Series of 4 images that show a range of forest health.

Wildfire and Climate Change Adaptation

IN A NUTSHELL Experts tell the story of forest change since colonization, and share insights and answer questions about how we might steward a legacy of forest change and mitigate climate change impacts. Description: Climate change and wildfires pose an existential threat to western North American forests, a reality which necessitates place-based strategies to increase …

A fire burns in the forest at night.

Nighttime Fire

Presenter: Patrick H Freeborn, PhD, Research Physical Scientist with the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station Date: December 6, 2022 at 12 MDT Wildfire activity typically subsides sufficiently enough at night to provide firefighters with opportunities to rest and recover. However, nighttime fire operations are not uncommon. Whilst favorable conditions may enable better fire management progress, …

Vegetation Type Conversion

Presenter: Christopher H. Guiterman, Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Date: September 21, 2022 at 12:00pm AZ / 1:00pm MDT Ecosystems of the Western United States are experiencing vegetation type conversions (VTC) in response to …

Post-Fire Logging

Presenter: Camille Stevens-Rumann, Assistant Professor of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University Date: August 31, 2022 at 12:00pm AZ / 1:00pm MDT Following a wildfire, successful tree regeneration is mediated by multiple factors, from the microsite to landscape scale. This presentation demonstrates the importance of microsite conditions such as soil moisture and temperature …

Wildfire, Human Health, and Environmental Justice

Presenters: Savannah D’Evelyn, Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Washington, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Ed Smith, Terrestrial forest Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy’s California Program. Date: July 19, 2022 11am AZ / 12pm MDT Increasing wildfire size and severity across the western United States has created an environmental and social crisis …

A large lake surrounded by a pine forest, beneath a blue sky.

Protecting Denver’s Water Supply

Presenter: Dr. Kelly Jones, Associate Professor of Ecological Economics with Colorado State University, Human Dimensions of Natural ResourcesDate: June 22, 2022 11am AZ/12pm MDT Collaboratively-funded fuel treatments are becoming more common in the western U.S. to proactively address wildfire impacts. Water utilities often play an important role in these collaborations and are motivated by the …

Outdoor Recreation & Wildfire

Date: May 10, 2022 11am AZ/12pm MDTPresenter: Adam Benefield, CTC Technology and Energy Federally owned public lands, originally designated to properly manage natural resources, are prone to wildfire in the southern Rocky Mountains, a risk which has increased as a result of environmental conditions and historical land management. Outdoor recreation has become increasingly prevalent since …

Group of people wearing hard hats standing in a green forest.

Collective Action for Wildfire Risk Reduction

Date: April 19, 2022 11am AZ/12pm MDTPresenter: Dr. Susan Charnley, Pacific Northwest Research Station Over the past decade, government policies and programs to incentivize “all-lands approaches” to reducing wildfire risk have emerged that call for collective action among diverse public, private, and Tribal landowners who share fire-prone landscapes. This presentation draws on research from Oregon …

Surface fire showing rising smoke among trees, coming up from a small ground fire. The ground is a mix of charred earth and grass.

Managed Wildfire

Date: March 23, 2022 11am AZ/12pm Mountain DaylightPresenters: Stephen D. Fillmore, PhD Student, University of Idaho, Dr. Sarah McCaffrey To improve understanding of the managed wildfire decision-making process on federal lands (USA), we conducted a mixed methods review of the existing literature. The review was published in September, 2021 in the journal Fire. The review …