Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
Northeast Region
Pagami Creek Fire, Superior NF, Minnesota, September 2011. (Photo: Kari Greer)
Resilient Landscapes - Fire-Adapted Communities - Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
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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
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Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy Key Contacts
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Chair
New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands 172 Pembroke Road PO Box 1856 Concord, NH 03302-1856 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
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June 2016
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Good Neighbor Authority in Action in Wisconsin
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May 26, 2016
[Editor's Note: This project is an excellent example of how Cohesive Strategy Goal 1 is being met in the Northeast. Regional Option 1c focuses on mitigating event-created fuels to reduce risk of unwanted wildfire. Even though it wasn't the primary objective for this project, landscape restoration is being achieved by Cohesive Strategy partners using a new tool to get the work done in a more efficient manner.]
An agreement gained by Gov. Scott Walker's administration to facilitate forestry management and watershed work in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is being put into action with the first timber cut and salvage operation now underway in the 1.5 million-acre forest.
As part of the Good Neighbor Authority agreement between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin is pioneering the expanded authority granted by Congress that allows states across the country to build on the work being accomplished by the U.S. Forest Service. The agreement, which includes expanded forest-management and watershed-restoration activities on federal lands, promises to support jobs while improving wildlife habitat and water quality.
Read the full Good Neighbor Authority article.
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National Leaders Meet and Commit to Cohesive Strategy
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May 23, 2016
(Photos: Shawn Stokes)
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell led a discussion last week with federal firefighting agencies at the White House regarding the increasing danger to communities in wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas as fire seasons become hotter, drier and longer. Jewell also highlighted the need for greater collaborative action to enhance community resilience against these risks and strengthen federal firefighter safety and preparedness. In her remarks Secretary Jewell emphasized the importance of cooperative relationships and collaboration at all levels to mitigate wildfire risk, increase firefighter safety and identify further policy actions needed to enhance community resilience within the WUI. She added that the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy provides a strategic roadmap for working together - across federal, tribal, state and local governments and with non-governmental organization (NGO) partners - to manage fire-prone lands; protect the nation's natural, tribal and cultural resources; and make communities safe and resilient for future generations. Read the full national leadership meeting blog post.
From National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, Western Region Blog
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A Different Approach to Our Wildfire Message
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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (Photo: Matt Frank)
Gloria Erickson, Matt Frank
May 24, 2016
Is there a different way to reach out to people when relaying our wildfire message - a more personalized message, a message that tells a story, a message that doesn't come from a "fire expert"? How do we get people to "own it," to see their role in helping their communities be more resilient to wildfire?
These are the questions I had been asking myself when I came up with this "crazy" idea to do an art exhibition about the concept of living with wildfire. The idea stemmed from multiple community-oriented purposes - personalizing our relationship with wildfire, creating a venue for local artists to display and sell their artworks, and increasing traffic for local business owners where the artwork will be displayed. I was also inspired by the community-based wildfire art project that our [Fire Adapted Communities] partners in Flagstaff -- the Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership -- conducted in previous years.
In Ely, Minnesota the Donald G. Gardner Trust Fund annually offers an artistic project grant that benefits our community. My idea was a little out of the box, but with the assistance of my colleagues at Dovetail Partners, our proposal was accepted and we received a grant to do an art exhibition called "Living with Wildfire." The exhibit seeks to highlight experiences and reflections about wildfire from residents' perspectives through two- and three-dimensional artworks.
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PRESCRIBED FIRE |
News on Prescribed Fire Activity Across the Northeast Region
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Game Commission Uses Prescribed Burns to Help Control Forest
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Kent Jackson, Staff Writer
May 29, 2016
Crewmen from the Pennsylvania Game Commission took a calculated risk when setting a forest on fire.
Unlike the wildfire that drove 80,000 people from their homes this month in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the crewmen lit a controlled burn in Lackawanna County on May 11.
Months before the crewmen touched off the woods with drip torches that spray fire, a bulldozer scraped a fire line around the burn site on State Game Lands 135 in Thornhurst, about two miles northeast of Bear Lake and three miles east of the Luzerne County border.
A plan written a month before for the fire contains page after page of precautions, water sources, escape routes and weather conditions required before starting the fire.
On the morning of the controlled burn, the crew waited 3½ hours for the humidity to increase before they put torches to tinder.
Read the full Pennsylvania Game Commission prescribed burn article.
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The Right Prescription: Why Prescribed Burning Can Be a Critical Tool in Many WUI Communities
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(Photo: Getty Images )
Lucian Deaton
May 2, 2016
In March, an article in the
Albuquerque Journal offered a good illustration of the debate around prescribed burning. Under the headline "
A burning question facing our forests," the article proceeded to outline a local tug-of-war that is playing out in one form or another in communities across the country.
In this case, the flare-up was in Santa Fe, where the city council had recently approved a plan that included prescribed burning to restore and maintain the city's municipal watershed. These issues are closely linked because destructive wildfires that remove forests and their canopies can lead to soil erosion, flooding, and water-quality problems. Opponents of the plan claimed prescribed burns do more harm than good to wildlands and lead to air-quality issues and increased carbon release into the atmosphere, hastening climate change.
Lucian Deaton manages the Firewise Communities and Fire Adapted Communities Programs in NFPA's Wildland Fire Operations Division.
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Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior Volume 2
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Firescience.gov Friday Flash eNews -- Issue 149
May 13, 2016
The objective of this project is to synthesize existing extreme fire behavior knowledge in a way that connects the weather, fuel, and topographic factors that contribute to development of extreme fire behavior. This synthesis focuses on the state of the science but also considers how that science is currently presented to the fire management community, including incident commanders, fire behavior analysts, incident meteorologists, National Weather Service office forecasters, and firefighters. The synthesis seeks to delineate the known, the unknown, and areas of research with the greatest potential impact on firefighter protection.
View this publication.
View Volume 1 of Extreme Fire Behavior.
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Risk Management: Core Principles and Practices, and Their Relevance to Wildland Fire
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5th Year Recruiting for FireCorps at Cape Cod National Seashore
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Application Deadline: June 22, 2016
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A Special July Webinar
Finding the Best Science Available on Fire Ecology and Fire Regimes in Eastern Ecosystems
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July 27, 2016
1 PM ET/ 12 PM CT/ 11 PM MT
Robin Innes and Ilana Abrahamson
U.S. Forest Service
Join us for our next Webinar in cooperation with the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange and Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists highlighting the new fire features of the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS).
Managers and planners need scientifically sound information on historical fire regimes and contemporary changes in fuels and fire regimes to make informed management decisions. To address this need, two new fire regime publications--Fire Regime Reports and Fire Regime Syntheses--are now available and spatially searchable in the recently updated user interface for the FEIS.
Source: Lake States Fire Science Consortium, April 2016 Newsletter
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Conferences, Meetings, and Training Opportunities
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--Regional--
50th Annual Northeast Forest Fire Supervisors Committee Meeting
Fifty Years of Northeastern Fire Management
June 20-24, 2016
King of Prussia, PA
Radisson Valley Forge
Normal, IL Illinois State University Is hosting this conference with presentations on prairie ecology, restoration, management, and some innovative ideas on working lands.
An Instructional, Practical and Pragmatic Approach to Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation December 6-8, 2016 Mystic, CT Contact your state or provincial forest fire prevention specialist in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic.
--National--
Beyond Hazard Fuels: Managing Fire for Social, Economic, and Ecological Benefits November 28 - December 2, 2016
Tucson, AZ Now Accepting Submissions for Special Sessions, Workshops and Trainings,
and
Attached Meetings
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Call for oral and poster presentation abstract submissions opened April 1. Early Bird Registration opens June 1. Save-the-Date: 7th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress November 28 - December 2, 2017
Orlando, FL
Buena Vista Palace Spa and Hotel
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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?
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