Building Fire Science-Management Partnerships to Accelerate Adaptation
As public lands continue to experience rapid change brought on by fire, invasive species, and climate change, there is a growing need for science-management partnerships to apply innovative research, technology and adaptation strategies to support decision-making at an accelerated pace.
Using funding from USGS and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, USGS and DOI land management agencies are creating the Innovation Landscape Network to apply advanced technology, modeling, and coproduction of knowledge to address changing fire risks and climate resilience with fuel treatment strategies.
An initial pilot landscape was established in southeastern Arizona including lands of San Carlos Apache Reservation, Buenos Airees National Wildlife Refuge, Saguaro National Park, Bureau of Land Management and partners in the Altar Valley. Each of these partners in a Innovation Landscape node is challenged with testing new technology, such as monitoring fuels with terrestrial laser scanning, evaluating fire spread thorough advanced fire simulation tools, and supporting research to improve our understanding of treatment effectiveness, adaptation strategies, and accomplishment of land management goals. In addition to fire risk modeling and fuel treatment effectiveness monitoring, funding from USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers is being leveraged to understand how landscape scale treatment strategies can rapidly adapt to increase the resilience of these ecosystems.
Also critical to the success of this Network are USGS social science research teams working with DOI agencies, tribal partners, and adjacent communities to understand values at risk and how to prioritize treatments to increase community resilience. The Innovation Network will grow in the coming years as nodes are added in ecosystems across the US in partnership with JFSP, USFS, and DOI Bureaus. While recognizing all successful adaptation is local, the innovative solutions to the challenges addressed in each node is a learning opportunity to share successes and efficiently bring new tools and approaches to support managers at a pace required to address environmental change.
As public lands continue to experience rapid change brought on by fire, invasive species, and climate change, there is a growing need for science-management partnerships to apply innovative research, technology and adaptation strategies to support decision-making at an accelerated pace.
Using funding from USGS and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, USGS and DOI land management agencies are creating the Innovation Landscape Network to apply advanced technology, modeling, and coproduction of knowledge to address changing fire risks and climate resilience with fuel treatment strategies.
An initial pilot landscape was established in southeastern Arizona including lands of San Carlos Apache Reservation, Buenos Airees National Wildlife Refuge, Saguaro National Park, Bureau of Land Management and partners in the Altar Valley. Each of these partners in a Innovation Landscape node is challenged with testing new technology, such as monitoring fuels with terrestrial laser scanning, evaluating fire spread thorough advanced fire simulation tools, and supporting research to improve our understanding of treatment effectiveness, adaptation strategies, and accomplishment of land management goals. In addition to fire risk modeling and fuel treatment effectiveness monitoring, funding from USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers is being leveraged to understand how landscape scale treatment strategies can rapidly adapt to increase the resilience of these ecosystems.
Also critical to the success of this Network are USGS social science research teams working with DOI agencies, tribal partners, and adjacent communities to understand values at risk and how to prioritize treatments to increase community resilience. The Innovation Network will grow in the coming years as nodes are added in ecosystems across the US in partnership with JFSP, USFS, and DOI Bureaus. While recognizing all successful adaptation is local, the innovative solutions to the challenges addressed in each node is a learning opportunity to share successes and efficiently bring new tools and approaches to support managers at a pace required to address environmental change.