Western Wildland Threats is an update containing the latest information 

concerning the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment 

Center’s ongoing research, projects, and partnerships. With this update, 

we hope to inform a broad and diverse group of land managers and 

policymakers about current WWETAC staff, activities, and products. 

About WWETAC

Western Wildland Threats

Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center – Fall Update 2010

Featured In This Issue

About WWETAC .....................................1

Meet The Staff ..................................... 3

Director’s Corner .................................5

Threat Mapper ..................................... 7

Western Riparian Threats 

Assessment ..........................................8

Bark Beetle Outbreaks 

and Wildfire ..........................................9

In The News ........................................ 10

Increasing Communication 

and Technology Transfer .................... 11

What’s New and Upcoming Events .... 11

Contact Information ...........................12

http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/

Western wildlands are subjected to disturbances such as fire, insect infestation, disease, 

invasive species, drought, and development. These stresses, alone or in combination, 

can significantly affect ecological and socioeconomic values and desired management 

outcomes. Wildland managers need state-of-the-art information and tools to help them 

anticipate and address a variety of land management issues and challenges. 

What We Do

The Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center staff and funded external 

partners develop and distribute information about forest threats. These threats include 

fire, invasive plants, potential insect outbreaks, the appearance of invasive insects, the 

appearance of new pathogens (such as Phytophthora ramorum, the cause of sudden 

oak death), and climate change. WWETAC, a unit within the Pacific Northwest Research 

Station (PNW), is located in Prineville, Oregon, co-located with the headquarters of the 

Ochoco National Forest. A similar center in Asheville, North Carolina, the Eastern Forests 

Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC), addresses environmental threats in 

the Eastern United States.

The mission of the center is to generate and integrate knowledge and information to 

provide credible prediction, early detection, and quantitative assessment of environmental threats in the Western United States. The goal of WWETAC is to inform policy 

and support the management of environmental threats to western wildlands. The 

specific goals and objectives of WWETAC include: 

•	 Evaluating the effects and consequences of multiple, interacting stresses on

western wildland health. 

•	 Increasing knowledge of the risks, uncertainties, and benefits of multiple environmental stresses on western ecological conditions and socioeconomic values.

•	 Providing science-based decision-support tools for policy formulation and land

management in the Western United States.

•	 Providing land managers with credible predictions of potential severe disturbances

in the West with sufficient warning for managers to take preventive actions. 

•	 Reducing the likelihood of severe disturbances through better informed

management strategies. 

Continued on page 2

USDA Forest 

Service

Pacific Northwest 

Research Station
2 | Western Wildland Threats

Western Wildland Threats

Focus Areas

WWETAC’s work centers around the following focus areas. 

Understanding and Managing Wildland Threats

Wildlands of the Western United States are vulnerable to existing 

and newly emerging environmental threats (fire, insect and 

disease outbreaks, invasive species, and climate change), landuse change, and other stresses associated with human activities 

and land management. The West’s natural resource assets can 

be sustainably managed in an effective manner by improved 

understanding and anticipation of environmental threats that 

impact natural resources. Work in this area includes a broad 

range of projects largely focused on both understanding and 

managing individual threat processes.

Threat Interactions

Multiple interacting disturbances affect the structure and 

function of wildland ecosystems throughout the western United 

States. Although some disturbance processes and environmental 

change are integral to the function and evolution of ecosystems, 

their effects are often socioeconomically undesirable and 

perceived as threats to society at large. Furthermore, some 

disturbance regimes are being significantly modified through 

interactions with other threats such as climate change. Work in 

this area includes developing a suite of coordinated research to 

address an array of multiple threats. 

Wildfire Risk Framework and Tools

Federal land management agencies have been slow to adopt riskbased approaches to help analyze the potential resource impacts 

from wildfire and fuel treatments. This has been largely because 

the modeling tools and framework for wildfire risk analyses have 

heretofore been lacking. Work in this area includes developing 

a risk analysis framework and tools to employ risk analyses in 

land management planning, prioritization, project planning, and 

national assessments. The WWETAC Threat Mapper is a tool that 

can be useful in such analyses. 

Threat Projections and Mapping

In the past, it has been difficult to find geographically comprehensive and spatially explicit data (i.e., maps) to inform national, 

strategic-level decisionmaking. Today, a lack of data is usually 

not the problem, but rather decisionmakers are faced with the 

daunting task of locating, analyzing and visualizing the many 

data types and themes in a comprehensive manner. Systems are 

needed in which forest and rangeland policymakers and managers, as well as scientists, can access maps or other forms of 

projections of vulnerabilities, threats, and risks to forests and 

rangelands from multiple competing or exacerbating stresses. 

These include fire, invasive species, disease, pest outbreaks, 

climate change, fragmentation, and land-use change. Work in this 

area includes developing a virtual globe viewer for interactively 

mapping the spatial co-occurrence of various environmental 

threats and values. 

Our Partners

WWETAC is jointly funded by three branches of the Forest 

Service: the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, 

and Research and Development. The center is administered 

through the Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Who Benefits:

•	 Federal, state, tribal, and private land managers

•	 Policymakers

•	 Landowners

•	 Communities

•	 Watershed and urban planning professionals

Visit us at http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/
Western Wildland Threats | 3

Fall Update 2010

Alan A. Ager

Alan Ager is an operations 

research analyst. He has worked 

on a wide range of research 

and management projects since 

starting with the Forest Service 

in 1987. His current interests 

include stress detection in 

forest trees, spatial modeling 

of wildfire, risk analysis, and a 

variety of operations research 

problems related to forest 

management. Alan received a 

Ph.D. in forest genetics at the University of Washington, an M.S. 

in plant genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a 

B.S. in forest science and forest management from the University of Washington.

Judy Haigler 

Judy Haigler is the program 

assistant for WWETAC. Judy 

has 23 years of experience 

working with the Forest Service 

in numerous administrative 

positions. Judy’s duties at 

WWETAC include financial 

management, procurement, 

grants and agreements, 

contracting, and other 

technical and administrative 

tasks. She received a Business 

Management Certificate in 1972 from Lane Community College

in Eugene, Oregon, and continued with administrative work 

throughout her career.

Nancy Grulke

Nancy Grulke is the new incoming Director of WWETAC; she 

comes to the position from the Pacific Southwest Research 

Station. Nancy has worked in a variety of capacities for state 

and federal governments, universities, 

nonprofits, and in the private sector. 

She was a science coordinator for the 

Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest 

Research Stations’ Climate Change 

Program in Corvallis, Oregon; worked 

at Montana State University; and was 

adjunct faculty at the University of 

Alaska Fairbanks and Oregon State 

University. She also worked as a 

consultant in Washington state on a 

variety of projects and for The Nature 

Conservancy in the eastern Montana 

grasslands. Over the years, Nancy has worked on a number of 

environmental threats across the Western United States, with 

a focus on national forests. She received her undergraduate 

degree in ecology at Duke University and a Ph.D. in botany from 

the University of Washington.

Charles “Terry” Shaw

Charles G. “Terry” Shaw is Chief Scientist 

at WWETAC. Previously, Terry was 

the national program lead for forest 

pathology research in the Forest Service 

Washington office. Terry has had a 

long career as a scientist and project 

manager in Alaska and Colorado and 

has served in many capacities, including 

the science review team leader for the 

Tongass National Forest plan. Terry’s 

field of expertise includes research in the 

areas of Armillaria root disease, dwarf 

mistletoes, and forest pest modeling/risk assessment. Terry 

graduated from Oregon State University in 1974 with a Ph.D. 

in plant pathology and spent time with the research sector of 

the New Zealand Forest Service.

Continued on page 4

Meet the Staff
4 | Western Wildland Threats

Western Wildland Threats

Jeffrey Hicke

Jeff Hicke is a visiting scientist at 

WWETAC and an assistant professor of 

geography and environmental science 

at the University of Idaho (UI). He

studies global environmental change 

issues across a range of spatial and 

temporal scales. In particular, Jeff’s

research addresses the interaction of 

climate, forests, and disturbances such 

as wildfire and insect outbreaks. Jeff 

received his Ph.D. from the University 

of Colorado at Boulder and held a 

research scientist position at the Natural Resource Ecology 

Laboratory at Colorado State University before coming to UI

in August 2006.

Michelle Buonopane

Michelle Buonopane works as a 

biological science technician 

specializing in botany for the PNW 

Research Station. Michelle works for 

WWETAC helping with database 

management, statistical analysis, 

geographic information system (GIS)

support, field logistics, and botanical 

expertise. She has also worked as a 

botanist with The Nature Conservancy, 

the Bureau of Land Management,

Oregon State University, and with the 

Jornada Basin Long-Term Research Station. Michelle received

her M.S. in botany and plant pathology at Oregon State 

University, completing a project on the application of 

GIS technology to herbarium database management.

Nicole Vaillant

Nicole Vaillant is a fire ecologist 

who joined WWETAC in April 

2010. Nicole has worked for 

the Forest Service since 2001. 

Prior to joining WWETAC, Nicole 

worked as a seasonal wildland 

firefighter, including a season 

with the Redding Hotshots. She 

was also a fire ecologist with the 

Adaptive Management Services 

Enterprise Team. Her current 

interests include characterizing 

fire behavior at multiple scales, fuel treatment effectiveness, 

and risk analysis. Nicole received her B.S. (evolution and ecology) at the University of California-Davis and her M.S. and Ph.D 

(environmental science policy and management) at the University of California-Berkeley. Nicole’s research focused on forestry 

and fire. 

A. Paige Fischer

Paige Fischer joined WWETAC 

in the summer of 2010 to help 

the center better address the 

human dimensions of environmental threats. Since she began 

working with the PNW Research 

Station in 2007, Paige’s research 

interests have included social 

and cultural influences on how 

people, particularly private 

landowners, approach wildfire 

risk, global climate change, and 

ecological restoration. She is particularly interested in how 

people build and share ecological knowledge and cooperate 

across ownership boundaries to address landscape-scale environmental threats. Paige received a B.A. (anthropology) from 

Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and an M.S. and Ph.D. (social 

science/forestry) from Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Western Wildland Threats | 5

Fall Update 2010

What were WWETAC’s biggest challenges during your 

5-year tenure?

Staffing the center was most challenging, primarily due to 

several unique components associated with the Western 

Center. A second major challenge was that we had a brand 

new charter that included a mission statement, goals, and 

objectives, but it was all very broad-based. The challenge 

was to translate those broad concepts into findings, products, 

and services. 

What has WWETAC accomplished and excelled at? 

What skill sets are unique to the scientists who work for 

WWETAC?

WWETAC has started the process of a new type of work that 

focuses on the interactions of environmental threats; we’ve 

started a quantitative risk analysis of threat interactions. 

Ideally, WWETAC scientists not only have research backgrounds, but also the experience that facilitates an understanding about stakeholders’ concerns and needs, and an 

ability to transfer that understanding into useful products. 

What do you feel is important for WWETAC to 

contribute in the future?

Our 5-year review offered several recommendations for 

improvement. WWETAC is in the process of coming up with 

a strategic implementation plan that includes:

•	 Focusing WWETAC’s work.

•	 Increasing technology transfer.

•	 Establishing a user advisory group.

•	 Incorporating the social science element.

•	 Increasing internal and external communications.

Are there any words of wisdom you would offer the 

incoming director? 

One of the greatest challenges has been to establish the center 

as a west-wide institution. Although we are physically located 

close to the Pacific Northwest Research Station (PNW), it is 

important that stakeholders outside of PNW know who we are, 

what it is we do, and that WWETAC works for them, as well. 

What have you enjoyed most about your career in 

land management?

The best thing about my Forest Service career was the 

opportunity to work in three deputy program areas; when I

was in State and Private Forestry, I worked in Forest Health

Protection as a field forest pathologist, a group leader in 

the Regional office, and a Deputy Director of the national 

program in the Washington office. In the National Forest

System, I was an acting District Ranger on the Mount Hood

National Forest for 6 months; and finally, when I was part of

PNW and WWETAC, it was a fun and interesting time for me. I

am grateful for those collective experiences, as it made for an 

interesting and engaging career. 

Would you care to add anything else?

I believe WWETAC has the potential to be a template for how 

the Forest Service can accomplish integrated work into the 

future. I hope it continues to be supported, and successful,

in its endeavors. 

WWETAC’s outgoing Director, Jerry Beatty

An interview with WWETAC’s outgoing Director, 

Jerry Beatty
6 | Western Wildland Threats

Western Wildland Threats

Tell us a little bit about yourself...

My academic experience has played a big role in where I am 

today. I received my undergraduate degree in ecology at Duke

University; studying ecology has greatly influenced the way 

I approach my work. I received a Ph.D. in botany from the

University of Washington, which I believe has made me more

flexible throughout my Forest Service career. Over the years, 

I’ve worked on a number of environmental threats across the

Western United States, with a focus on national forests. 

How would you describe your management style?

My management style is flexible and collaborative.

Do you have a guiding vision for WWETAC into 

the future? 

I want to continue the great work of Jerry Beatty, the former

Director, and Terry Shaw, the acting Director. I have several

ideas that I want to explore with the WWETAC team. I believe

we have great potential for improving the communications of 

our findings while maintaining and expanding our partnerships, 

improving our visibility, and testing strategies that facilitate 

healthy forests and wetlands.

How do you envision the Director’s role strengthening 

the tie between Research and Development, the 

National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, 

and external stakeholders?

I am looking to facilitate two-way communications with the

people we serve. I envision “replicating” our small number of

scientists by potentially recruiting forestry students to help 

us bridge communications and possibly to provide training 

for the new tools we are developing.

Are there some specific applications that you plan 

to pursue?

I would like to use existing treatments to help test our models 

and make sure they are correct; that we are adequately 

capturing ecosystem responses. The recent recruitment 

of a social scientist to the WWETAC team adds a social 

component that better integrates the values at risk associated 

with environmental threats. We have recently hosted two 

well-attended Webinars, and we’ll be looking for additional 

opportunities to utilize technology transfer for informationsharing purposes.

What role might the National Forest System and State 

and Private Forestry assume to support the application 

of WWETAC research findings on the ground?

I think it is vital for the people we serve to communicate their

needs to us. They have the local, on-the-ground knowledge 

that helps us test the effectiveness of our tools. Sharing that 

knowledge with WWETAC is essential. 

WWETAC’s incoming Director, Nancy Grulke

An interview with WWETAC’s incoming Director, 

Nancy Grulke
Western Wildland Threats | 7

Fall Update 2010

The WWETAC Threat Mapper project allows us to explore several 

new technologies for wildland threat detection, mapping, and 

assessment. A major focus area of the project is building an 

online mapping system that integrates risk maps generated by 

the Forest Service and other land management agencies. The 

mapping system provides an interactive system to examine 

spatial patterns of multiple threats and the human and ecological values they potentially affect. 

A second focus of the project is to build a spatial data mining 

application that can search for spatial data posted on Internet

GIS servers. Systematic data mining of geospatial and other data

on the Internet may provide a novel means for early detection

and assessment of ecosystem change and impending natural 

disturbances. 

There are over 30,000 Internet map servers and an estimated

1 million spatial data sets available online. The potential value of 

these data in wildland threat assessments is largely unknown, 

although Webcrawlers to locate, assess, and connect to online 

spatial data are beginning to appear in the research domain. As 

part of the Threat Mapper project, we built a spatial data search 

engine to explore online geospatial data for wildland threat 

assessments. The system provides keyword-based searches 

and display of spatial data posted on Internet map servers.

A third component of the threat mapping project is the 

application of cloud computing for hosting geospatial data 

servers and mapping applications. Cloud computing is an 

inexpensive and relatively simple solution for federal agencies to 

build and host online mapping systems for internal and external 

users. The applications described above, including the online 

mapping system and geospatial search engine, are hosted on an 

“Amazon EC2” elastic cloud computer. To our knowledge, these 

are the first applications in the Forest Service to employ cloud 

computing.

The Threat Mapper project is available at: 

http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/threat_map

Using GeoServer and OpenLayers, the cloud map displays in your Web browser without software installation required.

Threat Mapper by Alan A. Ager
8 | Western Wildland Threats

Western Wildland Threats

Western Riparian Threats Assessment BY David M. Merritt, David M. Theobald, and TERRY Shaw

Riparian ecosystems are of high conservation priority because 

they provide a disproportionate quantity of ecosystem services 

relative to their occurence on the landscape. In the arid Western

United States, riparian ecosystems and wetlands occupy from 

0.8 to 2 percent of the landscape, yet they provide habitat, 

water, and other resources to greater than half the wildlife 

species in the region, and harbor the highest plant, bird, insect, 

reptile-amphibian, and mammal biodiversity of any terrestrial 

ecosystem. 

There is a large and rapidly increasing human demand on 

resources associated with rivers throughout the Western United 

States. Human activities and extraction of natural resources on 

the landscape affect the physical processes that support many 

of the values provided by riparian ecosystems. Activities such as 

road building, residential development, logging, ski area expansion, and mining influence the hydrologic cycle and affect the 

timing and rate of sediment yield and volume entering stream 

channels. 

In addition to the uncertainties associated with climate change

(see fig. 1), an evaluation of the services, threats, tradeoffs, and 

alternative approaches to utilization of riparian resources is 

timely. There is a need to assess threats to ecosystem function 

and to develop risk management strategies to minimize or adapt 

to threats in order to maintain ecosystem function.

In our report, we examined historical, current, and future

threats to streams and riparian areas in the Western United 

States. Threats and associated causes included changes in flow 

owing to diversion, climate change, and land use; channelization 

as a result of bank hardening and structural changes to the 

channel; invasive species introduction and spread; changes in 

sediment delivery owing to off-road vehicle use; roads; livestock 

trampling and mechanical impacts; herbivory threats as a result 

of domestic and wild herbivores; wildfire and fuels threats 

caused by fuel buildup from invasive species; fire suppression 

activities; decadent vegetation; and flood suppression or lack 

of flooding. Examples of the effects of these threats to riparian 

ecosystems include a shift in plant species composition, displacement of native species, modified soil characteristics, changes 

in channel and flood-plain form and processes, compaction of 

vegetation, increase in the frequency and intensity of fires, and 

changes in habitat quality and distribution. 

Figure 1——The riparian threats score for the past-to-current climate 

scenarios (top) and current-to-future climate scenarios (bottom). 

The score was normalized to show the highest threat level (dark 

blue) through the lowest threat level (light blue) using percentiles.

A draft of the full report is available at: 

http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/projects/theobald.html
Western Wildland Threats | 9

Fall Update 2010

The authors also reviewed studies addressing the effects 

of beetle-caused tree mortality on subsequent wildfire. They 

reported that time-since-disturbance was an important consideration because of the dynamics of fuel distributions and that 

many findings are mixed or conclusions nonexistent for important forest types. In response to stakeholder inquiry, WWETAC

convened a team to review the literature of the effects of bark 

beetle outbreaks on wildfire characteristics (occurrence, extent, 

behavior). Multiple types of studies that address different fire 

characteristics have been published, from field measurements to 

statistical analyses to fire behavior modeling. The team is developing a conceptual framework based on the published literature 

that identifies changes in fuels and fire probability, extent, and 

behavior. The WWETAC review team is also considering effects 

on firefighters and operations. The team’s synthesis, which will 

also provide a summary of knowledge gaps and note ongoing 

projects, will be available in the near future. 

The full report is available at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/publications/

WWETAC_Fire-BB_InterX_25Feb2008.pdf

Bark beetles and wildland fire are two natural disturbances 

occurring across much of the western landscape. Forest managers in the Western United States are confronted with larger and 

more severe wildland fires, and insect outbreaks are killing trees 

across millions of acres of forest in the West. Potential interactions between these disturbances exist as insect-killed trees 

modify fuels and fires kill or weaken trees. Weakened trees can 

be more susceptible to drought, pathogens, and again insects.

WWETAC has funded several research activities to gain 

insights regarding these interactions and to identify any 

associated implications for forest managers. Simard and 

others reported that some beetle species (Ips, wood borers,

Douglas-fir beetle) have higher attack rates on fire-injured 

trees. Conclusions about effects on mountain pine beetle are 

mixed or unknown, and more research is required on many 

other tree and beetle species.

Interactions Between Bark Beetle Outbreaks and Wildfire in the West by Jeffrey A. Hicke

Lodgepole pine killed by mountain pine beetle in Grand County, Colorado.

Photo by Jeff Hicke.
10 | Western Wildland Threats

Western Wildland Threats

In the News: WWETAC Scientists Alan 

Ager and Nicole Vaillant Receive 2010 

PNW Science Findings Award

Increasing Communication and 

Technology Transfer Capacity 

Each month, the Pacific Northwest Research Station selects Within the Center

noteworthy science findings submitted by station scientists 

for publication. Science Findings helps communicate research 

findings that have important implications for decisionmaking 

in management and associated policy, contributes research to 

scientific literature, and demonstrates collaboration. WWETAC 

scientists Alan Ager and Nicole Vaillant’s topic, “The wildland 

fuels policy paradox: finding common ground between 

restoring fire-adapted landscapes and protecting the public 

interface” was recently selected for a 2010 Science Findings 

award. In addition to having their work published, Alan and

Nicole’s program receives a cash award. 

Ager and Vaillant’s study used wildfire simulation modeling 

to examine whether forest restoration and community wildfire 

protection programs were competing or compatible from a 

management and policy perspective. Fuel treatment scenarios 

were simulated that targeted protection of structures in the 

wildland-urban interface (WUI) and compared with simulations of restored overstocked stands in adjacent federal lands. 

Model runs suggest that treatments on a relatively minor 

percentage of federal lands (10 to 15 percent) could result in 

a 70-percent reduction in the potential wildfire loss of large, 

fire-resilient trees. Most importantly, a substantial reduction 

in burn probability was observed around structures within the 

WUI where fuel treatments were simulated 5 to 10 kilometers

distant.

Management implications as a result of this study indicate 

that fuel treatments on federal lands outside of WUIs can

potentially reduce wildfire threats within WUIs. This study also

indicates that increasing focus on forest restoration activities 

does not necessarily compromise protecting private property 

in the WUI, although management of fuels adjacent to homes

and in the surrounding landscape are both important risk mitigation measures. The findings can be used by planners and 

policymakers to justify forest restoration objectives as part 

of WUI protection programs and to allocate funding sources

targeted for WUI protection to meet broader ecological restoration goals with respect to wildfire, biodiversity conservation, 

and overall forest health. 

WWETAC recently began developing a Communication and 

Technology Transfer Plan that targets its many current and 

potential clients and user groups. A team of Forest Service 

research and development experts, communications professionals, and university extension specialists held several 

meetings with WWETAC staff to help identify audience needs 

for products as well as appropriate communication/technology 

transfer tools and technologies. The following plan goals are 

now in place: 

•	 Deliver accessible, audience-tailored information about

environmental threats to land managers, policymakers, 

and the general public.

•	 Increase recognition of WWETAC among stakeholders

and clearly establish its role in addressing threats at a 

landscape level across the West.

•	 Develop networks and communication channels with

selected stakeholders to improve awareness of their 

information needs.

•	 Continue to communicate internally with staff and

funded cooperators about the importance of 

communications and technology transfer. 

Although overall plan implementation will involve input from 

the new WWETAC Director, several short-term activities have 

been initiated. These include creation of this new update, the 

deployment of Webinars, and a review of current and potential 

WWETAC technology transfer products. The plan also includes 

strategies for working closely with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) to engage a 

national-level technical user group. 
Western Wildland Threats | 11

Fall Update 2010

What’s New

Climate Change Webinar webcrawler

WWETAC has recently partnered with the University of Washington 

to deliver a Webinar titled “Integrating Climate Change With

Forest Vegetation Models for Adaptation Planning: A Webinar for 

Managers, Planners, Vegetation Modelers, and Climate Change 

Coordinators.” It was delivered live on July 27, 2010, and August

4, 2010. Archived versions are available at: 

http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/workshops/index.html

WWETAC News Webcrawler

This tool automatically finds, lists, and updates news articles 

related to wildland “threats”. It is available at:

http://184.73.187.208/TNE/tne.html

Upcoming Events

What? When? Where? More Info

ArcFuels Training September 27––29, 2010 Northern Arizona University 

For more information, 

contact Nicole Vaillant at 

nvaillant@fs.fed.us

Global Change and the 

World’s Mountains September 26––30, 2010 Perth, Scotland

http://www.perth.ac.uk/specialistcentres/cms/conferences/

perth2010/pages/default.aspx

FIA Symposium 2010:

Monitoring Across Borders October 5––7, 2010 Knoxville, Tennessee http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/ symposium

International Association of

Wildland Fire Conference October 25––29, 2010 Spokane, Washington http://www.iawfonline.org 

ArcFuels Training October 25, 2010 Spokane, Washington

For more info, contact 

Nicole Vaillant at 

nvaillant@fs.fed.us

The 2010 Restoring the West 

Conference October 26––27, 2010 Logan, Utah http://restoringthewest.org/

Predicting Behavior of Forest 

Diseases as Climate Changes: 

A WWETAC Webinar

November 3 and 

December 2, 2010 online

To register, visit 

http://ucanr.org/wwetac_ 

registration

American Geophysical Union 

Fall Meeting December 13––17, 2010 San Francisco, California http://www.agu.org/meetings/

fm10/
Judy Haigler

Program Assistant

jhaigler@fs.fed.us

(541) 416-6618

Jeffrey Hicke

Visiting Scientist

jhicke@uidaho.edu

208.885-6240

Charles “Terry” Shaw

Chief Scientist

cgshaw@fs.fed.us

(541) 416-6600

Nicole Vaillant

Fire Ecologist

nvaillant@fs.fed.us 

(541) 233-6107

Western Wildland 

Environmental Threat 

Assessment Center

3160 NE Third Street 

Prineville, OR 97754 

Phone: (541) 416-6583 

Fax: (541) 416-6693

http://www.fs.fed.us/

wwetac/

Center Staff Contact us

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 of 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 (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. SW, Washington, D.C. 

20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) 

or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal 

opportunity provider and employer. 

http://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/

Lodgepole pine trees recently 

attacked by mountain pine beetle. 

Photo by Jeff Hicke.

Western Wildland Threats

Nancy Grulke

Director

ngrulke@fs.fed.us

(541) 416-6583

Alan A. Ager

Operations Research 

Analyst

aager@fs.fed.us

(541) 416-6603

Michelle Buonopane

Biological Science 

Technician

mbuonopane@fs.fed.us

(541) 758-7768

A. Paige Fischer

Research Social Scientist

paigefischer@fs.fed.us

(541) 758-7793

USDA Forest 

Service

Pacific Northwest 

Research Station