Save the date! On June 16th, 2022, NRFSN will be hosting in-person field trips in two locations with partners from the Bureau of Land Management Missoula Field Office and the Flathead National Forest. The field trips will focus on the planning, implementation, and fire effects of prescribed burning in forests with mixed- or high-severity fire regimes. After a two-year hiatus from in-person events, we look forward to bringing researchers and managers together on the ground to share knowledge on this topic. 

Participants can choose to attend the field trip in the Blackfoot watershed east of Missoula, MT, or the Good Creek drainage north of Whitefish, MT. Details and registration will be posted on our website in the near future and an announcement will be sent to your inbox when registration opens. In the meantime, mark your calendars.

Understanding what makes people vulnerable to wildfire

Researchers from various disciplines at the University of Idaho, Washington State University, University of California Merced, and the US Forest Service came together in FireEarth, a National Science Foundation-funded project that aimed to improve our understanding of wildfire vulnerability so that communities can build resilience to future wildfires. In addition to dozens of peer-reviewed publications, the FireEarth team tells their story and the highlights of their research through a story map and a series of science briefs that explore different dimensions of vulnerability to wildfire. These FireEarth briefs share findings on:

• The drivers of vulnerability and resilience of landscapes to wildfire and its impacts, and how climate change is affecting them (FireEarth Briefs 1, 4, 10, 14 and 15);
   
• The factors affecting the vulnerability of communities to wildfires, effective wildfire management and response (FireEarth Briefs 2, 3 and 5);
   
• How impacts are dependent on fire intensity and pre-fire management, and the resulting effects on vegetation and soils (FireEarth Briefs 6, 8, 11, 12, 13);
   
• Perspectives on different approaches to wildfire management and response (FireEarth Briefs 7 and 9).

The FireEarth story map and science briefs are available on Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture website and in the NRFSN publications and recorded media databases.

The newly released Story Map Understanding Post-fire Tree Mortality: Resources & Research compiles information about post-fire tree mortality based on past and current research efforts at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. It is divided into five main sections that provide basic information on how fires kills trees, how to predict post-fire tree mortality, a database of tree mortality records after fire, model accuracy, and decision support.

The International Association of Wildland Fire is hosting the Fire and Climate Conference in Pasadena, CA, May 23-27. Fire and Climate 2022 will bring attention to one of the most important forces shaping wildfire and better prepare how we can focus and respond to this formidable challenge in the new decade. For more information and to register visit the conference webpage.
 

The Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) is accepting proposals for virtual or in-person presentations for the Fire Across Boundaries Conference, October 4-7, 2022, in Florence, Italy. Visit the conference website to submit a proposal by June 15, 2022.

The conference will focus on connecting fire ecology research and management across geographic and disciplinary boundaries. It will cover a wide range of topics to address the main challenges of wildfires in the era of climate change with the perspective of fire ecology.