analysis tool that will calculate and display wildfire trends and patterns for the western U.S. based on user-defined regions of interest, time periods, and ecosystem types. The WTT will be publicly available via a web application that will retrieve fire data and generate graphically compelling maps and charts of fire activity. For an area of interest, users will be able ask questions such as: Is the area burned by wildfire each year increasing or decreasing over time? Are wildfires becoming larger? Are fire seasons becoming longer? Are some locations experiencing more fire than others? Obtaining answers to these questions will inform fire management and provide a better understanding of where and how fire risks are changing or becoming more extreme.



Principal Investigator : Douglas Shinneman

Co-Investigator : David Pilliod

Cooperator/Partner : Justin L Welty, Michelle I Jeffries, Susan McIlroy