USGS Firelight - Vol. 2 | Issue 3
This issue of Firelight highlights the USGS Fire Science Support for the Department of the Interior (DOI) project, addressing recent legislation on wildland fire in DOI lands. Started in 2023, the project will continue through 2025 and consists of four interrelated tasks, guided by input from DOI bureau representatives and the USGS Office of Wildland Fire.
Developing a series of fire science syntheses for wildland fire managers
Federal agencies manage wildland fire in many ways, including broad-scale fire management planning and site-specific fire and fuels management actions. Federal policy requires agencies to use science in fire management planning and environmental effects analyses. However, fire managers have limited time to compile and synthesize science. The USGS is collaborating with fire management staff across...
Science for Wildfire Risk
This project is a collaboration among USGS scientists and Department of the Interior (DOI) bureau managers to develop actionable science (data, analysis, projections, and tools) to support DOI efforts to reduce wildfire risk, enhance wildfire resilience, implement and monitor fuel management projects and postfire restoration and rehabilitation efforts, and ensure the success of congressional...
IntELiMon (Interagency Ecosystem LiDAR Monitoring) Interactive Viewer
IntELiMon (Interagency Ecosystem LiDAR Monitoring) Interactive Viewer
National Fuels Treatment and Post-fire Treatment Effectiveness Assessment Strategies
Decision Support Tools
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Wildland Fire Trends Tool Wildland Fire Trends Tool
The Wildland Fire Trends Tool (WFTT) is a data visualization and analysis tool that calculates and displays wildfire trends and patterns for the western U.S. based on user-defined regions of interest, time periods, and ecosystem types. Users can use the tool to easily generate a variety of maps, graphs, and tabular data products that are informative for all levels of expertise.
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USGS Wildfire Hazard and Risk Assessment Clearinghouse USGS Wildfire Hazard and Risk Assessment Clearinghouse
This online tool was designed to help identify which wildfire hazard and risk assessments are available across the United States. It provides information about available risk assessments and links to assessment data when publicly available.
Publication Highlights
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Structured science syntheses to inform decision making on Federal public lands Structured science syntheses to inform decision making on Federal public lands
The U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnered to develop a new type of science product: the structured science synthesis. Structured science syntheses are peer-reviewed reports that synthesize science information about a priority resource management issue on public lands. Structured science syntheses are developed explicitly to...AuthorsEmma I. Dietrich, Sarah K. Carter, Tait K. Rutherford, Megan A. Gilbert, Travis S. Haby, Aaron N. Johnston, Samuel E. Jordan, Nathan J. Kleist, Richard J. Lehrter, Elroy H. Masters, Claudia Mengelt, Alexandra L. Stoneburner, Elisabeth C. Teige, John C. Tull, Sarah E. Whipple, David J. A. Wood
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Evaluating a simulation-based wildfire burn probability map for the conterminous US Evaluating a simulation-based wildfire burn probability map for the conterminous US
Background Wildfire simulation models are used to derive maps of burn probability (BP) based on fuels, weather, topography and ignition locations, and BP maps are key components of wildfire risk assessments. Aims Few studies have compared BP maps with real-world fires to evaluate their suitability for near-future risk assessment. Here, we evaluated a BP map for the conterminous US based...AuthorsAmanda Renee Carlson, Todd Hawbaker, Lucas Bair, Chad Michael Hoffman, James Meldrum, L. Scott Baggett, Paul F. Steblein