Past Meets the Present: Using Old Burns in Fire Management

Over the past two decades the size of wildfires has dramatically increased across the Southwest. These large burned areas have become so common that newer wildfires are burning into and around them. Fire managers increasingly use these previous burns as treatments that either stop or slow fire spread. The interaction of past and current wildfires has important management and ecological consequences.

Click here for accompanying “Past meets the present” write up containing more detail.


January 16, 2013: Temperature as a driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality

Presenter: Park Williams, Los Alamos National Laboratory Dr. Williams will discuss his recent work to derive a forest drought-stress index (FDSI) for the southwestern United States using a comprehensive tree-ring data set representing AD 1000–2007. This FDSI is linked to measures of forest productivity, mortality, bark-beetle outbreak and wildfire. If climate models are accurate, the …

December 9, 2012: Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior for Fire Managers

Presenter: Paul Werth Extreme fire behavior indicates a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes methods of direct control action. One or more of the following is usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning/spotting, presence of fire whirls, and strong convection column. This webinar will summarize the recent JFSP publication  that connects the …

November 2012: New Mexico Rx Fire Council

We hosted a one day joint meeting and field trip for the New Mexico Prescribed Fire Council and the New Mexico Interagency Coordinating Group to help bridge the role of the two groups and create an opportunity for sharing of information and building contacts. On the field trip, we took the group to the Chupadera …

November 2013: Living with Fire in Northern New Mexico: Fire, Forests and Communities

This was an interactive workshop with regional scientists and land managers, breakout sessions that allowed for open dialogue with participants and presenters, and time for one on one with presenters and others. Topics covered: The ecology of forests and fire of Northern New Mexico Current conditions in our forests and Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) communities …

November 14, 2012: Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Effects of Fire on Cultural Resources

Presenter: Kevin Ryan This webinar provided an introduction to the new edition of the Rainbow series that provides fire and land management professionals and policy makers with a greater understanding of the value of cultural resource protection and the methods available to evaluate and mitigate risks to cultural resources. Watch the webinar recording.

November 8-9, 2012: Horseshoe Two Fire

The Horseshoe Two Fire began on May 8, 2011 on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona and burned northeast into the Chiricahua National Monument. The topics covered on this field trip included landscape scale fire management, fire effects, operations, impacts on wildlife, post-fire rehabilitation efforts, and treatment effectiveness. Day one covered …

October 24, 2012: Whitewater-Baldy Complex

We hosted a one day field trip to explore New Mexico’s largest wildfire*, the Whitewater Baldy Complex, that burned 297,845 acres (465 square miles) on the Gila National Forest during the extremely dry and windy spring of 2012. The tour discussed the fire regimes of the fuel types that burned, the interaction of past fires …

October 17, 2012: Economics of Ecological Restoration and Hazardous Fuel Reduction Treatments

Presenter: Yeon-Su Kim (Northern Arizona University) and Diane Vosick (Ecological Restoration Institute) What are the economic values of landscape-level ecological restoration and hazardous fuel treatments?  The Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University (ERI) assembled a team of wildland fire economists to conduct a rapid evidence-based assessment, as well as to design a timely and efficient …