In a Nutshell: Learn more about how to use LANDFIRE. We’ll use the 2022 Cook’s Fire as a case study. Description: A practitioner-oriented overview of LANDFIRE with a focus on fuels and how they react to modeling techniques. The subject area of discussion will be the 2022 Cooks Peak fire located in northern New Mexico. This webinar will …
Read more “Overview and Verification of LANDFIRE Fuels: 2022 Cooks Peak Fire “
In a nutshell: Can prescribed fire reduce future smoke impacts? Research on how targeted prescribed burn treatments in heavily forested Western states may have an outsized impact on improving air quality for the entire western U.S. by reducing the likelihood of future wildfire smoke. Description: Catastrophic wildfires in the western United States pose significant risks …
Read more “Prescribed Burns as a Tool to Mitigate Future Wildfire Smoke Exposure”
IN A NUTSHELL: In the second webinar in a series on invasive grass-driven changes in dry desert systems, presenters will discuss their findings on the fire dynamics of the 2020 Bighorn Fire in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson, AZ to better understand the changing nature of fire in desert systems which are increasingly experiencing conversion …
Read more “Grassification and Fast-Evolving Fire Connectivity and Risk in the Sonoran Desert”
IN A NUTSHELLA panel of researchers and managers discusses the impact of non-native invasive grasses on dry desert systems and various methods to remove, monitor, or slow their spread. The fire regime of dry desert systems, such as the Sonoran, historically consisted of infrequent, low intensity, size-limited fires. Native grasses and other vegetation, which grow …
Read more “Monitoring and Removal of Invasive Grasses for Restoration of Dry Desert Systems”
In a nutshell: Tips for planting trees after severe fire in the Southwest, we learn how microclimates, nurse plants, and biochar impact survival of seedlings. We also learn how these techniques can be scaled-up to improve replanting efforts across an entire landscape. Description: Across the southwestern United States, high-severity wildfire is resulting in increasingly large …
Read more “Increasing Post-Wildfire Planted Seedling Survival”
Description: Join the SWFSC for a webinar reviewing last year’s fires and looking ahead toward fire conditions for this year. Dr. Zander Evans will present an overview of the 10 largest fires in the Southwest during 2022. He will share summaries of forest types and burn severities for each of the 10 fires. Rich Naden, …
Read more “Fire in the Southwest, Past and Present – Fire Season 2022 Overview and 2023 Outlook”
Description: The greater Flagstaff area in northern Arizona has experienced multiple wildfires in recent years that have resulted in post-wildfire flooding. These events galvanized collaborative efforts to reduce hazardous fuels on steep slopes and implement flood mitigation improvements around the city and in the municipal watershed. In this presentation, the 2019 Museum Fire provides a …
Description: The topic of “managed wildfire” is mired in complexity, starting with what to call it. This fire management approach has been known as “prescribed natural fire,” “wildland fire use,” “resource objective fire,” and more. All names refer to the same essential idea: leveraging natural ignitions to safely reintroduce wildfire to landscapes that evolved with it …
Date: Thursday, March 30 at 10am Mountain Time/ 9am Arizona Time Description: Uncharacteristically severe and frequent wildfires represent a significant threat to populations of two amphibian species of conservation concern in New Mexico: the Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus; Federal Endangered) and the Sacramento Mountain salamander (Aneides hardii; State Threatened). Both species are endemic relicts of past glacial events whose populations remain perched …
Read more “Fires, forest management, and the future of New Mexico’s endemic salamanders”
Description: Smoke from wildfires is a well-recognized public health and safety issue. While there have been extensive efforts to help communities be “smoke ready”, most people would still prefer not to live with weeks of unhealthy air quality during the summer and fall. This webinar will address what could be done to reduce the amount …