RESOURCE NOTES

NO. 8 DATE 07/07/99

Joint Fire Science

Program

by Bob Clark, Fire &

Aviation, BLM National

Interagency Fire Center

Background

The Joint Fire Science

Program (Program) was

established by the Congress

in the FY 1998

Appropriation for Interior

and Related Agencies.

Additional direction was provided by report number H.R.

105-163, including four

wildland fuels-related principal purposes. The overall

purpose of the program is to

obtain fire and fuels information and tools to help managers and specialists make

sound wildland fuels management decisions.

The Program is a partnership

of six agencies (U.S.

Department of Agriculture

(USDA) Forest Service and

the Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Bureau of Land

Management, National Park

Service, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, and U.S.

Geological Survey from the

Department of the Interior).

The Program has three formal management groups: (1)

the Governing Board, which

issues Requests for Proposals

(RFPs), selects and awards

projects, etc., is an appointed, 10-member Board representing the partner agencies;

(2) a Program office, which

manages day-to-day activities;

and (3) a Stakeholder

Advisory Group consisting of

15 Federal and 15 nonFederal representatives. The

Stakeholder Group is currently being chartered under

the Federal Advisory

Committee Act by the

Secretaries of Agriculture and

the Interior. The Group’s

purpose will be to provide

science project and priority

recommendations to the

Secretaries via the Governing

Board.

Discussion

The Program is funded by

redirecting base fire management funds of the land management partners at $8 million annually, with half of the

funding each in the USDA

Forest Service and the

Department of the Interior.

RFPs are issued periodically,

soliciting proposals which

address science issues raised

by the Congress, agency partners, Governing Board,

Stakeholder Advisory Group,

or other sources. The partnership acts collectively and

seeks competitive projects

that are transparent with

respect to agency jurisdiction,

fuel type, or geographic area.

To date, two RFPs have been

issued — June 1998 and

February 1999. Twentyseven projects were awarded

in 1998, and 16 additional

projects have been awarded

in 1999. To ensure that

deliverables are useful to

managers and specialists,

applied technology transfer is

essential for each project.

Also, digital copy of all deliverables is required for future

posting on a suitable website.

The first project completed

was the Joint Fire Science

Conference and Workshop

held during June 15-17,

1999. The purpose of the

workshop was to evaluate

the state-of-knowledge in

the remote sensing and GIS

fields and provide recommendations for future science

projects involving the remote

sensing of ecosystem health,

fuels loadings, and condition,

etc. Conference proceedings

are expected by January

2000. The second project,

nearing completion, is a set

of national maps identifying

ecosystems and wildlandRange

Fire
urban interface areas at risk

from catastrophic fire; these

were requested by the

Congress and will be available by fall 1999. The third

project, expected by January

2000, is a complete update

and re-issue of the “Rainbow

Series” — a series of fire

effects publications, originally

issued in the mid-1970s, that

are out-of-print and out-ofdate. Both hard and digital

versions will be available.

Conclusion

The interagency Program, on

a wildland fuels basis rather

than agency by agency basis,

is obtaining science project

deliverables expected to be

useful to local managers and

specialists, regardless of jurisdiction or affiliation. The

focus, as directed by the

Congress, is on wildland

fuels. Technology transfer is

a cornerstone of each project.

Project deliverables are currently coming on line.

Contact

The Program Office is located at the National

Interagency Fire Center in

Boise, ID. The Program

Manager is Bob Clark; he

can be contacted on (208)

387-5349 or via e-mail at

bob_clark@blm.gov. The

Program also maintains a

website at

http://www.nifc.gov/joint_fire_

sci/index.html. The website

includes the Joint Fire

Science Plan as submitted to

the Congress, RFPs, lists of

projects, links, and other

information.

Range

Range

Range

Resource Notes are intended to be early

announcements of technical and informational topics for

Bureau of Land Management personnel and some of their customers.

Information in this Resource Note is based on the opinion and

experience of the author and has not been peer-reviewed. Conclusions

and opinions expressed herein do not

necessarily represent those of BLM. Use of trade names does not

imply U.S. Government endorsement of commercial products.

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