Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
Northeast Region
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
|
|
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 |
Forest Fire Compacts
Quick Links
Science and Joint Fire Science Consortiums & Exchanges
Social Media
|
|
|
|
January 2016
|
2015 National Prescribed Fire Use Survey Report Available
|
"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.
Back to Top
|
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.
Back to Top
|
New Quick Guides Available to Help Increase Community Fire Adaptation
|
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!
|
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)
|
Back to Top
|
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.
Source: Firescience.gov Friday Flash eNews Issue 137
December 4, 2015
|
Wildland-Urban Interface Focus: Smoke Management
|
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.
|
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
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 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!"
|
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.
|
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.
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
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?
|
|
|
|
|