ne rsc newsletter june 2016 published
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Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Northeast Region
Pagami Creek Fire, Superior NF, Minnesota, September 2011. (Photo: Kari Greer)
Resilient Landscapes - Fire-Adapted Communities - Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
The Northeast Regional Strategy Committee (NE RSC) provides executive leadership, coordination, and guidance to carry out the Northeast Regional Action Plan while providing a forum for members to guide strategic direction for fire and land management activities. The NE RSC continues to collaboratively recognize, support, and help with National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy goals and implementation efforts.
NE RSC Chair: Brad Simpkins, New Hampshire State Forester
In This Issue
Good Neighbor Authority in Action in Wisconsin
National Leaders Meet and Commit to Cohesive Strategy
A Different Approach to Our Wildfire Message
PRESCRIBED FIRE: News on Prescribed Fire Activity Across the Northeast Region
Game Commission Uses Prescribed Burns to Help Control Forest
The Right Prescription:
June 2016
Good Neighbor Authority in Action in Wisconsin
May 26, 2016
[Editor's Note: This project is an excellent example of how Cohesive Strategy Goal 1 is being met in the Northeast. Regional Option 1c focuses on mitigating event-created
Why Prescribed Burning Can Be a Critical Tool in Many WUI Communities
NEW PUBLICATION RELEASES
Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior Volume 2
Risk Management: Core Principles and Practices, and Their Relevance to Wildland Fire
5th Year Recruiting for FireCorps at Cape Cod National Seashore
A Special July Webinar: Finding the Best Science Available on Fire Ecology and Fire Regimes in Eastern Ecosystems
Conferences, Meetings, and Training Opportunities
Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy Key Contacts
Brad Simpkins Chair New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands 172 Pembroke Road PO Box 1856 Concord, NH 03302-1856 Maureen Brooks Communications Working Group Lead U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF Larry Mastic
fuels to reduce risk of unwanted wildfire. Even though it wasn't the primary objective for this project, landscape restoration is being achieved by Cohesive Strategy partners using a new tool to get the work done in a more efficient manner.]
An agreement gained by Gov. Scott Walker's administration to facilitate forestry management and watershed work in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is being put into action with the first timber cut and salvage operation now underway in the 1.5 million-acre forest.
As part of the Good Neighbor Authority agreement between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin is pioneering the expanded authority granted by Congress that allows states across the country to build on the work being accomplished by the U.S. Forest Service. The agreement, which includes expanded forest-management and watershed-restoration activities on federal lands, promises to support jobs while improving wildlife habitat and water quality.
Read the full Good Neighbor Authority article.
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National Leaders Meet and Commit to Cohesive Strategy
May 23, 2016
(Photos: Shawn Stokes)
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell led a discussion last week with federal firefighting agencies at the White House regarding the increasing danger to communities in wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas as fire seasons become hotter, drier and longer. Jewell also highlighted
Coordinator, Northeast Region Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
Important Links
Northeast Regional Cohesive Strategy Committee Forest Fire Compacts Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact Big Rivers Forest Fire Management Compact Great Lakes Forest Fire Compact Middle Atlantic Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact Eastern Area Coordinating Group Quick Links Cohesive Strategy Fire Adapted Communities Coalition Dovetail Partners Science and Joint Fire Science Consortiums & Exchanges Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists National Joint Fire Science Program North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange Lake States Fire Science Consortium Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium
the need for greater collaborative action to enhance community resilience against these risks and strengthen federal firefighter safety and preparedness. In her remarks Secretary Jewell emphasized the importance of cooperative relationships and collaboration at all levels to mitigate wildfire risk, increase firefighter safety and identify further policy actions needed to enhance community resilience within the WUI. She added that the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy provides a strategic roadmap for working together - across federal, tribal, state and local governments and with non-governmental organization (NGO) partners - to manage fire-prone lands; protect the nation's natural, tribal and cultural resources; and make communities safe and resilient for future generations. Read the full national leadership meeting blog post. From National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, Western Region Blog
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A Different Approach to Our Wildfire Message
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (Photo: Matt Frank)
Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center Social Media
Gloria Erickson, Matt Frank
May 24, 2016
Is there a different way to reach out to people when relaying our wildfire message - a more personalized message, a message that tells a story, a message that doesn't come from a "fire expert"? How do we get people to "own it," to see their role in helping their communities be more resilient to wildfire?
These are the questions I had been asking myself when I came up with this "crazy" idea to do an art exhibition about the concept of living with wildfire. The idea stemmed from multiple community-oriented purposes - personalizing our relationship with wildfire, creating a venue for local artists to display and sell their artworks, and increasing traffic for local business owners where the artwork will be displayed. I was also inspired by the community-based wildfire art project that our [Fire Adapted Communities] partners in Flagstaff -- the Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership -- conducted in previous years.
In Ely, Minnesota the Donald G. Gardner Trust Fund annually offers an artistic project grant that benefits our community. My idea was a little out of the box, but with the assistance of my colleagues at Dovetail Partners, our proposal was accepted and we received a grant to do an art exhibition called "Living with Wildfire." The exhibit seeks to highlight experiences and reflections about wildfire from residents' perspectives through two- and three-dimensional artworks.
Read the full Living with Wildfire article.
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PRESCRIBED FIRE
News on Prescribed Fire Activity Across the Northeast Region
Game Commission Uses Prescribed Burns to Help Control Forest
Kent Jackson, Staff Writer
The Times-Tribune
May 29, 2016
Crewmen from the Pennsylvania Game Commission took a calculated risk when setting a forest on fire.
Unlike the wildfire that drove 80,000 people from their homes this month in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the crewmen lit a controlled burn in Lackawanna County on May 11.
Months before the crewmen touched off the woods with drip torches that spray fire, a bulldozer scraped a fire line around the burn site on State Game Lands 135 in Thornhurst, about two miles northeast of Bear Lake and three miles east of the Luzerne County border.
A plan written a month before for the fire contains page after page of precautions, water sources, escape routes and weather conditions required before starting the fire.
On the morning of the controlled burn, the crew waited 3½ hours for the humidity to increase before they put torches to tinder.
Read the full Pennsylvania Game Commission prescribed burn article.
Contact the writer at [email protected].
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The Right Prescription: Why Prescribed Burning Can Be a Critical Tool in Many WUI Communities
(Photo: Getty Images )
Lucian Deaton
May 2, 2016
In March, an article in the Albuquerque Journal offered a good illustration of the debate around prescribed burning. Under the headline "A burning question facing our forests," the article proceeded to outline a local tug-of-war that is playing out in one form or another in communities
across the country.
In this case, the flare-up was in Santa Fe, where the city council had recently approved a plan that included prescribed burning to restore and maintain the city's municipal watershed. These issues are closely linked because destructive wildfires that remove forests and their canopies can lead to soil erosion, flooding, and water-quality problems. Opponents of the plan claimed prescribed burns do more harm than good to wildlands and lead to air-quality issues and increased carbon release into the atmosphere, hastening climate change.
Read the full NFPA Journal prescribed burning article.
Lucian Deaton manages the Firewise Communities and Fire Adapted Communities Programs in NFPA's Wildland Fire Operations Division.
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NEW PUBLICATION RELEASES
Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior Volume 2
Firescience.gov Friday Flash eNews -- Issue 149 May 13, 2016
The objective of this project is to synthesize existing extreme fire behavior knowledge in a way that connects the weather, fuel, and topographic factors that contribute to development of extreme fire behavior. This synthesis focuses on the state of the science but also considers how that science is currently presented to the fire management community, including incident commanders, fire behavior analysts, incident meteorologists, National Weather Service office forecasters, and firefighters. The synthesis seeks to delineate the known, the unknown, and areas of research with the greatest potential impact on firefighter protection. View this publication. View Volume 1 of Extreme Fire Behavior.
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Risk Management: Core Principles and Practices, and Their Relevance to Wildland
Fire
Thompson, Matthew P.; MacGregor, Donald G.; Calkin, David E. 2016. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-350. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 29 p.
View this publication.
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5th Year Recruiting for FireCorps at Cape Cod National Seashore
Application Deadline: June 22, 2016
AmeriCorps and the National Park Service are actively recruiting for the fifth year of FireCorps at the Cape Cod National Seashore. The season runs from September 2016 to July 2017. The recruitment and application period is open now. View more information and instructions on how to apply.
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A Special July Webinar Finding the Best Science Available on Fire Ecology and Fire Regimes in Eastern Ecosystems
July 27, 2016 1 PM ET/ 12 PM CT/ 11 PM MT Robin Innes and Ilana Abrahamson U.S. Forest Service Join us for our next Webinar in cooperation with the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange and Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists highlighting the new fire features of the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). Managers and planners need scientifically sound information on historical fire regimes and contemporary
changes in fuels and fire regimes to make informed management decisions. To address this need, two new fire regime publications--Fire Regime Reports and Fire Regime Syntheses--are now available and spatially searchable in the recently updated user interface for the FEIS. Source: Lake States Fire Science Consortium, April 2016 Newsletter
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Conferences, Meetings, and Training Opportunities
Training
National Wildland Fire Training National Wildfire Coordinating Group Training
Conferences and Meetings
--Regional--
50th Annual Northeast Forest Fire Supervisors Committee Meeting Fifty Years of Northeastern Fire Management June 20-24, 2016 King of Prussia, PA Radisson Valley Forge
24th North American Prairie Conference--From Cemetery Prairies to National Tallgrass Prairies July 17-20, 2016 Normal, IL Illinois State University Is hosting this conference with presentations on prairie ecology, restoration, management, and some innovative ideas on working lands. Wildfire in the Northeast Workshop An Instructional, Practical and Pragmatic Approach to Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation December 6-8, 2016 Mystic, CT Contact your state or provincial forest fire prevention specialist in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic. --National--
NASF 2016 Annual Meeting September 19-22, 2016 Savannah, GA Hilton Savannah DeSoto The Georgia Forestry Commission is pleased to partner with the NASF to bring together the nation's forestry and wildfire leaders at the beautiful Hilton Desoto in historic downtown Savannah, GA. NASF looks forward to hosting you for an exceptional week of business, learning, and networking. Register today. More information.
2016 Upper Midwest Invasive Species ConferenceOctober 17-19, 2016 LaCrosse, WI Contact the Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium if you are interested in contributing to a special session about suppressing invasive plants using integrated treatment that includes prescribed fire. 2nd International Smoke Symposium November 14-17, 2016 Long Beach, CA The Call for Presentations, Posters, and Special Sessions closes on May 16. 3rd Southwest Fire Ecology Conference Beyond Hazard Fuels: Managing Fire for Social, Economic, and Ecological Benefits November 28 - December 2, 2016 Tucson, AZ Now Accepting Submissions for Special Sessions,Workshops and Trainings, and Attached Meetings. Call for oral and poster presentation abstract submissions opened April 1. Early Bird Registration opens June 1. Save-the-Date: 7th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress November 28 - December 2, 2017 Orlando, FL Buena Vista Palace Spa and Hotel
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The Northeast Regional Strategy Committee (NE RSC) delivers articles and stories each month that demonstrate the collaborative efforts of agencies, organizations and communities
supporting and promoting the three goals of the Cohesive Strategy: Restoring Resilient Landscapes, Creating Fire Adapted Communities and Responding to Wildfire. This news update is our primary communication tool with our partners and the public. Looking for more Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy information or past published news update issues? Visit this Web site. Does your agency, organization, or community have a project or event you'd like to see featured in the NE RSC News Update? Tell us about it! Just contact Larry Mastic.
Northeastern Area State & Private Forestry | 304-285-1524 | [email protected] |http://www.na.fs.fed.us
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Newtown Square, PA 19073