United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

General Technical

Report RMRS-GTR-187

May 2007

Accomplishing

and Applying

National Fire Plan

Research and Development

From 2001-2005

A Summary of Critical Fire 

Research Findings and New Tool 

Developments in Four Key Areas:

v Firefighting Capacity

v Rehabilitation and Restoration

v Hazardous Fuel Reduction

v Community Assistance

National Fire Plan research is working with fire managers to 

improve fire management through tools and models developed 

to predict activities such as: wildfire behavior, intensity, 

and effects; smoke transport; and fire-weather forecasting. 

Results of this research are helping managers and national 

forest personnel to: fight fires efficiently, increase firefighter 

safety, plan and conduct prescribed burns, and reduce wildfire 

damage to natural resources and society.
Baldwin V. Clark, Jr., ed. 2007. Accomplishing and applying National Fire Plan research and development from 

2001–2005. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-187. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain 

Research Station. 46 p.

Abstract

This report highlights selected accomplishments achieved by USDA Forest Service National Fire Plan Research 

and Development projects from 2001 through 2006. The projects highlighted here are examples of the broad range 

of knowledge and tools developed by the National Fire Plan Research and Development, beginning in 2001.

Author

V. Clark Baldwin, Jr. is the retired National Program Leader for Silviculture Research, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington Office.

You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing 

information in label form through one of the following media. Please specify 

the publication title and number.

Publishing Services

Telephone (970) 498-1392

FAX (970) 498-1122

E-mail rschneider@fs.fed.us

Web site http://www.fs.fed.us/rm

Mailing Address Publications Distribution

Rocky Mountain Research Station

240 West Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

Photo Credits:

Cover Page: Top – Eli Lehmann, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest; Bottom – 

Kari Greer, National Interagency Fire Center. Introduction chapter, page 4: Jed Conklin, 

Spokane Spokesman Review newspaper. All of these photos courtesy Fire Management 

Today magazine. All other photos in this report—accompanying the project summaries—

were provided by the individual research scientists.
Accomplishing and Applying

National Fire Plan Research and Development

From 2001-2005

A Summary of Critical Fire Research Findings

and New Tool Developments in Four Key Areas

“The decision support tools that you are working on regarding fire, fuels, and 

aquatic resources are exactly what forest managers are looking for to make 

better decisions and to identify both short- and long-term benefits 

and risks... Your research is making forest managers think before just 

going out and treating vegetation and fuels—so that we are able 

to answer the vital questions like: Why here? Why now?”

John Thornton, Forest Hydrologist

Boise National Forest

Commenting on Rocky Mountain Research Scientists Bruce Rieman, Charlie Luce, 

and Kerry Overton’s National Fire Plan Research and Development findings on 

fire’s role in aquatic ecosystems within northern Rocky Mountain streams.

Contents

I. Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

III. Summary Accomplishments in the Four Key Research 

and Development Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

 1. Firefighting Capacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

 2. Rehabilitation and Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

 3. Hazardous Fuel Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

 4. Community Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

IV. Continuing Our Successes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Acknowledgments

The Forest Service National Fire Plan Team Leaders featured in this report were 

the primary authors of this publication. We thank all of these people—and their 

research teams—for the research projects summarized here. Clark Baldwin compiled, 

reviewed and edited text to produce the final document. Substantial writing, editing, 

and technical fire science expertise contributions were also made by Susan Conard, 

Michael Hilbruner, and Paul Keller. We thank Nancy Chadwick for design and layout 

and Lane Eskew for overall document editing. 

National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



I. Background

This report highlights selected 

accomplishments achieved by USDA 

Forest Service National Fire Plan 

Research and Development projects 

beginning in 2001. These highlights 

are illustrative of the broad range of 

knowledge and tools developed by 

the National Fire Plan Research and 

Development.

Today, the National Fire Plan—initiated 

in great part in response to the devastating 

2000 fire season—continues to support 

these vital fire management and fire 

research activities for the benefit of land 

managers and policymakers in their 

ongoing stewardship of our public lands.

These fire research activities benefit land 

managers and policymakers in their ongoing 

stewardship of our public lands.

Our country’s recent severe fire 

seasons—and the potential for 

more—have reinforced this 

essential need for:

v An aggressive and coordinated 

management response;

v The science needed to support this 

response; and

v More knowledge regarding fuel 

conditions that predispose landscapes to large, uncharacteristically 

destructive wildfires.

National Fire Plan Research 

Projects Occur in All 50 States

National Fire Plan-funded research 

and development work continues to be 

conducted in all 50 states. Forest Service 

research scientists continue their work to:

v Establish new agreements with 

universities and other research 

partners;

v Produce decision-analysis tools;

v Provide training; and

v Transfer new information and 

technologies to managers, 

policymakers, and the public 

through web sites, field tours, 

presentations, and other means.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



National Fire Plan Continues to Support Wildland Fire Management

The National Fire Plan, developed in August 2000 in response to escalating wildland fire—

especially the landmark 2000 fire season—continues to address and respond to severe wildland 

fires and their impacts on communities and resources, while simultaneously ensuring sufficient 

firefighting capacity for the future.

To most effectively accomplish this necessary original purpose and objective, the National Fire 

Plan continues to address four key significant areas:

1. Firefighting Capacity, 3. Hazardous Fuel Reduction,

2. Rehabilitation and Restoration, 4. Community Assistance and

 Accountability. 

At the completion of its fifth year, the National Fire Plan is providing invaluable technical, 

financial, and resource guidance and support for wildland fire management across the United States 

by:

1. Assuring that necessary firefighting large, severe fires) across this

 resources and personnel are available country’s forests and rangelands;

 to respond to wildland fires that

 threaten lives and property; 4. Providing assistance to communities

 that have been—or could be—

2. Conducting emergency stabilization threatened by wildland fire; and

 and rehabilitation activities on

 landscapes and communities affected 5. Committing to the Wildland Fire

 by wildland fire; Leadership Council, an executive-

 level interagency team created to set

3. Reducing hazardous fuels (dry brush and maintain high standards for

 and trees that have accumulated and wildland fire management on public

 increase the likelihood of unusually lands.

A Wide Spectrum of Research Products and Accomplishments

The Forest Service’s National Fire Plan Research and Development Program—initiated in 

2001—continues to meet this program’s original goals and objectives by exhibiting a wide spectrum 

of research products and accomplishments. This report highlights an array of these science-based 

projects—summarizing their tools and vital new knowledge—that Forest Service research scientists 

are providing land managers and policymakers. As illustrated in specific detail in this report, 

these researchers’ efforts are leading to improvements in firefighter capabilities and capacities, 

rehabilitating and restoring ecosystems, reducing hazardous fuels, and assisting communities.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



Firefighting Capacity

Provide better models of 

weather, fire behavior, smoke 

and other tools for improving 

firefighter decisions.

Rehabilitation and Restoration

Provide rapid response information 

and models to help restore 

landscapes and protect communities 

from the aftereffects of fire.

Forest Service Fire Research Addresses Crucial Needs in 

the Four Key National Fire Plan Focus Areas

Guided by the strategic goals outlined in the National Fire Plan and the 10-year 

Comprehensive Strategy and Implementation Plan, fire research continues to actively 

address crucial needs in these four key areas:

Hazardous Fuel Reduction

Develop improved analysis tools for 

determining the effects and economic 

tradeoffs of treatments intended 

to reduce fire risk by removing 

hazardous fuels (combustible forest 

materials).

Community Assistance

Work with communities to understand 

their needs and priorities, develop 

new approaches and materials for 

education, and recommend acceptable 

approaches to ensure adequate 

community protection from wildfire. 

Fire Research Provides: Significant New Information, Products, and Tools

As discussed in this report, significant new information, products, and tools from Forest 

Service Fire Research projects are helping:

v	Communities—as well as individual 

homeowners—to better understand 

what actions can be taken to reduce 

wildland fire risk.

v	Wilderness managers better predict 

where to allow fires to burn naturally 

without causing severe ecosystem 

damage or hazard to communities.

v	Aquatic biologists build our 

understanding of the impacts of fire 

and fuel treatments on aquatic systems 

and fish populations.

v	Managers to better determine the short 

and long-term benefits and risks of 

fuel treatments on ecosystems, and 

aquatic and air resources. 
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



This report’s National Fire Plan research project summaries illustrate the science-based 

knowledge and tools that are being provided to this country’s land managers.

II. Introduction

As illustrated in this report’s research project 

summaries, science-based knowledge and 

tools developed by National Fire Plan 

Research and Development are being used 

by this country’s land managers to:

v	Better predict potential fire hazard, 

fire growth, and smoke impacts;

v	Evaluate fire behavior 

and fire severity more 

accurately and rapidly;

v	Improve planning for 

post-fire rehabilitation;

v	Better understand 

the effects of fuel 

treatments on fire 

behavior; and

v	Evaluate the economic 

costs and benefits of 

fuel treatments and 

alternative forest 

products.

This new National Fire 

Plan-generated research 

information and associated 

tools also help our:

v	Communities and 

homeowners better 

understand what can be 

done to reduce wildland 

fire risk,

v	Wildland managers 

understand how to 

best work with these 

communities in 

collaborative planning 

efforts,

v	Wilderness managers 

to better predict where 

fires can be allowed 

to burn naturally 

without causing severe 

ecosystem damage or 

hazards to communities, 

and

v	Scientists better 

understand the impacts 

of fire and fuel 

treatments on aquatic 

systems and fish 

populations.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



III. Summary Accomplishments 

in the Four Key Research 

and Development Areas
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



Section One

Firefighting Capacity

Highlight Projects

Firefighting Capacity

Accomplishments

1.

Fire Consortia for Advanced Modeling of Meteorology and

Smoke-enhancing firefighting capability and preparedness. . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.

Multidisciplinary approach improves fire behavior prediction 

in New Jersey’s volatile fuel type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.

Real-time remote sensing of fire properties improves 

firefighter operations and safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4.

Helping managers devise effective strategies for managing fire 

and fuels for wilderness and adjacent lands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

5.

Reducing risks to ecosystems and human communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



Section One

Firefighting Capacity

1. Fire Consortia for Advanced Modeling of Meteorology and 

Smoke-Enhancing Firefighting Capability and Preparedness

Providing the Difference Between Disaster and Success

“The Eastern Area Modeling Consortium team breaks down theories

and ‘what-ifs’ into hard facts and ‘what’s next’ for those of us in the

field. When fighting wildland fires, the information they provide can

make the difference between disaster and success.”

Gary Curcio, Fire Staff Specialist

North Carolina Division of Forest Resources

Didn’t Believe It Until I Saw It

“The RMC (Rocky Mountain Center) model did a superior job of

catching both thunderstorm activity and, somewhat surprisingly, RH

during the last two weeks in July. For whatever reason, [your] model

crushed all competitors during this time frame...It also correctly

identified areas where thunderstorms did not form, which is impressive

in late July (and even I didn’t believe until I saw it).”

Charles S. Maxwell, GACC Meteorologist

Southwest Area Predictive Services

The National Fire Plan has supported 

the development of five regional Fire 

Consortia for the Advanced Modeling 

of Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS) 

research centers that study the interaction 

of fire, smoke, and the atmosphere to 

develop and deliver regionally tailored, 

weather- and science-based decision 

support products for use by fire, land, 

and air quality managers.

Scientists working at FCAMMS integrate 

numerical weather simulations with both 

satellite and land-based observations to 

predict weather, fire danger, fire behavior, 

and smoke behavior at high resolution, 

operationally relevant spatial scales—in 

time to inform key management on-theground decision-making. 

Continental U.S. coverage is provided by 

the five FCAMMS centers:

• The Southern Research Station’s 

Southern High Resolution 

Modeling Consortium,
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



Figure 1. Daily predictions of fire-weather variables and smoke transport over different regions of the country 

are available from the FCAMMS web sites. The EAMC web site (above) provides users with fire-weather 

predictions over various spatial domains in the north central and northeastern United States.

“I just wanted to compliment you on what is by far one of the best web sites dedicated to

fire weather I have seen. ... We are in constant need of boundary layer meteorological

data. And being in our infancy as far as developing specific products in dealing with 

smoke management and air quality, your site really does help.”

Dar Mims, Air Pollution Specialist

California Air Resources Board

“The CANSAC MM5 has proved quite valuable here at North Ops Predictive

Services. Taken as a whole, we can now put more detail into our forecasts—and

have more confidence in those details—than before. We no longer have to rely on

just personal experience or ‘rules-of-thumb’ in areas where ... terrain isn’t resolved

well by the coarser models.”

John P. Snook, Program Manager

Fire Weather and Predictive Services

Redding, California
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary



Contacts

Warren Heilman, Northern Research Station, wheilman@fs.fed.us; Brian Potter, 

Pacific Northwest Research Station; Francis M. Fujioka, Pacific Southwest Research 

Station, ffujioka@fs.fed.us; Karl Zeller, Rocky Mountain Research Station, kzeller@

fs.fed.us; Gary L. Achtemeier, Southern Research Station, gachtemeier@fs.fed.us; 

Allen R. Riebau, Wildlife, Fish, Watershed, and Air Research (Washington Office), 

ariebau@fs.fed.us.

• The Pacific Northwest’s Air Fire 

Team and the Northwest Regional 

Modeling Center,

• The Northern Station’s Eastern 

Area Modeling Consortium 

(EAMC),

• The Rocky Mountain Research 

Station’s Rocky Mountain Center, 

and

• The Pacific Southwest Research 

Station and the California and 

Nevada Smoke Air Committee.

Providing Improved

Fire Weather Predictions

Every day, the FCAMMS produce maps 

of weather patterns (three-dimensional 

temperatures and winds, precipitation, and 

other relevant meteorological factors) for 

display on the Internet. 

These predictions support research in 

improving resolution and accuracy of 

smoke, fire danger, and fire behavior 

prediction. These improved predictions are 

then provided operationally to Geographic 

Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) and 

fire weather forecasters. 

For example, all teams have adapted for 

their region the regional-scale modeling 

system BlueSkyRAINS, an interactive 

web-based tool that allows users to overlay 

predicted weather, smoke, and fire activity 

with geographic or political information.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

10

This project’s sensitivity analysis

of these fire indices is providing

better decision-support tools for

predicting fire danger.

Figure 2. These New Jersey tower sites have instrumentation to measure fire weather and fluxes of turbulence, energy,

water vapor, and carbon dioxide.

The 1.1 million acres of New Jersey’s Pine 

Barrens—dominated by pitch pine, mixed 

oak species, and understory shrubs—

represents 22 percent of this state’s entire 

land area. Compared with most forests in 

the Eastern United States, this is a highly 

volatile fuel type with a short fire return 

cycle.

New Jersey’s wildland fire managers 

identified the need for an improved fire 

danger rating system that will enable fire 

managers to strategically place firefighters 

and machinery.

To better meet these needs, under this 

project, a multi-disciplinary approach 

is improving the existing fuel model. 

Scientists have coordinated with New 

Jersey Forest Fire Service and the New 

Jersey State climatologist to establish 

a network of Pine Barrens fire weather 

stations.

Analysis of long-term (1930-present) 

weather records and wildfire history 

data indicates that wildfire occurrence 

in this region is largely decoupled from 

traditional danger and risk measurements.

This project’s sensitivity analysis of these 

fire indices is providing better decisionsupport tools for predicting fire danger. 

Contacts

John Hom and Kenneth Clark, Northern Research Station, jhom@fs.fed.us and 

kennethclark@fs.fed.us.

2. Multidisciplinary Approach Improves Fire Behavior 

Prediction in New Jersey’s Volatile Fuel Type

Implementing regional climate and fire danger 

modeling for the New Jersey Pine Barrens
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

11

Figure 3. This image from the 2006 Esperanza Fire in Southern California shows its proximity to local communities. 

Gray areas have already burned; red and orange depict active burning at the time of the imagery. The Incident Command 

Team used fire activity maps such as this one to determine the location of multiple fire events, to prioritize deployment 

of firefighting resources, and to locate potential hotspots to be extinguished.

The Pacific Southwest Research Station and 

its partners are developing and applying the 

“FireMapper®” thermal-imaging radiometer 

for strategic fire mapping to improve fire 

suppression operations, firefighter safety, 

and our understanding of the behavior and 

impacts of wildland fire.

The airborne FireMapper uses new remote 

sensing technology to measure thermal 

radiation from spot fires and intense 

flame fronts. The resulting fire images are 

transmitted by satellite communications, 

then rapidly processed and displayed via 

the Internet to provide a current, detailed, 

and synoptic view of fire spread and related 

fire activity that has not previously been 

available to fire managers. 

This new imaging is therefore providing 

rapid-fire intelligence to improve firefighter 

safety—make firefighting more effective 

and reducing wildfire damage to natural 

resources and society. 

Contact

Philip J. Riggan Pacific Southwest Research Station, priggan@fs.fed.us.

3. Real-Time Remote Sensing of Fire Properties

Improves Firefighter Operations and Safety
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

12

Figure 4. Map of probability of burning for New 

Mexico’s Gila National Forest shows that some of 

the greatest opportunities for wildland fire use may 

be located outside wilderness.

4. Helping Managers Devise Effective Strategies for Managing

Fire and Fuels for Wilderness and Adjacent Lands

Identifying the benefits and risks of fire improves planning

“The importance of this kind of work has been driven home to me 

this fall. We converted two of our fire use fires to suppression 

 due to smoke concerns and then spent more than 

five million dollars putting them out.”

Fire Ecologist

National Park Service 

A cross-disciplinary team of biologists, 

ecologists, social scientists, and science 

delivery experts at the Rocky Mountain 

Research Station’s Aldo Leopold 

Wilderness Research Institute in Missoula, 

MT, has been studying wilderness to 

determine how to best utilize fire as a 

cost-effective management strategy that is 

both socially acceptable and beneficial to 

natural ecosystems.

This research is weaving together both 

the ecological and social sciences and is 

focused in three areas:

1. Understanding natural fire 

regimes and their alteration by 

management,

2. Developing information and 

tools to improve fire and fuel 

management planning, and

3. Anticipating consequences of 

management alternatives.

Results from this research are therefore 

helping managers devise effective strategies 

for managing fire and fuels across the 

full spectrum of lands—extending from 

wilderness to the wildland-urban interface. 
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

13

Results from this research are helping managers devise effective strategies 

for managing fire and fuels across the full spectrum of lands.

Contact

Carol Miller, Rocky Mountain Research Station, cmiller04@fs.fed.us.

Geospatial decision-support tools being 

used in this project (including BurnPro 

and Fire Effects Planning Framework) 

are helping managers incorporate 

Wildland Fire Use into fire management 

plans. BurnPro estimates the probability 

of burning to help identify where 

opportunities for Wildland Fire Use 

are greatest. The Fire Effects Planning 

Framework helps determine the expected 

benefits or risks of Wildland Fire Use to 

resources or species of concern. 

Improved Public Involvement

The improved understanding of public 

trust and values is helping managers 

more effectively involve the public in fire 

management decisions that simultaneously 

meet ecological and social objectives.

For instance, managers on Montana’s 

Bitterroot National Forest are now using 

a collaborative public process to plan a 

landscape-scale fuels treatment adjacent 

to wilderness in the Bitterroot Valley. 

Maps of “meanings” that community 

members attach to the Bitterroot Front’s 

landscape are providing managers with 

information about site-specific social 

values and have helped community 

members articulate their values and 

expectations at collaborative planning 

meetings.

With a science-based understanding of 

the factors that influence fire management 

decisions, managers and policymakers 

can now work to resolve long-term 

barriers to fire use.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

14

Figures 5 and 6. Firewise retrofitted homes—before (left) and after (right). An interactive presentation 

that provides pictures and narrative about this interagency project is one feature of the new information 

that this research project is disseminating.

Contacts

Ed Macie and Annie Hermansen-Baez, Southern Research Station, emacie@fs.fed.us and 

ahermansen@fs.fed.us .

5. Reducing Risks to Ecosystems and Human Communities

Accomplishments continue for the Southern Center 

for Wildland-Urban Interface

Research and Information Center

The Southern Center for Wildland-Urban 

Interface Research and Information Center 

opened in Gainesville, FL, in January 

2002. The center’s mission is to develop 

and communicate guidelines, models, and 

tools needed by natural resource managers, 

policymakers, planners, and citizens to 

reduce risks to ecosystems and human 

communities in urban and urbanizing 

landscapes. 

To accomplish this significant mission, the 

center focuses on:

1. Disseminating new and existing 

information,

2. Serving as a clearinghouse of wildlandurban interface information,

3. Building partnerships and collaborative efforts and approaches, and

4. Facilitating and creating linkages 

between people interested in creating partnerships and those who have 

successfully done so. 

The center’s web site 

(http://www.InterfaceSouth.usda.gov) 

provides access to information that 

includes a monthly bulletin and a Wildfire 

Risk Assessment Guide.

This popular web site also facilitates the 

exchange of ideas and opportunities and 

links people and projects involved with 

wildland-urban interface issues.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

15

Section Two

Rehabilitation and Restoration

Highlight Projects

Rehabilitation and Restoration

Accomplishments

6.

Ensuring the correct native seed supplies are available

to land managers for burned area restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

7.

Characterizing the risks of wildfire and fuels management

in aquatic systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

8.

Measuring the effectiveness of post-fire emergency rehabilitation

to help managers select effective treatments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

16

Section Two

Rehabilitation and Restoration

Figure 7. Yarrow and flax field in Idaho—Scientists are working to identify and characterize 

native species’ potential for regenerating fire areas and are also developing practices for seed 

production and protocols for seed warehousing.

6. Ensuring the Correct Native Seed Supplies Are Available

to Land Managers for Burned Area Restoration

Restoring sagebrush steppe and pinyon-juniper communities

Large areas burn annually in sagebrush 

steppe and pinyon-juniper communities 

throughout the Western United States. 

Because of the introduction of exotic 

weeds—especially cheatgrass (Bromus 

tectorum)—the fire frequency and intensity 

in these communities has increased 

dramatically since presettlement times. 

This transition has increased the continuity 

and volume of fine fuels.

Native plant and animal species populations 

throughout these areas have therefore been 

diminished and, in some cases, put at risk 

by the combination of more frequent fires 

and increase of exotic weeds.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

17

Contact

E. Durant McArthur, Rocky Mountain Research Station, dmcarthur@fs.fed.us.

Native Plant Species 

Availability Is Low

Management objectives increasingly require 

burned areas to be restored using native 

plant species. The availability of these 

species, however, is low.

Furthermore, little information is available 

on what native species would work best on 

specific burn areas. 

Scientists are therefore working to identify 

and characterize native species’ potential 

for use and are also developing practices 

for seed production and protocols for seed 

warehousing.

This effort will help ensure that native seed 

supplies are available to land management 

agencies.

To date, three synthesis publications have 

evolved from this important project: 

• Restoring Western Ranges and 

Wildlands. 2004. Rocky Mountain 

Research Station General Technical 

Report RMRS-GTR-136, 3 volumes, 

884 p. +appendixes.

• Wildland Shrubs of the United 

States and Its Territories: Thamnic 

Descriptions, Volume 1. 2004. 

International Institute of Tropical 

Forestry and Rocky Mountain 

Research Station, General Technical 

Report IITF-GTR-26, 830 p.

• Big Sagebrush: A Sea Fragmented 

into Lakes, Ponds, and Puddles. 

2005. Rocky Mountain Research 

Station General Technical Report 

RMRS-GTR-144, 210 p.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

18

This research has changed the way 

we view fire and its implications for 

aquatic systems.

7. Characterizing the Risks of Wildfire and Fuels 

Management in Aquatic Systems 

Helping Forest Managers Make Better Decisions

“The decision support tools that you are working on regarding fire, fuels,

and aquatic resources are exactly what forest managers are looking for to

make better decisions and identify both short- and long-term benefits and

risks. Your research is making forest managers think before just going out

and treating vegetation/fuels so we are able to answer the questions of

‘why here?’ and ‘why now?’.”

John Thornton, Forest Hydrologist

Boise National Forest

Providing a Foundation for Forest Biologists

“I don’t think it is a stretch to say that this information provides

the foundation for forest biologists involved in endangered species

recovery planning and consultation linked to the National Fire Plan.”

Linda Ulmer, Columbia River Basin Coordinator

USDA Forest Service

Portland, OR

Significant resources are used to manage 

fire and fuels and to mitigate the effects 

of past fire suppression. At the same time, 

substantial resources have been invested in 

restoring watersheds and fostering recovery 

of sensitive species.

Limited information on the effects of fires 

and fire-related management on aquatic 

systems makes it difficult to determine the 

benefits of the substantial costs that are 

incurred. Scientists in central Idaho are 

therefore working to quantify the influence 

of large fires, post-fire climatic events, 

and post-fire management on watershed 

processes and the persistence of sensitive 

aquatic species.

Better understanding of when and 

where fire represents a threat to aquatic 

ecosystems is enhancing the managers’ 

ability to characterize risk and prioritize 

fire and fuels management and post-fire 

rehabilitation efforts.

This research has changed the way we 

view fire and its implications for aquatic 

systems. Fire can produce catastrophic 

ecological effects, but it is also a source 

of spawning sites, nutrients, and structural 

diversity that can maintain aquatic 

community productivity.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

19

Contacts

Bruce Rieman, Charlie Luce, and Kerry Overton, Rocky Mountain Research 

Station, brieman@fs.fed.us, cluce@fs.fed.us, and koverton@fs.fed.us.

Photo by Rodger Nelson, Payette National Forest

Figure 8. Severe wildfire can generate dramatic, immediate effects on mountain streams—as well 

as on the biological communities that depend upon these streams. Through this research project, 

scientists in central Idaho are therefore working to quantify the influence of large fires, post-fire 

climatic events, and post-fire management on watershed processes and the persistence of sensitive 

aquatic species.

The ideas and information emerging from 

this work have become an important 

resource for managers, biologists, students, 

and other researchers. This project’s 

web page (http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/

research/fisheries/fire/workshop_products.

shtml) which contains publications and 

various other materials, has received more 

than 7,000 downloads since its establishment 

in 2003.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

20

This study’s research results have 

helped BAER teams determine 

the appropriate treatment selections.

8. Measuring the Effectiveness of Post-Fire Emergency Rehabilitation

to Help Managers Select Effective Treatments

Because the effectiveness of many of these rehab methods has never been

tested quantitatively, it is difficult for BAER teams to realistically assess

the short- and long-term benefits.

“Results from this research have been invaluable. The research is

directly applied to assessing burned area responses, estimating

effectiveness of treatments at protecting values-at-risk, and appraising

the cost-effectiveness of implementing treatments. These studies have

improved the efficiency of BAER teams. They have benefited the general

public as well as all the resources affected by fires.”

Nick Gerhardt, Hydrologist

Nez Perce National Forest

Each year, after wildfire, millions of dollars 

are spent on emergency stabilization 

and rehabilitation treatments to protect 

life, property, and natural resources from 

increased erosion and flooding. Yet, 

because the effectiveness of many of 

these rehabilitation methods has never 

been tested quantitatively, it is difficult for 

Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) 

teams to realistically assess the short- and 

long-term benefits of their prescribed 

treatments relative to their economic and 

ecological costs.

While expenditures for post-fire 

rehabilitation—including contour-felled 

logs, surface raking, and native grass 

seeding—have increased dramatically in 

recent years, little quantitative information 

actually exists on the effectiveness of these 

treatments in reducing sediment movement 

and water output from burned areas.

Researchers involved in this project are 

conducting studies to measure runoff and 

sediment production from watersheds 

that are receiving various emergency 

rehabilitation treatments. This information 

is helping managers to select future 

emergency treatments that are the most 

likely to be effective.

Essential data from this research has 

contributed to the web-based “DisturbedWater Erosion Prediction Project model” 

and “Erosion Risk Management Tool 

model,” both now used by BAER teams 

and land managers to predict erosion 

risk as well as the benefits of mitigation 

treatments after wildfire.

At the request of Forest Service national 

and regional BAER leaders, this project 

also helped to provide the treatment 

effectiveness monitoring strategy for 

the southern California BAER effort 

following the 2003 fires.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

21

Contacts

Pete Robichaud, Rocky Mountain Research Station, probichaud@fs.fed.us;

Jan Beyers and Pete Wohlgemuth, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 

jbeyers@fs.fed.us and pwohlgemuth@fs.fed.us.

Figure 9. This study has determined that surface 

mulch application is preferable to the labor-intensive 

hillslope erosion barriers.

Major Shift in Treatment Selection

Rainfall intensity has proven to be one of 

the most important drivers for the erosion 

response. Results from multiple sites with 

log erosion barriers indicate that although 

they can reduce erosion from moderate 

intensity storms, high-intensity rainfall 

overwhelms the logs’ ability to slow runoff 

and sedimentation.

Thus, this labor-intensive treatment may 

not be cost effective if high-intensity 

storms are the major threat to downslope 

values. Based on these results, there has 

been a major shift in treatment selection in 

the past few years.

As a direct result of communicating 

this study’s research results with BAER 

teams and specialists, the use of hillslope 

erosion barriers has declined and the use of 

mulches has increased.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

22

Highlight Projects

Hazardous Fuel Reduction

Accomplishments

9.

Reducing fire risks in forests: Increasing the incentive to reduce hazardous 

fuels through harvesting and utilizing small diameter

and crooked trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

10.

Developing new tree mortality models to enable managers to

determine how fire and thinning can best restore

fire-dependent ecosystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

11.

Providing ground-based support for mapping fuel

and fire hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

12.

Quantifying the ecological and economic tradeoffs of fire

and fire surrogate options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

13.

Improved guidelines developed for fuel management in

wildland-urban interface southwestern ponderosa pine forests. . . . . . . . 30

14.

Achieving fuel reduction goals and restoring riparian zones

to healthy conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Section Three

Hazardous Fuel Reduction
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

23

Figure 10. Reducing fire risks—Scientists in this 

research project have illustrated that marketable products 

can be developed using the forest undergrowth and 

underutilized material that has previously been left behind 

after commercial tree harvest operations—adding to the 

fuel accumulation problem.

Figure 11. Success story—No- or low-value 

materials are glued and fabricated together at a 

Wyoming sawmill.

9. Reducing Fire Risks in Forests: Increasing the Incentive 

to Reduce Hazardous Fuels Through Harvesting 

and Utilizing Small Diameter and Crooked Trees

Removal of forest undergrowth can help to 

sustain healthy forests. Currently, however, 

much of this type of material is felled and 

left on the ground or is simply chipped and 

burned.

To reduce fire risks in forests, researchers 

involved in this study are therefore working 

to develop marketable products from forest 

undergrowth and underutilized timber.

To date, three methods have been developed 

for using small trees that currently have 

little value and are seldom used.

Utilization of “No-” or “LowValue” Forest Thinnings

Research from this project has also 

developed information being considered by 

the private sector for a low-cost processing 

method for the raw material (with bark) 

that confirms that fibrous material can be 

made using a chip, fiberization, and refining 

process.

Under this research, the potential strength 

properties have been evaluated and shown 

to be equal or greater than the minimum 

standards for hardboard.

This research is also modifying an existing 

commercial product made by Wyoming 

Sawmill Inc. in Sheridan, WY.

Section Three

Hazardous Fuel Reduction
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

24

Contact

John F. Hunt, Forest Products Laboratory, jhunt@fs.fed.us.

Figure 12. This remanufacturing process works well with the smalldiameter and low-value curved material. The product’s performance 

is equal to existing commercial products.

I-Beam

Called “LamHeader,” it is an I-beam 

structural product that uses nominal 2 x 4 

material that is then remanufactured into a 

more efficient structural product. 

This remanufacturing process works well 

with small-diameter and low-value curved 

material. The product’s performance 

is equal to that of existing commercial 

products.

The results also show that it is possible to 

improve properties of the I-beam through 

selective placement of stiffer material on 

the flanges. 

Feasibility of Using Curved 

Materials for Structural Products

One of this project’s original objectives 

was to determine if curved material 

could be straightened to be successfully 

processed through sawmills and then used 

in I-beams or other engineered products.

This project’s research has confirmed 

that it is possible to straighten curved 

wood using the microwave press. After 

evaluating the “strength” properties of the 

straightened wood—as well as developing 

more accurate guidelines for controlling 

the microwave process—consistently 

produced thermally straightened wood can 

now be useable in a conventional process.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

25

This research undertaking is developing 

general tree mortality models with 

much broader applicability.

Contacts

Matthew B. Dickinson, Northern Research Station, mbdickinson@fs.fed.us; 

and Bret W. Butler, Rocky Mountain Research Station, bwbutler@fs.fed.us.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists is 

developing new models to understand how 

fire and thinning can best be used to restore 

fire-dependent ecosystems.

The application of past models was limited 

to the species, site conditions, and fire 

behavior from which model parameters 

were estimated. This research is developing 

general tree mortality models with much 

broader applicability. 

To date, models for the following four 

species have been developed and tested: 

Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, chestnut 

oak, and red maple. Study results suggest 

that this modeling approach will prove 

to be widely applicable because different 

species are similar in their thermophysical 

properties and their responses to heating.

In addition, this research has created the 

basis of “FireStem” which combines 

stem heating and tissue response models 

developed for field testing by the Missoula 

Fire Sciences Laboratory—with funding 

from the Joint Fire Science Program.

Users can select a species, run FireStem, 

and review the stem mortality predictions 

for a range of tree diameters and fire 

behavior scenarios. 

10. Developing New Tree Mortality Models to Enable Managers to

Determine How Fire and Thinning Can Best Restore

Fire-Dependent Ecosystems
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

26

Figure 13. Field work underway to produce a photo series and collect data 

for use in the Fuel Characteristic Classification System. 

11. Providing Ground-Based Support for Mapping Fuel and Fire Hazard

Helping fire and fuels managers rapidly estimate fuel loading and other 

characteristics for fire planning and fire hazard and risk assessment

Knowledge of fuel characteristics is 

critical to assess fire hazard potential and, 

thus, enable land managers to maximize 

fuel treatment effectiveness. Each time 

it is necessary to predict events or make 

decisions, however, it is expensive and 

time consuming to inventory all fuelbed 

characteristics. 

After consulting with managers 

through a needs assessment process, 

three specific research efforts were 

undertaken to provide procedures for 

characterizing and classifying fuels:

1. The first action was to expand 

on existing fuel photo series 

to represent a range of natural 

conditions, fuel loadings, and other 

fuelbed characteristics in a variety 

of forest-, woodland-, shrub-, and 

grassland-dominated ecosystems 

throughout the United States.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

27

Contact

Roger Ottmar, Pacific Northwest Research Station, rottmar@fs.fed.us.

2. Next, a Fuel Characteristic 

Classification System was 

completed that offers consistently 

organized fuel data—along with 

numerical inputs to fire behavior, 

fire effects, and dynamic vegetation 

models.

3. Finally, a 1-kilometer fuelbed map 

was developed that represents the 

contiguous United States.

Among this research project’s products 

is a natural fuels stereo photo series that 

displays a range of natural conditions, fuel 

loadings, and other fuelbed characteristics 

in a wide variety of forest-, woodland-, 

shrub-, and grass-dominated ecosystem 

types.

A total of six new photo series volumes 

were completed that will help fire and fuels 

managers to rapidly estimate fuel loading 

and other characteristics for fire planning 

and fire hazard and risk assessment.

The Fuel Characteristic Classification 

System (FCCS) is designed as a simple 

interactive program to build, store, catalog, 

and calculate fuel characteristics and fire 

potentials for both simple and complex 

fuelbeds across the United States.

The Okanogan and Wenatchee National 

Forests are currently building fuelbeds using 

the FCCS. These forests are mapping the 

fuelbeds and assessing hazard to efficiently 

deploy fuel treatment applications. The 

FCCS is linked directly with the fuel 

consumption software product Consume 3.0 

and will be linked to other products such as 

FVS/FFE, FOFEM, and FETM. 

In addition, this project’s 1-kilometer fuelbed 

map is being used by the Environmental 

Protection Agency as the fuelbed baseline 

for a national wildland fire smoke emissions 

inventory. The protocols used to develop this 

map have also been used to map fuelbeds 

at a finer resolution on the Okanogan and 

Wenatchee National Forests. 
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

28

Figure 14. Fuel reduction 

treatments created four 

distinctive communities 

and stand structures on the 

Appalachian study site.

Fuel Reduction

Treatments

12. Quantifying the Ecological and Economic Tradeoffs

of Fire and Fire Surrogate Options

In the Gulf Coastal Plain and

Southern Appalachian Mountains

Widespread fuel reduction treatments are 

needed throughout the South, particularly 

within the rapidly growing wildland-urban 

interfaces of the Coastal Plains.

For decades, prescribed burning has been 

used in the Coastal Plain to reduce fuel 

loads. Now, however, this treatment is 

under regulatory pressure.

At issue are adverse air quality and 

transportation safety impacts from 

prescribed burning smoke, as well as the 

potential for property losses if these burns 

should escape into the wildland-urban 

interface.

While alternative fuel reduction treatments 

are attractive, the appropriate balance 

among cutting, mechanical fuel treatment, 

herbicide, and prescribed fire is often 

unclear. This study therefore examines the 

tradeoffs and effects of alternative fuel 

treatments. Results will provide managers 

with a broader array of options for 

achieving management goals.

National Fire Plan Funding

National Fire Plan funding was used to 

add two sites to the network of study sites 

in the National Fire and Fire Surrogate 

Study.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

29

Contacts

Kenneth W. Outcalt, Southern Research Station, koutcalt@fs.fed.us; and 

Thomas A. Waldrop, Southern Research Station, twaldrop@fs.fed.us.

“This study has helped us to 

understand that we have many 

management options that will 

improve habitat for wildlife and 

reduce hazardous fuel loads.”

Dean Simon

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

One is in a longleaf pine-dominated 

community in South Alabama at the Solon 

Dixon Forestry and Educational Center 

of Auburn University. The other site is 

dominated by Appalachian hardwoods and 

pines, located in western North Carolina on 

the Green River Game Lands—managed 

by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources 

Commission.

Early results from the Alabama site reveal 

that hazardous fuels can be reduced 

without significant overstory damage 

by using a combination of thinning and 

prescribed burning via commercial timber 

sales that generate enough income to cover 

the cost of burning.

Fire is needed to control understory 

hardwoods while thinning is needed to 

reduce larger midstory hardwoods.

At the North Carolina site, fuel-reduction 

treatments changed vegetative structure 

and composition and affected potential 

fire behavior, bird populations, and the 

incidence of fungal disease.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

30

Scientists are responding to a critical 

need to better understand the effects 

of these fuels management strategies 

from both risk mitigation and ecological 

perspectives. 

13. Improved Guidelines Developed for Fuel Management in 

Wildland-Urban Interface Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests

To protect communities, this project’s 

efforts are well underway to reduce the 

risk of catastrophic wildfire through forest 

fuel management.

A variety of strategies are being tested 

for hazardous fuel reduction and other 

resource management goals. Scientists 

are responding to a critical need to better 

understand the effects of these fuels 

management strategies from both risk 

mitigation and ecological perspectives.

To assess prior treatment effectiveness, 

scientists located comparable treated and 

untreated areas on five recent large-scale 

fires on National Forests in Arizona and 

New Mexico. Observed burn severity was 

greatest in untreated areas. Areas that had 

received a thinning treatment—but no 

follow-up treatment to remove thinning 

debris—also experienced high burn 

severity.

Generally, the most effective treatment 

was thinning of smaller trees followed 

by intensive treatment of thinning debris 

either by removal or prescribed fire.

Testing a New Physics-Based 

Wildfire Behavior Model

This project includes collaborators from 

the Los Alamos National Laboratory who 

are developing and testing a new physicsbased wildfire behavior model—known as 

FIRETEC—to examine potential effects of 

various silvicultural systems.

FIRETEC predicts that groups containing 

trees of several sizes will provide ladder 

fuels that support the transition to canopy 

fire.

Experimental treatments have showed that 

thinning followed by prescribed burning is 

most effective in meeting fuels management 

objectives. 

Specifically, prescribed burning created:

• Additional benefits of surface fuel 

reduction,

• A modest amount of lower branch 

pruning due to crown scorch, and

• Some snag creation for wildlife 

habitat.

Community-Based 

Forest Partnerships

Stand structure, spatial pattern, and density 

guidelines resulting from this project are 

being applied by Federal and State forests 

and community and agency partnerships in 

Arizona and New Mexico.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

31

Contact

Carl Edminster, Rocky Mountain Research Station, cedminster@fs.fed.us.

Figure 15. No treatment—High risk of 

catastrophic fire.

Figure 16. Post treatment—Stand 

thinned and burned to meet effective 

fuel reduction objectives.

Before

After

Examples of community-based forest 

partnerships using results for fire planning 

and forest rehabilitation include:

• The Greater Flagstaff Forests 

Partnership,

• The Community Wildfire 

Protection Plans for Flagstaff and 

several other communities, 

• The cooperative Southwest 

Sustainable Forests Partnership; 

and

• The Los Alamos National 

Laboratory fuels management and 

wildfire protection project.

The Arizona Governor’s Forest Health 

Advisory Council also incorporated this 

study’s results into its guiding principles for 

forest restoration and recommendations for 

further restoration projects.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

32

“Legal challenges and public pressure 

demand that we apply management 

practices based on sound research—not 

on casual observations and opinions. This 

study is providing us with basic knowledge 

developed from robustly designed, 

peer-reviewed science for direction and 

support.”

Catherine Stewart, Assistant Fuels Planner/Fire Ecologist

Northern Region, Fire, Air, and Aviation Management

14. Achieving Fuel Reduction Goals and Restoring 

Riparian Zones to Healthy Conditions

Riparian ecosystem dynamics in relation to fire in the Rocky Mountains

With fire exclusion and the consequent 

absence of fire-associated floods, many 

river and stream ecosystems throughout 

the Rocky Mountains have undergone 

hydrologic and vegetation changes.

While evidence of riparian and watershed 

deterioration varies by site and region, this 

phenomenon can include:

• Increased woody biomass,

• Uncharacteristic fire frequency and 

severity,

• Drying of channels,

• Reduced water yield,

• Loss of native plant and animal 

species,

• Invasions of exotic plants and fish, 

and

• Increasing pressure on threatened 

and endangered species populations.

Scientists Eye Fire and Drought 

Events

Both rapid assessments and long-term 

research were needed for understanding:

• The ecological costs and benefits 

of wildfires as well as fire use and 

prescribed fires, and

• Fuel removal in and adjacent to 

sensitive riparian ecosystems. 

Under this research project, in New Mexico 

and Montana, scientists used research 

tools—such as tree-ring analysis of fire 

scar and tree age patterns, and “carbon-14” 

analysis of charcoal deposits in sediments 

and peat bogs—to estimate the frequency, 

intensity, and spatial extent of fires in 

riparian zones and adjacent uplands in past 

centuries and millennia.

Scientists are evaluating the relationship 

of fire to climate—with a focus on past 

and recent relationships between fire and 

drought events.

To better understand how these systems 

respond to fire—and, perhaps, even 

flooding—these scientists are also 

comparing current conditions in streams 

and riparian zones that burned at different 

times.

Researchers have also projected the 

ecological future of post-fire ecosystems 

by evaluating successional patterns of 

different-aged wildfires. In addition, 

research compared ecological responses to 

varied methods of fuel removal in a wide 

range of forest and shrub communities.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

33

Figure 17. Workers remove exotic tamarisk and other fuels at RMRS study site 

near San Antonio, New Mexico.

Contacts

Deborah Finch and Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 

dfinch@fs.fed.us and esutherland@fs.fed.us.

Applying This Study’s Results

Under this study, two 10-day workshops 

provided students, academics, and natural 

resource professionals an intensive, handson learning experience in tree-ring and fire 

scar analysis.

Scientists and partners also hosted three 

workshops and two training sessions that 

resulted in riparian restoration manuals now 

in use by city, State, and Federal agencies.

Managers frequently request and use this 

research’s products, including:

• Slides and photos for preparing 

restoration plans,

• Information for educating partners 

and internal employees, and

• Plans and techniques that can 

be relayed to supervisors, staff, 

constituencies, and partners.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

34

Highlight Projects

Community Assistance 

Accomplishments

15.

Determining this country’s wildland-urban interface area’s

extent, distribution and change over time – from 1940 to 2030. . . . . . . 35

16.

Developing alternative residential landscape designs

to meet owners’ landscape needs and increase fire safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

17.

Preventing residential fire disasters at the

wildland-urban interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

18.

Developing and providing a convenient internet-based Encyclopedia

of southern fire science and management knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

19.

Providing a national database of state and local

wildfire hazard mitigation programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

20.

Wildland fire preparedness: learning from the experiences

of other communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Section Four

Community Assistance
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

35

This project’s analysis of this 

country’s wildland-urban 

interface’s change over time 

indicates that between the years 

1990 and 2000, 60 percent of 

new housing units in the United 

States were built in wildlandurban interface areas.

The wildland-urban interface is commonly 

known as “the area where structures 

and other human developments meet or 

intermingle with undeveloped wildland.” In 

more general terms, it is where houses and 

dense vegetation are both present.

Recent fire policy recognizes what resource 

managers have known for years: fire in 

these interface areas poses a risk to life, 

property, and resources. To fully understand 

and comprehend the wildland-urban 

interface issue, however, requires better 

information about where this interface zone 

is actually located.

This research project maps this country’s 

entire wildland-urban interface area 

(excluding Alaska)—determining its extent, 

distribution, and change over time.

Characterizing the Wildland-Urban 

Interface

Using the “wildland-urban interface” 

definition published in the Federal Register, 

scientists have combined U.S. Census data 

and the National Land Cover Dataset to 

map and characterize the wildland-urban 

interface (WUI) at high-spatial resolution.

15. Determining this Country’s Wildland-Urban Interface Area’s

Extent and Distribution Over Time — From 1940 to 2030

Interface WUI is where housing is located 

in the vicinity of wildland vegetation. 

Some WUI is at risk of fire; some is not. 

This project’s research data is overlaying 

fire risk maps with WUI areas at risk from 

fire.

In 19 of the 48 states mapped, more than 

half of all homes are in the WUI. Analysis 

of WUI’s change over time indicates that 

between the years 1990 and 2000, 60 

percent of new housing units in the United 

States were built in WUI areas.

The WUI maps and data were developed 

to serve the needs of planners and 

managers at the local, state, and national 

levels. 

Section Four

Community Assistance
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

36

The early version of Fire Program Analysis 

uses this project’s WUI maps to determine 

which lands meet WUI criteria.

Contact

Susan Stewart, Northern Research Station, sistewart@fs.fed.us.

Figure 18. National map of wildland-urban 

interface areas.

A variety of WUI information is available 

for non-technical users on the project’s 

web site (http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/

projects/WUI_Main.asp). WUI and housing 

density map images can be downloaded for 

individual states, Forest Service regions, 

and for the contiguous 48 states. 

WUI Areas Receive Priority

in Fire Management

The developmental version of the new 

interagency fire management planning and 

budgeting system, Fire Program Analysis 

(FPA), requires a suite of characteristics 

describing the lands managed.

Because the WUI areas receive priority in 

fire management, the outcome of model trial 

runs was found to vary according to the way 

in which WUI was defined. As a result, the 

FPA steering committee recommended—and 

the National Association of State Foresters 

concurred—that this definition and analysis 

be designated as the “common currency” 

for WUI designation in the FPA system. The 

final version of FPA is yet to be released, so the 

way WUI information is used may change.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

37

“This is a great visual tool 

for Fire Safe educators!”

Thom Porter, Pre-Fire Division Chief

California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention

Contact

Gregory McPherson, Center for Urban Forest Research, Pacific 

Southwest Research Station, egmcpherson@ucdavis.edu.

16. Developing Alternative Residential Landscape Designs to Meet 

Owners’ Landscape Needs and Increase Fire Safety 

As many as 42 million homes are located in the 

wildland-urban interface in this country. People 

who landscape and maintain these private properties can prevent loss from fires. While Federal 

and State agencies have developed regulations 

and guidance to help these efforts, they could 

conflict with plans for home exteriors, use of the 

land, views, privacy, and wildlife habitat.

With this research project, scientists have 

developed a set of alternative landscape designs 

that are enabling wildland-urban interface 

homeowners to successfully attain their personal 

landscape needs—and simultaneously increase 

fire safety.

They have developed “ecoSmart-Fire,” an 

interactive, flexible, graphical tool designed to 

help residents make fire safety choices while 

simultaneously considering ways to: 

• Enhance beauty,

• Retain native vegetation,

• Ensure privacy,

• conserve water, and

• Save energy.

This model incorporates physically based 

fire models with user-friendly interfaces for 

evaluating the relative fire hazard associated 

with alternative landscaping strategies.

They have also developed a prototype 

“ecoSmart Touchscreen” application for use 

in a kiosk at the High Desert Museum in Bend, 

OR, as well as possible installation at Home 

Depots and Lowe’s in Southern California.

Creating Defensible Space Via 

Internet Connection

With ecoSmart-Fire, residents, landscape 

designers, and planners can explore different 

ways to create defensible space on wildlandurban interface properties via Internet 

connection to the http://ecoSmart.gov web site.

For instance, through this web site, the 

user places his or her home on the lot and 

interactively adds, removes, grows, and prunes 

trees. A bar shows the likelihood of structural 

ignition by changing from green (low), to 

yellow, to red (high)—in response to changing 

amounts of radiant heat on the house. 

This ecoSmart-Fire model is currently being used 

by state foresters in New Mexico and Arizona 

with their FireWise Communities training 

programs. The California Department of Forestry 

and Fire Protection and the Fire Safe Councils 

are also working to enhance it for their use. 
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

38

Figure 19. Scientists are looking into what specific home design factors contribute to home ignitions. 

This information is critical to the development of “Firewise” homes and communities.

17. Preventing Residential Fire Disasters at the Wildland-Urban Interface

This research shows that a home’s location does not necessarily determine its vulnerability 

to wildland fire. It is, rather, the condition of the “home ignition zone” that 

determines this vulnerability.

We’ve all seen it on the news reports: How 

fires—often dramatically—leave one house 

virtually untouched by fire standing among 

its completely ruined and incinerated 

neighbors. What characteristics enabled this 

one house to persist?

Scientists are looking into what specific 

home design and landscape characteristic 

contribute to home ignitions. This 

information is critical to the development 

of “Firewise” homes and communities. 

This project is nationally applicable, 

with research efforts and investigations 

conducted principally in the western United 

States, including Alaska, and in Alberta and 

the Northwest Territories, Canada.

This threat of residential fire destruction 

during wildland fires strongly impacts 

homeowners, communities, and our ability 

to manage fire in vegetated landscapes. 

Understanding how homes ignite during 

wildfires is therefore a key factor for 

preventing wildland-urban interface (WUI) 

fire disasters.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

39

“The WUI Wildland Urban Interface 

Working Team [of NWCG] can be eternally 

grateful for Jack Cohen’s research on 

the ignition of structures from wildfire 

exposure. Jack has helped ‘de-mystify’ 

many long-held and popular assumptions, 

including that crown fires were the 

primary ignition sources of structures in the 

wildland-urban interface.”

Jim Smalley, Manager

Wildland Fire Protection

National Fire Protection Association

Contact

Jack Cohen, Rocky Mountain Research Station, jcohen@fs.fed.us.

Investigating Relationships

Thus, this research is investigating the 

relationship between varying wildfire 

situations and the ignition of homes near 

the wildfire area. Modeling, experiments, 

and investigations of actual fire disasters 

reveal how home ignitions occur—as well 

as the disaster context. This understanding 

is then being incorporated into information 

products for both fire managers and WUI 

residents.

Among other products, tools, and 

applications, this WUI fire research project 

has provided the basis for two informational 

videos produced by the National WUI 

“Firewise” Program: “Wildfire: Preventing 

Home Ignitions” and “Fire Behavior in the 

WUI.”

The first video is primarily intended for 

homeowners. To date, more than 6,000 

copies have been distributed nationally. 

The second video is aimed at agencies 

involved in WUI fire response. More than 

7,500 video sets have been distributed 

to fire departments. Both videos present 

information that explain how homes ignite 

during high intensity wildfires, as well as 

approaches that can be used to reduce a 

home’s ignition vulnerability.

Keystone Project

Judith Leraas Cook, with the Firewise 

Program, and this project’s lead scientist, 

Jack Cohen, have also developed the 

Firewise Communities USA Recognition 

Program. This keystone project of the 

National WUI Firewise Program focuses on 

engaging homeowners in preventing WUI 

fire disasters. It relies strongly on results 

from this project’s WUI fire research that 

addresses ways of reducing the risk of home 

ignition during a wildfire.

In its three years of full implementation, the 

“Firewise Communities USA Recognition 

Program” has certified over 100 

communities nationwide.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

40

Contact

Kenneth W. Outcalt, Southern Research Station, koutcalt@fs.fed.us.

Figure 20. Encyclopedia 

of Southern Fire Science 

web page.

18. Developing and Providing a Convenient Internet-Based 

Encyclopedia of Southern Fire Science and Management Knowledge

Much research information is available 

to help land managers make decisions 

about how and when to use prescribed fire 

in the South. But, for the most part, this 

information is scattered in various written 

reports that range from user bulletins to 

refereed journal articles.

This project’s objective was to therefore 

gather the fragmented information 

contained in a mass of publications and 

develop a synthesized, centrally located 

database that is easily accessible and 

searchable by all users.

The project’s end product, the Encyclopedia 

of Southern Fire Science, is organizing and 

synthesizing the southern United States’ 

large body of fire science and translating 

this information into an Internet-based 

encyclopedia system.

The Encyclopedia of Southern Fire Science

is now available on the web at http://www.

fire.forestencyclopedia.net. It is a fully 

searchable knowledge base containing 

seven major sections:

• Fuels, weather, and fire behavior;

• Fire effects on air, water, soil, 

vegetation, and fauna;

• Fire ecology;

• Fire and people;

• Prescribed fire;

• Smoke management; and

• Wildland fire.

More than 1,000 pages of content in this “Fire 

Encyclopedia” synthesize southern fire science 

and provide an extensive reference list. 
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

41

This study has taken on this 

important task of compiling a large 

body of information on wildfire riskreduction efforts into a user-friendly 

searchable web site.

Contact

Terry Haines, Southern Research Station, thaines@fs.fed.us.

19. Providing a National Database of State and Local 

Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Programs

To create more fire-safe communities, 

fire officials are implementing a broad 

spectrum of policy mechanisms, incentive 

programs, and educational tools. As 

officials develop these wildfire mitigation 

strategies, a knowledge base of the 

obstacles that other communities have 

encountered can greatly enhance their 

planning efforts. Certainly, learning from 

others’ experiences can reduce time and 

costs for program development.

This study has taken on the important task 

of compiling a large body of information 

on wildfire risk-reduction efforts into a 

user-friendly searchable web site: 

http://www.wildfireprograms.usda.gov.

This web site broadly disseminates 

information and serves as a central 

clearinghouse of ideas for fire protection 

officials, natural resource professionals, 

and community leaders. In addition, 

through the web site, as community 

officials formulate strategies to better 

protect their citizens, they can explore 

successful wildfire mitigation policies 

and programs currently at work in other 

communities. 

In Spring 2006, the web site included 

more than 211 programs in 35 states. New 

information is being constantly updated. 

Program types defined in the database 

include: 

• Community planning, 

• Assessments of wildfire risk and 

designation of high risk areas,

• Public outreach and educational 

programs,

• Homeowner assistance,

• Regulatory programs, and

• Property insurance.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

42

20. Wildland Fire Preparedness: Learning From the 

Experiences of Other Communities

Increasing the effectiveness of fire management programs

in communities at risk from wildfire

In recent years, many communities have 

used programs and initiatives to prepare 

for wildland fires and to manage hazardous 

fuels. Communities can easily find technical 

assistance and start-up funding through 

groups such as Firewise, FireFree, Fire Safe 

Councils, Firewise Communities USA.

But, how can communities sustain these 

programs over the long term?

These “case study communities” had two 

things in common: (1) They had experienced 

a wildland fire within the last five years, 

were located in landscapes classified as high 

fire risk, or both; and (2) They had taken 

steps to increase wildfire preparedness.

To ensure that the study’s findings are 

relevant to a broad array of communities, 

the case study communities represented 

a wide range in levels of community 

capacity. The primary product from 

this project has been a set of case study 

summaries—one for each community 

(www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/4803/focus/fire/

community_preparedness/cp_case_studies). 

These summaries include:

• A brief description of the social 

and ecological settings and the fire 

history of the community,

• A description of the keys to 

preparedness,

• A discussion of next steps to 

improve preparedness,

• Wildland fire preparedness lessons 

that could be applied in other 

communities, and

• A list of web sites that will provide 

more information on the community 

and on wildland fire preparedness. 

In several communities, these summaries 

are being distributed to new property 

owners to help them understand the fire 

history of their new home and the specific 

actions that their community has taken to 

prepare for wildland fire.

Contact

Pamela Jakes, Northern Research Station, pjakes@fs.fed.us.

Case study summaries were used by 

American Planning Association staff in 

workshops they conducted across the 

country to build understanding of wildland 

fire preparedness in the wildland-urban 

interface.

This research project responded to the 

fact that communities need a strong 

foundation to be successful over time. 

This “community capacity” is composed 

of the various networks, relations, and 

bonds that develop among individuals and 

organizations to strengthen cooperation and 

collaboration.

This research project conducted case 

studies in 16 communities in 12 states: 

Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, 

Texas, Mississippi, Florida, South Dakota, 

Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and 

New York.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

43

IV. Continuing Our Successes — A Strategic Plan 

to Anticipate This Country’s Future Needs

At its initiation, the National Fire Plan Research and Development program comprised 

78 projects spread across the four key National Fire Plan areas. The original five-year 

commitment of funds to these research teams began to expire in 2005. By the end of fiscal 

year 2006, all of the initial funding commitments were completed. 

To continue planning for the future, back in 2004, Forest Service research and development 

managers engaged scientists, fire managers, and other interested parties to reexamine the 

existing program structure. Building on this initial collaboration, a team was formed to 

develop a strategic plan to guide future Forest Service National Fire Plan research and 

development for fuels and fire investments. 

In the summer of 2006, the resultant report Wildland Fire and Fuels Research and 

Development Strategic Plan: Meeting the Needs of the Present—Anticipating the Needs of 

the Future was published. (The plan’s strategic goals are outlined below.) This entire plan 

is also available on the web at: http://www.fs.fed.us/research/pdf/2006-10-20-wildlandbook.pdf.

Wildland Fire and Fuels Research and Development Strategic Plan: 

Meeting the Needs of the Present andAnticipating the Needs of the Future

The following priorities are intended to guide the allocation of effort and resources for fire research, 

tool development, and delivering science-based knowledge and tools 

to managers and policymakers.

Strategic Goal 1

Advance the biological, physical, social, economic, and ecological sciences.

Research under this goal will improve the understanding of fire processes and 

interactions and deliver the basic scientific knowledge and understanding for 

developing the next generation of decision-support and predictive tools for fire and 

fuels management.

Core fire science:

Improved understanding of 

combustion processes, fuels, 

fire weather, fire behavior, and 

transitions.

Ecological and environmental

fire science:

Interactions among fire, other 

natural disturbance processes, 

and the physical and biological 

components of ecosystems and the 

environment.
National Fire Plan Research Program Five-Year Project Summary

44

Social fire science:

Social and economic dimensions 

of fire and fuels management, 

including firefighter safety, risk 

analysis, and improved methods 

for biomass utilization.

Integrated fire and fuels 

management research:

Landscape analysis and 

integrated interdisciplinary 

research to quantify the 

interacting effects of 

management strategies on 

ecology, environment, and 

society.

Strategic Goal 2

Develop and deliver knowledge and tools to policymakers, wildland fire 

managers, and communities.

Activities under this goal will ensure that knowledge generated by the USDA Forest 

Service and its cooperators is translated into a form that is useable by managers and 

the public and that is transferred to—and adopted by—the user community.

Synthesis and tool 

development:

Accelerate and coordinate 

the development of science 

syntheses and decision-support 

and predictive tools that build 

on Strategic Goal 1 research.

Science application strategy:

Develop and implement a 

comprehensive strategy for 

moving science into application, 

supporting and maintaining 

tools and models resulting from 

wildland fire and fuels R&D, 

and for evaluating success.

Strategic Goal 3

Provide Federal leadership for collaborative, coordinated, responsive, and 

forward-looking wildland fire-related Research and Development for all 

ownerships—now and in the future.

A new leadership structure and process for wildland fire and fuels research and 

development funding will support the implementation of a nationally coordinated 

wildland fire and fuels research and development program to address the priorities 

identified in Strategic Goals 1 and 2 (above).

The Forest Service’s Research and Development program will also strengthen 

collaborations with other agencies and partners to ensure that all Federal wildland 

fire and fuels research and development actions support the nation’s short-term 

priorities and long-term needs to reduce the negative economic, social, and 

environmental impacts of wildland fire—while improving the health of our country’s 

ecosystems, environment, and communities.

Federal Recycling Program Printed on Recycled Paper

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its 

programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, 

and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, 

sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or 

part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not 

all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, 

audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice 

and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil 

Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call 

(800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity 

provider and employer.

The Rocky Mountain Research Station develops scientific information 

and technology to improve management, protection, and use of the 

forests and rangelands. Research is designed to meet the needs of 

National Forest managers, Federal and State agencies, public and private 

organizations, academic institutions, industry, and individuals. 

Studies accelerate solutions to problems involving ecosystems, range, 

forests, water, recreation, fire, resource inventory, land reclamation, 

community sustainability, forest engineering technology, multiple use 

economics, wildlife and fish habitat, and forest insects and diseases. 

Studies are conducted cooperatively, and applications may be found 

worldwide.

Research Locations

Flagstaff, Arizona Reno, Nevada

Fort Collins, Colorado* Albuquerque, New Mexico

Boise, Idaho Rapid City, South Dakota

Moscow, Idaho Logan, Utah

Bozeman, Montana Ogden, Utah

Missoula, Montana Provo, Utah

*Station Headquarters, Natural Resources Research Center,

2150 Centre Avenue, Building A, Fort Collins, CO 80526

RMRS

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RESEARCH STATION