CAP Future of Fire Cohort (2020-2022) Active
The inaugural 2021-2023 Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral (CAP) Fellows cohort explores the many ways climate change is altering wildland fire regimes across the country, combining their diverse experiences to synthesize how 21st century fires affect natural and human communities and how managers can prepare for future fires.
About
Climate change is altering fire dynamics across the country, creating longer, hotter fire seasons that are increasingly destructive. Yet these effects vary considerably across different regions - some communities watch invasive species and hot temperatures ratchet up already smoky summers, while droughts set flame to other areas rarely burned in the past. These changing fire regimes create significant challenges for natural resource managers as they struggle to apply strategies designed for the past to unknown conditions in the future.
The 2021-2023 "Future of Fires" cohort of the Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral Fellows (CAP Fellows) Program explores regional differences in climate-fire dynamics across the country. They are seeking to: 1) synthesize climate change impacts on fire regimes, management, and response over regional and national scales, 2) explore resulting impacts on fish, wildlife and ecosystems, and 3) develop strategies to help managers adapt to these changes.
The seven fellows in this cohort are based at regional CASC consortium universities across the country. They work with faculty advisors to lead regionally-focused research projects, while also collaborating with USGS employees and other members of the CASC network on a national-scale synthesis project.
Future of Fire Regional Projects
| CASC | Project Title | Principal Investigator | Location | Fellow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Central | Future Fire in a Changing Climate: Science Synthesis & Management Implications |
Jennifer Balch | University of Colorado Boulder | Jilmarie Stephens |
| Pacific Islands | Future of Fire in the Pacific Islands: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate |
Christian Giardina | University of Hawaii Manoa, USFS Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry |
Alyssa Anderson |
| Alaska | Future of Fire in Alaska: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate |
Scott Rupp and Jeremy Littell |
University of Alaska Fairbanks | Adam Young |
| South Central | Future of Fire in the South Central: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate |
Omkar Joshi | Oklahoma State University | |
| Northwest | Future of Fire in the North West: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate |
Solomon Dobrowski | University of Washington | |
| Southwest | Future of Fire in the South West: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate |
Beth Rose Middleton and Hugh Safford |
University of California Davis | Nina Fontana |
| Southeast | Fire Climate Synthesis: Development of an early warning system to identify changing prescribed burn opportunities across Southeast US fire-adapted habitats |
Adam Terando | North Carolina State University |
The CAP Fellows Program is supported through the National CASC supported project "Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate."
Meet our "Future of Fire" fellows and program leads below! Click on their photos to learn more about each fellow.
Madeleine Rubenstein, CAP Fellowship Program Lead, National CASC
Shawn Carter, CAP Fellowship Program Lead, National CASC
Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Future of Fire in the Southwest: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Future of Fire in the Northwest: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Future of Fire in Alaska: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Future of Fire in the Pacific Islands: Towards a National Synthesis for Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Future of Fire in the North Central: Towards a National Synthesis for Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Future of Fire in the South Central: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Development of an Early Warning System to Identify Changing Prescribed Burn Opportunities Across Southeast US Fire-Adapted Habitats
- Overview
The inaugural 2021-2023 Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral (CAP) Fellows cohort explores the many ways climate change is altering wildland fire regimes across the country, combining their diverse experiences to synthesize how 21st century fires affect natural and human communities and how managers can prepare for future fires.
About
Climate change is altering fire dynamics across the country, creating longer, hotter fire seasons that are increasingly destructive. Yet these effects vary considerably across different regions - some communities watch invasive species and hot temperatures ratchet up already smoky summers, while droughts set flame to other areas rarely burned in the past. These changing fire regimes create significant challenges for natural resource managers as they struggle to apply strategies designed for the past to unknown conditions in the future.
The 2021-2023 "Future of Fires" cohort of the Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral Fellows (CAP Fellows) Program explores regional differences in climate-fire dynamics across the country. They are seeking to: 1) synthesize climate change impacts on fire regimes, management, and response over regional and national scales, 2) explore resulting impacts on fish, wildlife and ecosystems, and 3) develop strategies to help managers adapt to these changes.
The seven fellows in this cohort are based at regional CASC consortium universities across the country. They work with faculty advisors to lead regionally-focused research projects, while also collaborating with USGS employees and other members of the CASC network on a national-scale synthesis project.
Future of Fire Regional Projects
CASC Project Title Principal Investigator Location Fellow North Central Future Fire in a Changing Climate:
Science Synthesis & Management ImplicationsJennifer Balch University of Colorado Boulder Jilmarie Stephens Pacific Islands Future of Fire in the Pacific Islands:
Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland
Fire Under a Changing ClimateChristian Giardina University of Hawaii Manoa,
USFS Institute of Pacific Islands ForestryAlyssa Anderson Alaska Future of Fire in Alaska:
Towards a National
Synthesis of Wildland Fire
Under a Changing ClimateScott Rupp and
Jeremy LittellUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks Adam Young South Central Future of Fire in the South Central:
Towards a National Synthesis
of Wildland Fire Under a Changing ClimateOmkar Joshi Oklahoma State University Northwest Future of Fire in the North West:
Towards a National Synthesis of
Wildland Fire Under a Changing ClimateSolomon Dobrowski University of Washington Southwest Future of Fire in the South West:
Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland
Fire Under a Changing ClimateBeth Rose Middleton
and Hugh SaffordUniversity of California Davis Nina Fontana Southeast Fire Climate Synthesis: Development
of an early warning system to identify
changing prescribed burn opportunities
across Southeast US fire-adapted habitatsAdam Terando North Carolina State University The CAP Fellows Program is supported through the National CASC supported project "Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate."
Meet our "Future of Fire" fellows and program leads below! Click on their photos to learn more about each fellow.
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsAlyssa Anderson, Pacific Islands CASC
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsNina Fontana, Southwest CASC
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsTyler Hoecker, Northwest CASC
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsReetam Majumder, Southeast CASC
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsAaron Russell, South Central CASC
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsJilmarie Stephens, North Central CASC
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsAdam Young, Alaska CASC
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Madeleine Rubenstein, CAP Fellowship Program Lead, National CASC
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Shawn Carter, CAP Fellowship Program Lead, National CASC - Science
Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Abundant scientific research has characterized the relationships between climate and fire in ecosystems of the United States, and there is substantial evidence that the role of fire in ecosystems is likely to change with a changing climate. Changing fire patterns pose numerous natural resource management challenges and decision makers in natural-resource management increasingly require informationFuture of Fire in the Southwest: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Climate change is altering the patterns and characteristics of fire across natural systems in the United States. Resource managers in the Southwest are faced with making natural resource and fire management decisions now, despite a lack of accessible information about how those decisions will play out as fire regimes, and their associated disturbances, will change across the landscape. Decision maFuture of Fire in the Northwest: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Climate change is altering the patterns and characteristics of fire across natural systems in the United States. Resource managers in the Northwest are faced with making natural resource and fire management decisions now, despite a lack of accessible information about how those decisions will play out as fire regimes, and ecosystem responses, will change across the landscape. Decision makers in naFuture of Fire in Alaska: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Forecasting fires in Alaska are, like anywhere else, “wicked problems” as wildfires arise from complex, climatically-driven social-environmental systems. However, given Alaska’s unique human and environmental histories and rapidly changing climate, the region features a combination of factors that may not exist anywhere else in the network. A useful fire synthesis for Alaska must, at the same timeFuture of Fire in the Pacific Islands: Towards a National Synthesis for Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Wildfire is a significant yet underappreciated issue on Pacific Islands that threatens ecosystems from ridge-tops to reefs, including native species, waters, human communities, and natural and cultural resources. In the Hawaiian archipelago, the percentage of land burned annually is equal or greater than that burned across the western United States, with most fires occurring in drier nonnative graFuture of Fire in the North Central: Towards a National Synthesis for Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
As the National Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) develops a strategic effort around fire science, there is a critical need to develop a national-scale synthesis effort that identifies key regional CASC activities previously conducted, as well as major science gaps that may be addressed by a coordinated CASC network approach. The North Central CASC postdoctoral fellow will play a leadershipFuture of Fire in the South Central: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Climate projections for the southern Great Plains, and elsewhere in the U.S., indicate that a hotter future with changes in precipitation amount and seasonality is to be expected. As plants become stressed from these changes, wildfire risk increases. One of the most valuable approaches to reducing the impacts of wildfires is fuel reduction through prescribed burns. Fuel reduction helps minimize thDevelopment of an Early Warning System to Identify Changing Prescribed Burn Opportunities Across Southeast US Fire-Adapted Habitats
Frequent, low-intensity wildfires were once widespread across the Southeast US, which led to a reduction in unchecked vegetation growth that provided fuel for high-intensity fires. Both intentional and unintentional fire suppression and land-use changes have reduced many of these wildfires and the fire-adapted habitats in the region over time. This loss of frequent low-intensity wildfires on the l