Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy

Northeast Region
Plymouth, MA Fire Dept.
A firefighter from Plymouth, MA, uses a drip torch to ignite grasses in a prescribed fire.    
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
Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy Key Contacts
Chair

New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands

172 Pembroke Road

PO Box 1856

Concord, NH 03302-1856

 

Terry Gallagher

Technical Working Group Lead

U.S. Forest Service Eastern Region

 

Maureen Brooks

Communications Working Group Lead

U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF

 

Larry Mastic

Coordinator, Northeast Region

Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy

Important Links

Forest Fire Compacts





Quick Links



Science and Joint Fire Science Consortiums & Exchanges






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January 2016
2015 National Prescribed Fire Use Survey Report Available 
National Association of State Foresters logo and Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils, Inc., logo.
"In an effort to gain better knowledge of prescribed fire use in the United States, the National Association of State Foresters and the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils partnered to conduct and produce the 2015 National Prescribed Fire Use Survey Report. This report is the second of its kind, and is based on the responses from all 50 state forestry agencies. It outlines national and regional prescribed fire activity and state prescribed fire programs, and identifies impediments limiting the use of prescribed fire. The results include all federal, state, and private prescribed fire acres for forestry, rangeland, and agricultural burning that occurred in 2014."
[Excerpted from the Executive Summary]

To read this national prescribed fire use survey report, click here. 2015 National Prescribed Fire Use Survey Report cover that includes a line drawing of a wildland firefighter carrying a drip torch.


















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Wildfire Mitigation and Assistance through USDA-NRCS
Bill Brash, New Jersey Fire Safety Council

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is a USDA agency that works with private landowners and others to provide technical and financial assistance for conservation practices that include forestry activities. NRCS is a federal agency that works with landowners in all 50 states, as well as US protectorates like Guam and Puerto Rico.

NRCS has been assisting farmers (they call them producers) with natural resource planning and cost-share funding to improve the water, land, plants, air and animals for more than 75 years. They can provide planning and conservation payments for practices that reduce wildfire risk like thinning, fuel break construction and prescribed burning. Who knew?

NRCS has a number of financial assistance programs, but only one, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), provides assistance for forestry related resource concerns.

Read the full NRCS wildfire mitigation and assistance article on the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Web site.   

Logo Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network.   
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New Quick Guides Available to Help Increase Community Fire Adaptation
Molly Mowery, December 3, 2015

The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is happy to release its latest set of quick guides focused on using plans and regulations to increase community fire adaptation. This four-part series highlights opportunities to integrate wildfire into planning and regulatory approaches, shares insights on how each approach works and where they apply, and provides tips on how these approaches may complement other fire adapted community strategies.

Quick Guide 3.0 provides an overview, introducing the reader to the differences between plans and regulations and offering a set of helpful resources. Quick Guide 3.1 focuses on planning, highlighting a three-step process to identify and increase linkages between wildfire topics and planning documents. Quick Guide 3.2 builds off 3.1 by discussing how plans get implemented through regulations, and offers additional steps to move through this process. Finally, Quick Guide 3.3 shares a range of community examples, including sample policies or regulatory language and followup links for additional learning.

These quick guides are meant to empower practitioners seeking additional guidance, insights, and examples to start or continue community wildfire planning efforts. Let us know what you think and whether you have additional community examples we should reference in the future!

Illustration of a neighborhood with surrounding vegetation.
The latest quick guide series provides Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) practitioners with practical guidance on using planning and regulatory approaches to strengthen wildfire resilience activities. (Photo Credit: Alabama Community Planning, Auburn University Digital Library, Darell Meyer, Director of Planning and Landscape Architecture; KPS Group, http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/communityplans/#3)
 

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Wildfire Mitigation Activities in the Wildland-Urban Interface
A Joint Fire Science Program-funded project produced by the Forest Stewards Guild

While not based in the Northeast, this recent report contains many applicable insights that are shared from assessed wildfire mitigation activities in the wildland-urban interface of New Mexico to identify which strategies are most effective.
Report cover for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Wildfire Mitigation Activities in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Its photos include a smoky, hazy shot of the sun through trees, fire crews with pickup trucks, and two people talking in the woods.

Source: Firescience.gov Friday Flash eNews Issue 137  
December 4, 2015 

Wildland-Urban Interface Focus: Smoke Management
Smoke rises into the air and blocks out the sun.
Photo: Melanie Maghirang
Click here to check out the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange (NAFSE) December research brief highlighting an informative report that came out of the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station: Managing smoke at the wildland-urban interface by Dale Wade and Hugh Mobley. This paper provides a template for sound decisions regarding smoke management in the wildland-urban interface..

Research briefs brought to you by NAFSE. These "quick read" one- to two-page documents highlight all types of fire science research relevant to the North Atlantic region.
Research Brief for Resource Managers banner for December 2015.   
New Financial Aid and Scholarship Resources Guide for Fire Education Available
A great new resource has just been released by FireScience.org: the Fire and Forestry Scholarships and Financial Aid guidebook.

This guide was created to let students know what resources are available for them in pursuing their education. Some of the highlights from this guide include:
*    Fire science scholarships
*    Where to find grants and loans
*    Benefits of pursuing degrees in fire science

Fire and Forestry Scholarships and Financial Aid banner.
Source: Angela Hanners, Director of Communications, FireScience.org
  
The Smokey Generation: A Wildland Fire Oral History and Digital Storytelling Project
[Many of you who are, or have served as, wildland fire fighters will enjoy this Web site developed by Bethany Hannah. - Ed.]

The Smokey Generation logo. The words that encircle a drawing of a green tree with flames coming out of its branches include The Smokey Generation A Wildland Fire Oral History Project.
The Smokey Generation is a Web site dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the stories and oral history of wildland fire.

"The story of wildland fire has been told in numerous forums and formats. It is told through the history of our land management policies, commencing when the nation transitioned from indigenous fire use practices to colonial burning for land clearing. It's told through the media, with seasonal coverage often shrouded in hype mixed with facts. It's told through the rings of trees, marking cyclic fire regimes in circular regularity. It's also told by those living in fire-prone ecosystems, in the creation of defensible space around their homes. What I find interesting is that the story of wildland fire has its own vernacular -- formed in the same way fire burns, with a beautiful complexity and frank purpose; it responds to its setting and creates change as it develops. The Smokey Generation is a project that is rooted in understanding and examining that vernacular through the collection, preservation, and sharing of stories about wildland fire by wildland firefighters themselves. It's a project that values the history of fire and of firefighters. And, at its core, it's a project designed to get us talking about the importance of fire in the environment.

Please enjoy and thanks for your support!" 
  Bethany Hannah signature.
    
New Wildland/Urban Interface Report Available
Wildland/Urban Interface: Fire Department Wildfire Preparedness and Readiness Capabilities

Hylton Haynes, M.S., NFPA; Angela Garcia, Ph.D.; Rachel Madsen, Ph.D. Candidate  November 2015

Executive Summary 
Wildland and wildland/urban interface fires are a major problem in many parts of the country, and are increasing in frequency. These fires typically require more resources in terms of personnel and equipment than any one department has available, and so by their nature require cooperation and coordination between multiple departments, agencies, and organizations. Historically fire departments have focused primarily on fire suppression/control responsibilities, however increasingly the need for greater effort in wildfire risk reduction is becoming important. This report, based on 46 fire chief and senior line officer interviews, describes how some fire departments are addressing the wildfire peril and making the transition to becoming better prepared and ready to control and mitigate a wildfire incident in their communities. For some departments these conditions require only minor adjustments in their organization, procedures, and activities, while for other departments a major shift in outlook and approach may be required. 

Download the wildland/urban interface report.

Bar graph of the percentage of organizations and stakeholders whose fire department has mutual aid cooperative agreements and conducts mutual training.
Percentage of fire departments interviewed that have mutual aid cooperative fire response agreements and do fire response mutual training like classroom and simulation exercises with other organizations. 
   Source: NFPA

Conferences, Meetings, and Training Opportunities


The Incident Management Section Chiefs Academy
Sponsored by the Great Lakes Forest Fire Compact. This course is coordinated through the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center and provides all-hazards Incident Command System training competencies and behaviors.
February 1-5, 2016

Multiple IC training courses are offered at this meeting - see link above for details.
Deadline for submitting the names of candidates is January 20, 2016.
February 22-26, 2016
Best Western Merry Manor Inn
South Portland, ME

Midwest Wildfire Training Academy
Sponsored in cooperation with the Big Rivers Forest Fire Management Compact and the U.S. Forest Service
June 3-7, 2016
Jefferson City, MO
Held in conjunction with the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute's Annual Summer Fire School.
Registration Opens February 9, 2016 @ www.mufrti.org

Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy
Sponsored in cooperation with the Middle Atlantic Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact, U.S. Forest Service, and West Virginia University
June 4-10, 2016
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV
Registration will be open soon @ www.mawfta.com

Conferences and Meetings


--Regional--
 
January 24-27, 2016 
Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
Grand Rapids, MI

2016 Winter Training/Awareness Meeting of the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact
January 25-29, 2016
Best Western Merry Manor Inn
South Portland, ME

Burning Issues III Symposium: How do we integrate competing wildland fire objectives in land management and restoration?
February 2-3, 2016
A Symposium hosted by: MI National Guard, Michigan Prescribed Fire Council, Lake States Fire Science Consortium, and Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium
Fort Custer National Training Center, Augusta, MI
Registration information

--National--

2016 Wildland Urban Interface Conference
March 8-10, 2016
Peppermill Resort
Reno, NV
Online Registration and Hotel Information

5th International Fire Behavior & Fuels Conference
Wicked Problems, New Solutions: Our Fire, Our Problem
April 11-16, 2016
Held concurrently in Portland, OR, and Melbourne, Australia

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 | creger@fs.fed.us | http://www.na.fs.fed.us
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