A Consumer Guide:

Tools to Manage

Vegetation and Fuels

David L. Peterson, Louisa Evers, 

Rebecca A. Gravenmier, and Ellen Eberhardt

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest

Research Station

General Technical

Report

PNW-GTR-690

January 2007
Authors

David L. Peterson is a research biologist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

ForestService, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences

Laboratory, 400 N 34th Street, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98103; Louisa Evers is a 

fire ecologist, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office, 333 SW First

Avenue, Portland, OR 97204; Rebecca A. Gravenmier is a natural resource specialist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research

Station, Station Director’s Office, 333 SW First Avenue, Portland, OR 97205; 

and Ellen Eberhardt is a technical information specialist, U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 3200 SW

Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331.

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of 

multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water,

forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the States and 

private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and national grasslands, it

strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service to a growing

Nation.

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 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.
Abstract

Peterson, David L.; Evers, Louisa; Gravenmier, Rebecca A.; Eberhardt, 

Ellen. 2007. A consumer guide: tools to manage vegetation and fuels. Gen.

Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-690. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 151 p.

Current efforts to improve the scientific basis for fire management on public lands 

will benefit from more efficient transfer of technical information and tools that 

support planning, implementation, and effectiveness of vegetation and hazardous

fuel treatments. The technical scope, complexity, and relevant spatial scale of analytical and decision-support tools differ considerably, which provides a challenge 

to resource managers and other users who want to select tools appropriate for a

particular application. This publication provides a state-of-science summary of

tools currently available for management of vegetation and fuels. Detailed summaries include a description of each tool, location where it can be obtained, relevant spatial scale, level of user knowledge required, data requirements, model

outputs, application in fuel treatments, linkage to other tools, and availability 

of training and support. Streamlined summaries in tabular format allow users to 

rapidly identify those tools that could potentially be applied to a specific management need. In addition, an interdisciplinary team process is described that facilitates application of tools and decisionmaking at different spatial scales.

Keywords: Decision support, fire management, fuel treatment, hazardous fuel.
Contents

1 Introduction–Science-Based Vegetation and Fuels Planning

1 Consistent Decision Process

7 High-Quality Data

8 Accountability Process

10 Adaptive Learning Through Collaboration

10 What Is Contained in This Guide?

11 Why Are the Summaries of Tools Needed?

11 How Were the Summaries of Tools Developed?

12 How Is Best Available Science Determined?

12 Keep Processes Objective and Credible

12 Consult With Experts

13 Compare Alternatives

13 Document the Selection Process

13 Consult Outside Reviewers

13 Consult Potential Stakeholders

14 How Should Information in This Publication Be Used?

14 Are Other Sources of Information Available?

15 How Can a Set of Tools be Integrated for Vegetation and Fuels 

Planning?

15 Example 1–One to a Few Forest Stands

25 Example 2–Small to Moderate Watersheds

26 Example 3–Large Watersheds to National Forest

27 Species Mentioned

28 Metric Equivalents

28 Acknowledgments

28 Literature Cited

30 Appendix 1: Tools

30 Armillaria Response Tool (ART)

33 BehavePlus

38 BlueSky Smoke Forecast System (BlueSky)

41 Comparative Risk Assessment in Fire and Fuels Planning (CRAFT)

43 Consume 3.0

46 Fire Area Spread Simulator (FARSITE 4.0.4)

49 Fire Behavior Assessment Tool (FBAT)

51 Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT)

54 Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)
56 Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

59 Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM)

63 Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)

66 FireFamily Plus

69 Fire and Fuels Extension–Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS)

72 Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

76 Fireshed Assessment: An Integrated Approach to Landscape Planning

80 First Order Fire Effects Model 5.2 (FOFEM)

83 FlamMap 3.0 Beta 6

86 Forest Inventory and Analysis Biomass Summarization System (FIA

BioSum)

89 Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

93 Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) Fuelbed Mapping

95 Fuels Management Analyst Plus (FMA Plus)

98 Gradient Nearest Neighbor (GNN) Method and Software for Regional Mapping 

of Vegetation and Fuels

101 Gradient Nearest Neighbor (GNN) Vegetation and Fuel Maps, Including 

Metadata and Accuracy Assessment

104 Guide to Fuel Treatment in Dry Forests of the Western United States: 

Assessing Forest Structure and Fire Hazard

106 Harvest Cost and Revenue Estimator (HCR Estimator)

110 Integrated Forest Resource Management System (INFORMS)

112 LANDFIRE

115 LANDIS and LANDIS-II

117 Landscape Simulator

119 My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP)

122 NEXUS

124 Optimizing Fuel Solutions and Ecological Values in Landscapes (FUELSOLVE)

126 Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

130 Smoke Impact Spreadsheet (SIS)

131 Stereo Photo Series for Quantifying Natural Fuels

134 Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis (TELSA)

137 Understory Response Model (URM)

140 Valuation of Ecosystem Restoration Strategies (VERSTRA)

142 Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)

145 Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Fuel Management (FuMe) Tool

147 Wildlife Habitat Response Model (WHRM)

149 Appendix 2: Acronyms and Models
Introduction–Science-Based Vegetation 

and Fuels Planning

Resource managers need strategies to reduce fuel loadings and retain resilience to 

future fire and other disturbances, because fire exclusion has altered the structure

and function of dry forest and rangeland ecosystems in the interior Western United

States. A scientific foundation and technical support are needed for the development of consistent, long-term strategic plans for fuel and vegetation treatments

(hereafter referred to as “fuel treatments”) for all spatial scales and planning units.

The plans are typically a component of fire management plans, national forest

plans, and other planning documents, and should be compatible with national,

regional, and local strategies for fuel treatments and other aspects of resource 

management. 

Scientific and technical support provides principles and tools that inform management decisions regarding fuel treatments, contribute to the application of best

management practices, and support the spatial and temporal placement of treatments to facilitate management effectiveness and attainment of desired future 

conditions. Credible science-based fuel treatment includes:

• A consistent decision process for identifying and planning fuel treatments.

• High-quality data for landscapes where treatments are proposed.

• An accountability process including long-term monitoring for documenting

and evaluating treatments.

Consistent Decision Process

Management-science collaboration—

An effective collaborative approach for decisionmaking is an interdisciplinary

(ID) team consisting of (1) local resource specialists from a large management unit

(e.g., national forest, ranger district, Bureau of Land Management [BLM] district,

national park, or wildlife refuge), (2) one or more resource specialists from an

administrative office (e.g., Forest Service regional office, BLM state office), (3)

one or more research scientists, (4) local stakeholders if there is sufficient interest

(e.g., municipal officials, business representatives, nongovernmental organizations),

and (5) a facilitator. It is helpful to have technical specialists in fire, vegetation

management, wildlife, soils, and hydrology, although this may not always be possible. It is also desirable to have expertise in planning and National Environmental

Policy Act (NEPA) processes, as well as a higher level manager or someone on the

team with clear decisionmaking authority. Some teams may also want to include

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

1
expertise in economics and social science. This is an ideal team composition that

may not always be attainable.

Primary responsibilities of the ID team are listed below:

ID team member Responsibilities

Local resource specialists Geospatial databases (fuel and vegetation data, 

historical fire occurrence, wildlife, hydrology), natural resource expertise, management objectives and

desired conditions (watershed protection, resource

values, etc.), guidance on local regulatory and political issues (threatened and endangered species, air

quality, etc.)

Resource specialists from Administration of consistent ID team process, 

an administrative office guidance on national and regional regulatory policy

issues, NEPA guidance, natural resource expertise.

Research scientists Expertise in natural resource science, capability in 

modeling and decision support, contribution of 

relevant data, document review, consistent application of science among administrative units, on-going

scientific consultation.

Local stakeholders Collaboration with local residents and businesses; 

identification of economic, esthetic, and environmental concerns.

Facilitator Facilitation of efficient and productive ID team 

meetings, documentation and reporting of proceedings, communication among ID team members.

Scale-based decision framework—

Decisions about vegetation and fuels planning differ according to spatial scale

and are prompted by different issues and decision criteria. Most available information and analyses have been developed for application at smaller spatial scales, and

it is often not appropriate to scale up to broader spatial scales. Scaling up information, analyses, and decisions can be done, but only with the knowledge that error

(or larger confidence intervals) will likely be introduced into quantitative and qualitative aspects of decisionmaking.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Relevant scale-based questions include:

One to a few forest or range sites—

• What is the potential for unplanned fire with unacceptable results or costs? 

• What are desired fire behavior and fire effects, and which fuels should be 

removed to attain them?

• Which kinds and spatial arrangement of treatments will most effectively 

modify fire behavior, allow fire to be successfully suppressed, and attain

desired conditions for multiple resource objectives?

• What are specific options for fuel treatments and the quantitative and 

qualitative costs/benefits associated with each?

• What is the expected duration of effectiveness for each fuel treatment?

• Which logistic considerations and risks must be addressed to successfully 

conduct the fuel treatment?

Small to moderate watersheds (approximately 5th- to 6th-field hydrologic unit code 

[HUC])—

• Which stands or groups of stands are at highest risk for crown fire or large, 

homogeneous burns owing to fuel accumulation?

• Which resources (habitat, structures, water quality, etc.) are at high risk 

from fire owing to fuel accumulation?

• Which locations, if treated, will allow the creation of fuel conditions that 

facilitate successful fire suppression?

• Where are fuel treatment options limited or restricted owing to administrative prohibitions, limited access, high risk, or low probability of success?

Large watershed (approximately 4th-field HUC) to national forest or BLM 

district—

• Which resources (e.g., habitat, water quality) and other assets (e.g., 

buildings, communication facilities) are at high risk from fire owing to 

fuel accumulation and require priority allocation of effort?

• Which locations provide the greatest strategic opportunity for fuel 

treatments that would facilitate attainment of desired conditions (e.g., 

reduce large-scale fire hazard, facilitate successful fire suppression)?

• Do opportunities exist for long-term biomass utilization and other 

sustainable means of revenue production?

• Where are fuel treatment options limited or restricted owing to 

administrative prohibitions, limited access, high risk, or low probability 

of success?

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

3
The ID team needs to consider which decision systems and tools are most 

appropriate for informing the decision process at each spatial scale. The focus of

fuel treatment is typically on reducing hazardous surface fuel and crown fire hazard, but consideration also needs to be given to how the fuel treatment will affect

other vegetation, wildlife, aquatic resources, and economic values.

A decision framework—

A NEPA analysis or similar type of decision framework is required for many 

aspects of forest and rangeland management, including fuel and vegetation treatments. The decision framework below can be used as a point of departure for the

analysis of individual fuel treatments, as well as broad-scale fuel treatments across

forest and rangeland landscapes.

Desired conditions can be clearly defined for fuel treatments at all spatial

scales for which treatments are considered. Attainment of these conditions 

normally requires:

• Reduced fuel loadings in locations that currently have heavy accumulations

of hazardous fuels (including reduction in fire regime condition class).

• Reduced potential for crown fire, intense surface fire, and undesirable fire 

effects on vegetation and other resources.

• Reduced potential for adverse fire effects on local communities and 

structures.

• A general desire for more heterogeneity of vegetation across the landscape.

Consequences of fuel treatments, including long-term and short-term outcomes, can be evaluated through a series of questions for alternative fuel treatment

options, such as:

Wildfire

• What are the effects on crown fire hazard?

• What are the effects on surface fire hazard?

• Can future fires be suppressed when necessary?

• At what interval will fuels need to be treated in the future? What kinds 

of treatments will be needed?

• What are the cumulative effects of multiple treatments on wildfire 

potential?

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Vegetation

• What are the effects on large trees and snags?

• What are the effects on the vegetation desired to be left following 

treatment?

• What are the effects (positive and negative) on special-status plant 

species?

• What are the effects on exotic species?

• What patterns of plant communities, habitats, and structures will 

develop?

Wildlife

• What are the effects on critical habitat structures and animal 

populations?

• What are the effects (positive and negative) on special-status animal 

species?

• What patterns of animal habitat will develop through time?

Aquatic systems and water

• What are the effects on water quality?

• What are the effects on water yield?

• What are the effects on fish habitat?

• What are the effects on riparian systems? 

Soils

• What are the effects on sediment production and delivery?

• What are the effects on soil fertility and long-term productivity?

• What are the effects on large woody debris and soil organic matter?

Air

• What are the effects on production of particulates and gases?

• What are the effects on mandatory Class 1 areas, designated 

nonattainment areas, and air quality management areas?

• What are the downwind smoke effects from prescribed fires?

• What are threats to air quality if no action is taken?

Cultural resources

• What are the effects on archeological sites and other cultural resources?

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

5
Local community involvement

• Are there opportunities for collaboration with local citizens (scoping 

notices and letters of response vs. full involvement, e.g. Community

Wildfire Protection Plan, selection of watersheds for treatment)?

• What are the effects on recreational activities (camping, hiking, 

hunting, etc.)?

• What are the effects on commodity values (wood products, grazing, 

special forest products [e.g., mushrooms and berries])?

Economics

• What is the economic cost of the proposed treatment?

• What is the potential economic benefit of the proposed plan for the 

federal government?

• What is the potential economic benefit to employment and revenue in 

local communities?

• What kinds of contracts and institutional arrangements can be used?

Health and safety

• What are the effects on health and safety of people in local 

communities?

• What are the effects on health and safety of federal employees, 

contractors, and firefighters?

Regulatory

• Is any significant legislation or policy, including the Healthy Forests 

Restoration Act (HFRA), relevant to the proposed plan?

• Which local governmental units will be affected?

• Which local organizations, institutions, and individuals need to be 

informed of the proposed plan?

Most of these categories and questions can be applied to most scales at which 

fuel treatment planning is done. Other categories and questions can be added to

ensure that specific needs are addressed. 

ID team process—

Interactive evaluation of fuel treatment alternatives and fire spread is a key 

to successful synthesis of existing information and elicitation of expert knowledge.

Map-based evaluation of alternatives should focus primarily on spatial patterns

with respect to existing fuel and vegetation, likely ignition sources, potential fire

spread, fire suppression strategy, fire effects, and future resource conditions.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Simulation models such as FARSITE can be used to quantify potential fire, although

individual ID teams need to decide if they have sufficient technical capability to

reliably run simulation models. Expert opinion of local fire managers is extremely

valuable in estimating large-scale fire behavior and fire patterns, and is typically

sufficient for good decisionmaking in the absence of fire-spread modeling.

Spatial patterns of fuel treatments that effectively reduce or modify fire spread

across large landscapes are of considerable interest, because this information is

needed to develop long-term spatial strategies for fuel treatment and other aspects

of resource management. At present, empirical data on which to base optimization

of spatial patterns are sparse, and the scientific basis for addressing fuel placement

across complex landscapes is minimal. However, testing by resource managers of

strategic placement of treatments will add data in the years ahead and provide

information that can be shared and applied in other locations. 

Elimination rules are criteria that exclude portions of the landscape where fuel

treatments are unlikely; these might include steep slopes, riparian areas, higher elevation forests with high fuel moistures, other ownerships where treatments are not

desired, and areas with sparse fuels. Removing these locations from consideration

reduces the area where fuel treatment is evaluated and constrains the pattern of fuel

treatment options, although the eliminated locations can still affect (and be affected

by) how treatments influence fire patterns.

Fire spread is an important analytical focus for landscapes of any size, but

other fire effects (e.g., residual fuels, smoke emissions, air quality) should be evaluated concurrently in order to assess the effects of fire on as many ecological,

social, and economic factors as possible.

High-Quality Data

Accurate geographic information system (GIS) coverages of fuel properties are 

the key geospatial data needed by the ID team assessing fuel treatment strategies.

Subsequent analysis and modeling have little value in the absence of high-quality

fuels data, leading to a “garbage in–garbage out” situation. Data quality differs

considerably among management units. It is ideal to have as much actual fuelbed

information as possible, and collection of new and accurate empirical data is

encouraged. Some units have mapped stylized fuel models, which provide a lowresolution classification of surface fire behavior adequate for current fire spread

modeling, but quantification of both surface and crown fuels is necessary to capture

a realistic picture of fire hazard. This can be derived from the Fuel Characteristic

Classification System (FCCS) data library (see tool summaries), whose default fuel

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

7
loadings can be modified by users as needed, or from the Photo Series for Natural

Fuels (see “Stereo photo series” in tool summaries) available for different vegetation types. In some cases, existing vegetation classifications and other management

data (e.g., stand inventory) can be used to infer fuel properties (e.g., LANDFIRE;

see tool summaries). In some cases, aerial photography, satellite imagery, and

LIDAR imagery may be available for classifying vegetation and fuel; remote sensing experts should be consulted about imagery-based inferences. Expert knowledge

is a key input to any approach used to characterize fuel properties for a given landscape.

The required accuracy and resolution of fuel data depend on the scale of application of those data. For stands and individual projects, accurate high-resolution

data are needed in order to develop appropriate fuel treatment alternatives. Onsite

data collection and validation of fuel properties are highly desirable. The Photo

Series for Natural Fuels and similar guides can be useful for rapid yet accurate

assessment of fuelbed properties. For large watersheds and national forests or BLM

districts, more generic fuel classifications are sufficient, and classifications from

remote sensing imagery may be useful.

The ID team should direct the assessment of existing data, collection of new

data, and development of appropriate classifications. Cooperation between fuel specialists and research (e.g., Forest Service or U.S. Geological Survey research station) scientists can be especially helpful in developing accurate maps. The ID team

should state criteria for data quality on any given management unit, and agree on

how much time and budget should be allocated toward compilation of the fuel

database. It will be difficult to have consistent quality among all management units

within a large region because of the different types of data available. Derivation of

the data should be documented and scientifically defensible, regardless of the accuracy and resolution of final databases.

Accountability Process

Accountability is required by the HFRA for fuel treatment programs and is a 

logical component of science-based management. Quantification of the outcomes

of fuel treatment programs is needed to provide feedback to the adaptive management process, so that long-term decisionmaking and planning can be continually

improved.

Three types of fuel treatment monitoring will ensure short-term and long-term

accountability: (1) implementation monitoring, (2) effectiveness monitoring, and

(3) validation monitoring. Monitoring is implemented as follows:

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Implementation monitoring–When, where, and how are treatments 

conducted?

Treatments can be tracked in a database for appropriate management units

(e.g., national forest or BLM district). The date, location, area, kind of treatments,

and lead personnel should be included at a minimum. Some of this information is

currently being captured by federal agencies in various cumulative databases.

Accurate data on thinning prescriptions, burning prescriptions, and surface fuel

treatments are especially valuable. It is critical that all treatments are accurately

georeferenced so they can be included in GIS coverages compatible with other coverages for a given management unit and adjacent lands. (In the Forest Service, this

would typically be the responsibility of regions and national forests; in the BLM, 

it would be the responsibility of state offices and districts and field offices.)

Effectiveness monitoring–What change in condition of fuels and other

resources was attained?

Quantifying the condition of fuels and other relevant resources before and 

after treatments is the best way to determine the effectiveness of treatments.

Although HFRA requires only a representative sample, monitoring 100 percent 

of treatments is the most credible approach to documenting effectiveness. At a

minimum, alterations in surface fuel, canopy fuel, woody fuel, and plant community structure should be quantified. Periodic posttreatment monitoring is needed to

quantify temporal changes in fuels, plant community structure, plant species composition, wildlife habitat, erosion, and hydrology; the interval for subsequent measurements will differ by resource. (In the Forest Service, this would typically be the

responsibility of national forests; in the BLM, it is the responsibility of districts and

field offices)

Validation monitoring–Did the treatment accomplish objectives for desired 

conditions? 

Long-term performance of fuel treatments with respect to attainment of desired

conditions must be documented to achieve full accountability. For example, if a

crown fire drops to a surface fire (under severe weather conditions), the treatment

could be considered successful; if a crown fire is not impeded, the treatment could

be considered unsuccessful. Other resource objectives for vegetation, wildlife, and

hydrology can also be assessed. Validation is best tracked through a GIS database

in which wildfire locations and fire effects (e.g., severity classes in terms of tree

mortality) are overlain on fuel treatment locations. The number of validations in 

the empirical database will increase over time as fire data accumulate, providing

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

9
feedback to adaptive management. (In the Forest Service, this would typically be

the responsibility of regions and possibly research stations; in the BLM, it would

be the responsibility of state offices). 

Adaptive Learning Through Collaboration

The efficiency and value of collaboration improves with experience. Similarly, 

the quantitative rigor and consistency of specific applications improve as methods

are refined through iterations on multiple management units. It is anticipated that

current efforts in fuel planning will grow from case studies and demonstrations to

an institutionalized collaboration between management and research. 

Adaptive management of fuels is more likely to be successful if all three types

of monitoring occur. Empirical data, rather than observational and anecdotal information, are needed to improve fuel management at all spatial scales. These data

and learning experiences should be communicated to resource managers in a timely

way through scientific publications, reports, and meetings. Natural resource staffs

in regional administrative units have the responsibility to ensure that technical

communication occurs and that the best available science is available to land 

managers.

If sufficient progress is made in developing successful fuel treatment programs–including science-based planning documentation and on-the-ground applications–good approaches for fuel planning will emerge and be emulated. It will 

then be possible for each management unit to be responsible for its own ID team

process, with nominal oversight by regional administration, and consultation from

scientists only as requested. However, review by regional specialists and scientists

is advisable to provide quality control for planning documents.

What Is Contained in This Guide? 

This publication provides summaries of software, simulation models, and 

decision-support tools that may be useful for planning and implementing the management of vegetation and hazardous fuels. These products have been developed

over the past 30 years by scientists and managers involved in different areas of

resource assessment that require at least some interaction with fire. Succinct

descriptions allow users to quickly review the potential applicability of various

tools for a particular management situation.

A key aspect of the publication is the identification of appropriate scope and

spatial scale for specific applications of analytical and decision-support tools. Some

tools have been developed for specific purposes but can be extrapolated to other

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
tasks with the appropriate caveats. Similarly, some tools have been developed for

specific scales (e.g., forest stands) but can be cautiously applied to larger scales

(e.g., watersheds) in the absence of other tools. All of the tools described here are

intended to guide decisionmaking, rather than provide definitive answers. Expert

judgment is nearly always needed to fill in data gaps and to address perceived lack

of accuracy or precision.

Why Are the Summaries of Tools Needed?

Federal land managers are required to develop science-based approaches and to use

the best available science to generate management pathways for desired conditions

of resources. The variety of scientific software, simulation models, and decisionsupport tools available for hazardous fuel treatment can be overwhelming, even for

an experienced scientist or resource manager. Effective use of any given tool typically requires considerable time, training, and sometimes expense. Some tools have

been effectively institutionalized and supported by federal agencies, whereas other

potentially useful tools have not, and development of new tools is ongoing. Judging

the best available science can be facilitated by the use of objective descriptions and

criteria included in this publication. If information beyond the summaries provided

here is needed, users can consult the technical documentation listed in the summaries for more detail.

How Were the Summaries of Tools Developed?

An initial list of analytical and decision-support tools relevant for management of 

vegetation and hazardous fuel was developed in consultation with scientists in the

Forest Service Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain Research Stations, and

resource managers in the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region and Oregon

BLM. Some of these tools have been used routinely for many years, and applications are described in the scientific literature and management documents. Other

tools have been used less frequently, and still others are only now being tested. 

Identifying tools directly applicable to management of fuels and fire was relatively straightforward. However, vegetation and fuel planning must consider a

broad range of resource values potentially affected by fuel management, including

vegetation, wildlife, hydrology, air pollution, and economics. A comprehensive

summary of all tools relevant to this broader list of resources is beyond the scope

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

11
of this publication.1 Therefore, we identified tools for which analytical outputs

could be used directly to calculate changes in resource condition. All tools listed

here consider fire and fuels explicitly, although the strength of connections among

fire, fuels, and other resources differs.

How Is Best Available Science Determined?

Several points should be considered in determining best available science for a 

particular application in vegetation and fuel management.

Keep Processes Objective and Credible

It is important to first determine the array of tools and principles available for a 

particular application. It is also important to know if a particular tool has been

appropriately peer reviewed according to specific standards for the application of

scientific tools in resource management on public lands (Federal Register 2002,

Office of Management and Budget 2004). Many of the tools currently in use by

federal agencies have not been objectively (and anonymously) peer reviewed and

published in scientific outlets other than in-house federal series. User guides are

helpful but do not imply scientific credibility. Lack of peer review does not mean

that a tool or technique has no utility, but that it has lower scientific stature and

does not meet the normal standard for scientific rigor. Documents that rely on tools

and techniques without peer review are more likely to be successfully challenged

through litigation. A short description of limitations and uncertainty associated with

various tools and techniques is often appropriate.

Look for success stories. If you can identify cases in which tools have been

successfully applied to a situation similar to yours, then you have a good recommendation for your application. This may be an actual management situation, or in

the case of a recently developed tool, it could be a “beta test” or demonstration in

which positive feedback was received. In either case, other users are available from

whom you can obtain insight.

Consult With Experts

It can be helpful to directly contact the developer of a particular tool or technique 

for additional information and insight on principles and applications. If you are

considering an application somewhat outside the original scope described for a

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

1 We attempted to find information for as many analytical and decision-support tools as possible

within a reasonable timeframe. We apologize to those individuals and or organizations whose

efforts may have been excluded from this publication.
tool, get some feedback first. Although few tools are fully supported by technical

personnel, there are often a few scientists and managers who are considered experts

on the design and application of the tool. Seek them out for a consultation, and

consider inviting them to work with you and your staff.

Compare Alternatives

Even if you have a preferred tool or approach for a particular application, it is 

usually best to compare it with other tools. Although no single model may be more

“correct” than another, it is helpful to know the differences between approaches.

You may need to defend the value of your preferred choice, and documentation of

alternative approaches allows for ready comparison and development of rationale

for your preferences.

Document the Selection Process

Take good notes as you go through the process of reviewing and selecting appropriate tools and approaches. Keep a file with appropriate documentation of publications, user guides, scientists consulted, managers consulted, etc. Having a 

structured approach to selecting the scientific tools you use will improve overall

credibility of planning activities and proposed management actions.

Consult Outside Reviewers

After you have selected analytical and decision-support tools for your particular 

management application, have technical experts review any plans or reports that

cite those tools. Reviewers can include scientists, managers, planners, and policymakers–basically anyone within the broader user community who has some technical knowledge about the tools and their application. Review comments will help

you determine if your selection and use of tools are appropriate and if planning

documentation contains sufficient justification.

Consult Potential Stakeholders

After you are confident that you have addressed relevant technical issues, it is 

often valuable to “preview” the approach with stakeholders who may be affected

by your management actions. This requires you to use nontechnical language to

explain and justify your selection. Straightforward graphics and tables are often 

the best way to convey your ideas to interested parties who do not have technical

expertise in natural resources.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

13
How Should Information in This Publication Be Used?

The analytical and decision-support tools summarized here have a variety of 

potential applications. Some of them may be directly applicable to operational

aspects of fuel treatments, including silvicultural manipulations, surface fuel management, and applications of prescribed fire for burning and treatment of activity

fuels. These are applications that do not necessarily require extensive review or a

high level of detail for decisionmaking.

Many types of documents require detailed review at different levels, including

public review. This includes land use plans, fire management plans, and some fuel

treatment plans. It is particularly important that documentation associated with

NEPA reporting, such as environmental impact statements and environmental

analyses, have scientific credibility. This publication can be a source of potential

tools and analytical approaches that can be considered as part of NEPA reporting

and review relative to management of vegetation and fuels.

Finally, as you consider potential tools for specific applications, make sure that

the spatial scale for which a tool was developed is a reasonable match for the spatial scale of the application. Failure to match scales can result in inaccurate assessments, particularly if tools are scaled beyond their range of reliability. Explicit

statements about the scale of application and the appropriateness of a particular

tool for that scale are essential. In addition, be aware of scale matches and mismatches when using multiple tools or addressing multiple resources. For example,

one tool may accurately address fuel at the stand scale, and another tool may accurately address wildlife habitat at the watershed scale. This disparity in spatial scales

should be acknowledged and discussed quantitatively if possible and qualitatively

at a minimum.

Are Other Sources of Information Available?

An increasing number of analytical and decision-support tools are now available 

on the Internet. For example, a number of analytical and modeling tools are available at Web sites maintained by the Forest Service Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences

Laboratory (USDA Forest Service 2004a, 2004b), Rocky Mountain Research

Station and Systems for Environmental Management (USDA Forest Service 2004c),

and the University of Idaho (2004). These Web sites help ensure that users have 

the most recent version of any particular tool. The quantity and quality of documentation differs, but user guides and other descriptive information can usually be

accessed through these sites. Technical support is usually minimal but is available

14

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
in some cases. Interested readers are encouraged to visit these sites if they want

detailed information beyond the summaries presented here.

How Can a Set of Tools Be Integrated for Vegetation 

and Fuels Planning?

The number and complexity of analytical and decision-support tools are a mixed 

blessing. On one hand, scientists have invested significant effort in developing

approaches for vegetation and hazardous fuels planning (see app. 1), and users

have lots of choices. On the other hand, it is challenging for resource specialists

and planners to identify the tools that are most accurate and appropriate for a 

particular management issue and to stay informed about new research and development. Tools are often regarded as a “black box” whose function is poorly understood by users, and resource specialists typically have “favorite” tools, so it is

difficult to have consistency in application of tools among different organizational

units. 

Spatial scale provides a logical framework for identifying appropriate tools

(tables 1 and 2) and sets of tools that can be used for vegetation and fuels planning.

For example, a set of tools recently developed by the Forest Service provides 

decision support for management of dry forests in the interior West at the foreststand scale, including (1) Armillaria Response Tool, (2) Guide to Fuel Treatment

in Dry Forests of the Western United States (Johnson et al. 2006), (3) My Fuel

Treatment Planner, (4) Smoke Information System (not included in this publication), (5) Understory Response Model, (6) Water Erosion Prediction Project Fuel

Management Tool, and (6) Wildlife Habitat Response Model. Unfortunately, tools

are sometimes applied to scales beyond which they are considered reliable, or

model output is scaled up or down without attention to reduced accuracy and

increased error.

The examples below illustrate how multiple tools can be effectively used 

for fuel planning at different spatial scales (see examples below). Other criteria,

including the level of knowledge required by a user (table 3) and amount of data

required to use a tool (table 4), may also be practical considerations in identifying

an appropriate tool or set of tools for a particular analysis.

Example 1–One to a Few Forest Stands

As part of an Environmental Impact Statement, the Twisp Ranger District of the 

Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest needs to consider alternative fuel treatments

for a management unit that consists of five 80-acre stands of mixed ponderosa pine

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

15

continue on page 25
16

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Ta

ble 1—

S

u

m

m

ary

of to

ols

a

n

d

m

o

d

els for h

azard

o

u

s fu

el m

a

n

a

g

e

m

e

nt, org

a

nize

d

alp

h

a

b

etic

ally

S

p

atial A

n

alyst D

ata

Tool n

a

me A

p

plication scale

a req

uirement

b req

uirements

c Lin

k to other tools C

urrent status

Armillaria

Response Estimates Armillaria root Small to Moderate k

nowledge Low an

d

mostly

None Available

Tool (A

RT) disease risk in

dry forests mediu

m of forest ecology

q

ualitative

BehavePlus Predicts surface fire behavior Small Low, b

ut ty

pically

Low

Used in

most other Available

properties req

uires specialized fire behavior

training tools

BlueSk

y Smoke Predicts surface smoke Very large Moderate; k

nowledge Moderate; some BlueSk

y framework

Available

Forecast System concentrations from of smoke dispersion, default data lin

ks C

A

L

P

U

F

F,

(BlueSk

y) prescribed

b

urning an

d

meteorology, an

d fire available Consu

me,

wildfires helpful FAST

R

A

CS, F

C

CS,

F

E

PS, H

YSP

LIT,

M

M5, N

F

D

RS

Com

parative Risk

Calcuates relative risks an

d

Large Moderate; helps to Low

BehavePlus, Farsite, Develop

ment

Assessment in

Fire tradeoffs of scenarios, an

d

have ex

pertise in

F

VS ongoing

an

d

F

uels Plan

ning identifies variables with the decision

making with

(C

R

A

F

T) greatest influence m

ultiple options

Consu

me 3.0

Predicts fuel consu

m

ption Small to Relatively low; Moderate; default BlueSk

y, F

C

CS Available

an

d emissions d

uring mediu

m req

uires k

nowledge of values can

be

wildlan

d fires Microsoft Win

dows

d used if needed

ap

plications

Fire Area Spread

Calculates fire spread an

d fire Mediu

m to High; ty

pically

High; data often

Flam

Map

Available

Sim

ulator behavior properties large req

uires specialized

u

navailable or

(FA

RSIT

E/Flam training an

d

difficult to

Map) k

nowledge of GIS obtain

Fire Behavior Designing an

d

prioritizing Small Low

Low

Flam

Map2, Beta version

Assessment Tool hazardous fuel treatments; L

A

N

D

FIR

E

being tested

(F

B

AT) evaluating the effectiveness

of proposed treatments

Fire Ecology Storing, managing, an

d Small to Low

High

Replaces N

PS Fire Available

Assessment Tool analyzing National Park

mediu

m

Monitoring

(F

E

AT) Service fire effects Han

d

book

monitoring data

Fire Effects Provides backgrou

n

d on the Small to Low

Low

None Available

Information System

potential effects of fire on

very large

(F

EIS) flora an

d fau

na

Fire Effects Plan

ning Identifies areas w

here fire may Small to Moderate High

F

F

E-F

VS,

Framework (F

E

P

F) be beneficial or detrimental mediu

m

Flam

Map,

with respect to fire behavior F

O

F

E

M, U

R

M,

an

d other management W

H

R

M

objectives
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

17

Ta

ble 1—

S

u

m

m

ary

of to

ols

a

n

d

m

o

d

els for h

azard

o

u

s fu

el m

a

n

a

g

e

m

e

nt, org

a

nize

d

alp

h

a

b

etic

ally (c

o

ntin

u

e

d)

S

p

atial A

n

alyst D

ata

Tool n

a

me A

p

plication scale

a req

uirement

b req

uirements

c Lin

k to other tools C

urrent status

Fire Effects Sim

ulates effects of lan

d

Moderate Moderate; GIS Moderate to high

BehavePlus, Available

Tradeoff Model management an

d

disturbance; to large k

nowledge helpful Consu

me, F

C

CS

(F

E

T

M) calculates wildfire an

d fuel

treatment area, emissions,

economic value

Fire E

mission Sim

ulates fuel consu

m

ption, Small to Relatively low; Moderate; default BlueSk

y, F

C

CS Available

Prod

uction emission

prod

uction, an

d

mediu

m req

uires k

nowledge of values can

be

Sim

ulator (F

E

PS) plu

me b

uoyancy for fires Microsoft Win

dows used if needed

ap

plications

Fire Family

Plus A

nalyzes historical weather Mediu

m

Moderate Moderate None Available

data to large

Fire an

d

F

uels Calculates fuel properties, Small, b

ut High

Moderate to high

F

M

A

Plus Available; good

E

xtension for the forest structure, surface fire can

be su

p

port through

Forest Vegetation

behavior, crow

n-fire behavior scaled

u

p

Forest Service

Sim

ulator an

d risk, fire effects to larger

(F

F

E-F

VS) scales

with

GIS

Fire Regime Classifies ecological status Originally

Moderate Moderate None; difficult to Available

Con

dition

Class relative to historical fire an

d

designed lin

k

with other tools

(F

R

C

C) fuel con

ditions for large an

d classifications

scale, b

ut

being

ap

plied at

all scales;

very

coarse

classifications

Fireshed

Assessment Designs an

d sched

ules fuel Mediu

m

Moderate to high

High

ArcGIS tools, Widely

used in

treatments to red

uce fire to large FA

RSIT

E, California; test

spread

F

F

E-F

VS, Flam

Map, mode elsew

here

M

y

F

uel Treatment

Plan

ner

First Order Fire Calculates fuel consu

m

ption, Small Low

Low

None Available

Effects Model emissions, tree mortality,

(F

O

F

E

M) soil heating

Flam

Map

Calculates fire risk assessment Mediu

m

High

High

FA

RSIT

E

Version 2.0

available; version

3.0 in test mode
18

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Ta

ble 1—

S

u

m

m

ary

of to

ols

a

n

d

m

o

d

els for h

azard

o

u

s fu

el m

a

n

a

g

e

m

e

nt, org

a

nize

d

alp

h

a

b

etic

ally (c

o

ntin

u

e

d)

S

p

atial A

n

alyst D

ata

Tool n

a

me A

p

plication scale

a req

uirement

b req

uirements

c Lin

k to other tools C

urrent status

Forest In

ventory an

d

Assesses potential fuel Very large High

High

F

F

E-F

VS, Forest Test mode;

A

nalysis Biomass treatments, costs, fire hazard, In

ventory

A

nalysis analyses

Su

m

marization

biomass prod

uction, prod

ucts data, ST

H

A

RV

EST available for

System (BioSu

m) some locations

F

uel C

haracteristic Classifies an

d

q

uantifies fuel Small to Low

Low, although

BehavePlus, Available

Classification

properties an

d fire potentials large fuel an

d

FA

RSIT

E,

System (F

C

CS) vegetation

data Lan

dfire

im

prove accuracy;

default values

available

F

uels Management Calculates crow

n fire risk, Small Moderate Moderate Forest Vegetation

Available for

A

nalyst Plus® (F

M

A crow

n fuel characteristics Sim

ulator moderate cost

Plus®) through

private

ven

dor

Gradient Nearest Develops spatial database of Mediu

m

High; statistical an

d

High, inclu

ding FA

RSIT

E, F

C

CS, Several map

ping

Neigh

bor Method

vegetation an

d fuels to large geospatial skills; some field

data, Flam

Map, F

F

E-F

VS projects

(G

N

N) k

nowledge of satellite satellite imagery, com

pleted;

imagery

GIS layers software in

test mode

G

uide to F

uel Displays q

uantitative an

d Small to Low; k

nowledge of Low

F

C

CS, F

F

E-F

VS, Available in

Treatments in

Dry

visual guidelines for fuel mediu

m

F

F

E-F

VS im

proves Lan

dscape 20

06

Forests management, inclu

ding u

n

derstan

ding Management

silvicultural an

d surface fuel System, M

y

F

uel

treatments Treatment Plan

ner

Harvest Cost an

d

Provides cost estimates for Small Low

Moderate F

VS Beta version

Reven

ue Estimator fuel treatment projects being tested

(H

C

R

Estimator)

Integrated

Forest Uses data from the FSVeg Small to Low

Low

ArcView, F

VS, C

urrently

Resource database grow

n forward

b

y

mediu

m

Farsite, MSN, installed at

Management System

using the Forest Vegetation SVS certain

Forest

(IN

F

O

R

MS) Sim

ulator, inclu

ding the Fire Service sites;

an

d

F

uels E

xtension currently

being

(F

VS/F

F

E) for the current developed to

con

dition an

d each

decade also ru

n on

into the future u

p to 4

0

years Lin

u

x.

for as man

y treatment

alternatives as desired.
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

19

Ta

ble 1—

S

u

m

m

ary

of to

ols

a

n

d

m

o

d

els for h

azard

o

u

s fu

el m

a

n

a

g

e

m

e

nt, org

a

nize

d

alp

h

a

b

etic

ally (c

o

ntin

u

e

d)

S

p

atial A

n

alyst D

ata

Tool n

a

me A

p

plication scale

a req

uirement

b req

uirements

c Lin

k to other tools C

urrent status

L

A

N

D

FIR

E

Develops spatial database of Mediu

m

Low to moderate Moderate to high

F

R

C

C In

develop

ment

vegetation an

d fuels to large

L

A

N

DIS an

d Sim

ulates m

ultiple interacting Mediu

m

Moderate Moderate A

PA

C

K, IA

N, Available

L

A

N

DIS-II disturbances to large F

R

A

GSTATS,

FA

RSIT

E,

P

n

E

T-II

Lan

dscape Sim

ulator Sim

ulates lan

dscape elements Small to High

High

None In

develop

ment

driving chan

nel d

y

namics, large

inclu

ding fire, geomorp

hic

activity, an

d sediment routing

M

y

F

uel Treatment Calculates cost an

d reven

ue Small Low to moderate Low to moderate M

y

F

uel Treatment Available

Plan

ner information for fuel G

uidebook

treatments

N

E

X

US Calculates crow

n fire risk Small Moderate Moderate None Available

O

ptimizing F

uel O

ptimizes q

uantity an

d

pattern

Mediu

m

Moderate to high

Moderate to high

FA

RSIT

E, F

C

CS, In

develop

ment

Solutions an

d of fuel treatments, with focus Flam

Map

Ecological Values on “firesafe” lan

dscapes an

d

in

Lan

dscapes retention of preferred

habitat

(F

U

E

LSO

LV

E)

Sim

ulating Patterns Generates probably

maps of Small to Low

Moderate F

VS, Farsite, Available for the

an

d

Processes at disturbance processes an

d

very

M

A

GIS, FS Northern

Lan

dscape Scales vegetation attrib

utes from large SP

E

C

T

R

U

M, Region, Sierra

(SIM

P

P

L

L

E) m

ultiple scenarios F

R

A

GSTATS, Nevada, an

d

P

R

MS southern

California, GilaN

F, south-central

A

K, south

west

U

T, an

d the

Colorado Front

Range

Smoke Im

pact SIS evaluates smoke im

pacts Small Low

Low

F

O

F

E

M, Consu

me, Available

Spreadsheet Model of different wildlan

d

b

urning C

A

L

P

U

F

F

(SIS) scenarios for all vegetation

ty

pes in the U

nited States

Stereo p

hoto series Estimates fuel an

d stan

d con

di- Small to Low

Low

Consu

me 3.0, 11 volu

mes availfor q

uantifying tion for predicting fuel con- mediu

m

F

C

CS, F

O

F

E

M, able for different

natural fuel su

m

ption smoke prod

uction, F

E

PS vegetation an

d

fire behavior, an

d fire effects fuel ty

pes; 6 volu

mes in

progress
20

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Ta

ble 1—

S

u

m

m

ary

of to

ols

a

n

d

m

o

d

els for h

azard

o

u

s fu

el m

a

n

a

g

e

m

e

nt, org

a

nize

d

alp

h

a

b

etic

ally (c

o

ntin

u

e

d)

S

p

atial A

n

alyst D

ata

Lin

k to other tools C

urrent status

Tool n

a

me A

p

plication scale

a req

uirement

b req

uirements

c

Tool for E

x

ploratory Sim

ulates interactions of Mediu

m

Moderate Moderate to high

F

VS, V

D

D

T

Available

Lan

dscape Scenario vegetation, management, an

d to large (directly lin

ked)

A

nalysis (T

E

LSA) disturbance (spatial)

U

n

derstory

Response Predicts im

pacts of specific Small Low

Low

F

F

E-F

VS, F

O

F

E

M, Available

Model (U

R

M) fuel treatments on

Plan species W

H

R

M

Valuation of Calculates prod

uct potential Mediu

m

Low to moderate Low to moderate F

VS, Lan

dscape Test mode

Ecosystem an

d

value for fuel treatments to large Visualization

Restoration System, V

D

D

T

Strategies

(V

E

RST

R

A)

Vegetation

D

y

namics Sim

ulates interactions of Mediu

m

Low to moderate Moderate to high

F

VS, T

E

LSA

Available

Develop

ment Tool vegetation, management, an

d to large (directly lin

ked)

(V

D

D

T) disturbance (nonspatial)

Water Erosion

Estimates sediment generated Small Low

Low

None Available

Prediction

Project b

y fuel management activities

(W

E

P

P) F

uel

Management

(F

u

Me) Tool

Wildlife Habitat E

valuates effects of alternative Small Low

Low

F

F

E-F

VS Available

Response Model fuel treatments on terrestrial

(W

H

R

M) wildlife habitats of dry

interior forests

a Spatial scale:

Small–Forest stands to small watersheds, e.g., 6th-field hydrologic unit code (about 1 to 1,000 acres).

Medium–

Moderate to large watersheds, e.g., 5th-field H

U

C (about 1,000 to 100,000 acres).

Large–

Very large watersheds, ranger districts, national forests, e.g., 4th-field H

U

C (about 100,000 to 2 million acres).

Very large–

Multiple national forests to regions (greater than 2 million acres). b Analyst requirement:

Low

–

Resource specialist or local GIS specialist can run the model or tool locally with minimal changes needed for local situation.

Moderate–

Requires a midlevel analyst or GIS specialist to run the model or tool or make it usable for local situations.

High–

Requires a high-level analyst or program

mer to run the model or tool or make it usable for local situations. c Data requirement:

Low

–

Requires base resource data readily available at the regional or local level.

Moderate–

Requires some specialized data in addition to the base resource data readily available at the regional or local level.

High–

Requires specialized data and formats that will take a major com

mitment of resources to compile. d The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.
Table 2—Summary of tools and models for hazardous fuel management, organized by spatial scale

Spatial scalea Tool name

Small Armillaria Response Tool (ART)

BehavePlus

Consume 3.0

Fire Behavior Assessment Tool (FBAT)

Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT)

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)

Fire and Fuels Extension for the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS)

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM)

Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

Fuels Management Analyst Plus® (FMA Plus®)

Harvest Cost and Revenue Estimator (HCR Estimator)

Integrated Forest Resource Management System (INFORMS)

Landscape Simulator

My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP)

NEXUS

Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

Smoke Impact Spreadsheet Model (SIS)

Stereo photo series for quantifying natural fuels

Understory Response Model (URM)

Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Fuel Management (FuMe) Tool

Wildlife Habitat Response Model (WHRM)

Medium Armillaria Response Tool (ART)

Consume 3.0

Fire Area Spread Simulator (FARSITE)

Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT)

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM)

Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)

Fire Family Plus

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

Fireshed Assessment 

FlamMap

Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

Gradient Nearest Neighbor Method (GNN)

Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests

Integrated Forest Management System (INFORMS)

LANDFIRE

LANDIS and LANDIS-II

Landscape Simulator

Optimizing Fuel Solutions and Ecological Values in Landscapes (FUELSOLVE)

Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

Stereo photo series for quantifying natural fuels

Tool for Exploratory Landscape Exploratory Analysis (TELSA)

Valuation of Ecosystem Restoration Strategies (VERSTRA)

Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

21
Table 2—Summary of tools and models for hazardous fuel management, organized by spatial scale

(continued)

Spatial scalea Tool name

Large Comparative Risk Assessment in Fire and Fuels Planning (CRAFT)

Fire Area Spread Simulator (FARSITE)

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM)

Fire Family Plus

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

Fireshed Assessment 

Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

Gradient Nearest Neighbor Method (GNN)

LANDFIRE

LANDIS and LANDIS-II

Landscape Simulator

Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis (TELSA)

Valuation of Ecosystem Restoration Strategies (VERSTRA)

Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)

Very large BlueSky

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

FIA BioSum

Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

a Spatial scale:

Small–Forest stands to small watersheds, e.g. 6th-field hydrologic unit code (about 1 to 1,000 acres).

Medium–Moderate to large watersheds, e.g., 5th-field HUC (about 1,000 to 100,000 acres).

Large–Very large watersheds, ranger districts, national forests, e.g., 4th-field HUC (about 100,000 to 2 million acres).

Very large–Multiple national forests to regions (greater than 2 million acres).

22

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Table 3—Summary of tools and models for hazardous fuel management, organized by analyst requirement

Analyst requirementa Tool name

Low BehavePlus

Consume 3.0

Fire Behavior Assessment Tool (FBAT)

Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT)

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)

First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM)

Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests

Harvest Cost and Revenue Estimator (HCR Estimator)

Integrated Forest Resource Management System (INFORMS)

LANDFIRE

My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP)

Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

Smoke Impact Spreadsheet Model (SIS)

Stereo photo series for quantifying natural fuels

Understory Response Model (URM)

Valuation of Ecosystem Restoration Strategies (VERSTRA)

Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)

Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Fuel Management (FuMe) Tool

Wildlife Habitat Response Model (WHRM)

Moderate Armillaria Response Tool (ART)

BlueSky

Comparative Risk Assessment in Fire and Fuels Planning (CRAFT)

Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM)

Fire Family Plus

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

Fireshed Assessment 

Fuels Management Analyst Plus® (FMA Plus®)

LANDIS and LANDIS-II

NEXUS

Optimizing Fuel Solutions and Ecological Values in Landscapes (FUELSOLVE)

Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis (TELSA)

High FIA BioSum

Fire Area Spread Simulator (FARSITE)

Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

Fire and Fuels Extension for the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS)

FlamMap

Gradient Nearest Neighbor Method (GNN)

Landscape Simulator

a Analyst requirement:

Low–Resource specialist or local GIS specialist can run the model or tool locally with minimal changes needed for local situation.

Moderate–Requires a midlevel analyst or GIS specialist to run the model or tool or make it usable for local situations.

High–Requires a high-level analyst or programmer to run the model or tool or make it usable for local situations.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

23
Table 4—Summary of tools and models for hazardous fuel management, organized by degree of

data requirements 

Data requirementsa Tool name

Low Armillaria Response Tool (ART)

BehavePlus

Comparative Risk Assessment in Fire and Fuels Planning (CRAFT)

Fire Behavior Assessment Tool (FBAT)

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) 

Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests

Integrated Forest Resource Management System (INFORMS)

Smoke Impact Spreadsheet Model (SIS)

Stereo photo series for quantifying natural fuels

Valuation of Ecosystem Restoration Strategies (VERSTRA)

Understory Response Model (URM)

Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Fuel Management (FuMe) Tool

Wildlife Habitat Response Model (WHRM)

Moderate BlueSky

Consume 3.0

Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)

Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM)

Fire Family Plus

Fire and Fuels Extension for the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS)

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

Fuels Management Analyst Plus® (FMA Plus®)

Harvest Cost and Revenue Estimator (HCR Estimator)

LANDFIRE

LANDIS and LANDIS-II

My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP)

NEXUS

Optimizing Fuel Solutions and Ecological Values in Landscapes (FUELSOLVE)

Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales (SIMPPLLE)

Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis (TELSA)

Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)

High Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT)

FIA BioSum

Fire Area Spread Simulator (FARSITE)

Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

Fireshed Assessment 

FlamMap

Gradient Nearest Neighbor Method (GNN)

Landscape Simulator

Understory Response Model (URM)

a Data requirements:

Low–Requires base resource data readily available at the regional or local level.

Moderate–Requires some specialized data in addition to the base resource data readily available at the regional or local 

level.

High–Requires specialized data and formats that will take a major commitment of resources to compile.

24

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
and Douglas-fir with high stem densities and heavy ladder fuels. The primary

objective is to reduce crown fire hazard while providing high-quality habitat for

deer and elk.

• Step 1. Consider using Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests of the 

Western United States (Johnson et al. 2006) to identify initial stand conditions similar to those in the management unit; both descriptive information 

and images may be helpful. Combinations of thinning and surface fuel treatments can be examined in the guide to evaluate their effects on forest stand

structure and potential fire behavior. 

• Step 2. If other kinds of treatments are preferred, or if stand data are available, FFE-FVS could be used to generate customized simulations of the 

effects of thinning and surface fuel treatments. Specify tree regeneration 

following thinning to reflect local conditions.

• Step 3. The Understory Response Model could be used to determine how 

thinning and surface fuel treatments such as prescribed burning would affect

key forage species for deer and elk.

• Step 4. The Wildlife Habitat Response Model may be used to determine 

stand structure and vegetation characteristics that would benefit deer and 

elk populations.

• Step 5. If prescribed burning is included in an alternative, consider using

FOFEM to calculate fuel consumption and emissions. Although this information is not central to the objectives of the project, it will be needed to 

quantify environmental effects. 

• Step 6. My Fuel Treatment Planner can be used to calculate the economic 

costs and benefits associated with conducting alternative treatments.

Example 2–Small to Moderate Watersheds 

(Approximately 5th- to 6th-field HUC watershed)

The Deschutes National Forest wants to develop a strategy to reduce crown fire 

hazard and suppression costs related to protection of the wildland-urban interface

in a key watershed near Bend, Oregon. This area is currently dominated by a mixture of young stands of ponderosa pine and stands of large ponderosa pine canopy

with dense Douglas-fir and white fir subcanopy. Additional objectives include generating economic opportunities for the local community while minimizing smoke

production.

• Step 1. Obtain relevant geospatial layers for display in a GIS. These 

layers can include forest stand structure, stand age, fuels, and cover type. If 

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

25
adequate stand inventory data are available, the Landscape Management

System (LMS) can be used to display three-dimensional structure across 

landscapes up to 50,000 acres (see http://lms.cfr.washington.edu).

• Step 2. The FCCS could be used to classify and quantify fuelbeds across 

the landscape. This requires some decisions about how many fuelbeds are 

adequate to characterize the variability. Each FCCS fuelbed will contain

detailed fuel data and fire potentials.

• Step 3. Consider using SIMPPLLE to generate probability maps of disturbance processes and vegetation attributes. These maps can be used to assign

priorities for fuel treatments based on spatial patterns of fuels across large 

landscapes. Changes in the occurrence and intensity of wildfire and other 

disturbance processes can be evaluated with alternative fuel treatments that

vary in space and time. Priorities and planning can be based on potential fire

spread as well as other factors such as forest structure and wildlife habitat.

• Step 4. The SIS can be used to calculate potential emissions from smoke 

generated by fuel treatments that include prescribed burning. This may 

include broadcast burning as well as pile burning. It is especially important 

to evaluate PM2.5 production with respect to potential effects on health in

areas where people live. Fuel treatment alternatives that minimize smoke 

production can then be identified.

• Step 5. My Fuel Treatment Planner can be used to calculate net present 

value of alternative fuel treatments. This analysis requires only “cut lists” 

for thinning treatments, and all other outputs can be calculated directly from

user inputs. Economic status must be calculated stand by stand, and can be

aggregated over space and time to determine overall financial costs and 

benefits, including potential to sustain local employment.

Example 3–Large Watershed to National Forest

(Approximately 4th-field HUC)

The Colville National Forest wants to develop a large-scale strategy for integrating

fuel management with desired conditions for vegetation structure and air quality.

This strategy will include the entire Colville National Forest and reservation lands

managed by the Colville Federated Tribes.

• Step 1. Obtain relevant geospatial layers for display in a GIS. These layers 

can include forest stand structure, stand age, fuels, and cover type.

• Step 2. The FCCS can be used to classify and quantify fuelbeds across 

the landscape. This requires some decisions about how many fuelbeds are 

26

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
adequate to characterize the variability and at what spatial scale fuel 

can be classified. Each FCCS fuelbed will contain detailed fuel data 

and fire potentials.

• Step 3. Consider using the Fireshed process to focus on the effects of 

alternative fuel treatment strategies on fire regime, fire hazard, and 

potential wildland fire behavior. Fireshed can facilitate delineation of 

landscape management and assessment, and strategies that attain 

desired conditions for fire behavior, forest health, and habitat. 

FARSITE can be used to test the potential effects of different fuel 

treatments on fire behavior across landscapes subjected to a fire or 

group of fires. FlamMap creates raster maps of potential fire behavior

characteristics (rate of spread, flame length, crown fire activity) and 

environmental conditions (dead fuel moistures, midflame windspeeds) 

over an entire FARSITE landscape.

• Step 4. The VDDT can be used to examine changes in vegetation and 

fuel conditions given different management scenarios, disturbance 

regimes, and fuel treatments. Results are not spatial, so spatial strategies 

for fuel treatments cannot be examined. However, the model is useful 

for estimating vegetation, fuel, and fire trends given different combinations and timing of fuel treatments. The VDDT outputs can be compared and combined with FARSITE outputs to obtain a broader 

perspective on the effects of alternative fuel treatments.

• Step 5. The Consume and FEPS components of BlueSky can be used 

to calculate PM2.5 concentrations from potential prescribed burns and 

wildfires in the landscape being managed, and to display smoke trajectories from burn locations. Outputs can be overlain on GIS layers 

such as topography, roads, hospitals, schools, and Class I wilderness. 

This information will assist the development of spatial patterns of fuel 

treatment that minimize smoke production over space and time. It will 

also indicate potential tradeoffs in smoke production from wildfires 

versus prescribed fires.

Species Mentioned

Common name Scientific name

Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco

Lodgepole pine Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.

Ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Loud.

White fir Abies concolor (Gord. Glend.) Lindl. ex Hildebr.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

27
Metric Equivalents 

When you know: Multiply by: To find:

Inches 2.54 Centimeters

Inches 25,400 Microns

Feet 0.3048 Meters

Miles 1.609 Kilometers

Square miles 2.59 Square kilometers

Acres 0.405 Hectares

Degrees Fahrenheit (F-32)/1.8 Degrees Celsius

Acknowledgments

Much of the information in this publication was prepared in cooperation with 

scientists and resource specialists who attended workshops on vegetation and fuel

management in May 2004 and May 2005. These workshops were sponsored by the

USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station and Pacific Northwest

Region, and by the Oregon Bureau of Land Management. We are grateful to workshop participants for their contributions, and to scientists and resource specialists

who provided descriptions of analytical and decision-support tools. Cynthia West,

Ken Snell, and Tim Rich provided key ideas and documentation. James Agee, Erik

Christiansen, Sue Stewart, and Tim Swedberg provided comments on earlier drafts

of the manuscript. This work was supported by the USDA Forest Service Pacific

Northwest Research Station and the National Fire Plan.

Literature Cited

Federal Register. 2002. Guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, 

objectivity, utility, and integrity of information disseminated by federal 

agencies. 67: 8452-8460.

Johnson, M.C.; Peterson, D.L.; Raymond, C.L. 2006. Guide to fuel treatment 

in dry forests of the Western United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-686.

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Research Station.

28

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Office of Management and Budget. 2004. Final information quality bulletin for 

peer review. http://www.whitehouse/gov/omb/memoranda/fy2005/m05-03.pdf.

(16 December 2005).

Scott, J.H.; Burgan, R.E. 2005. Standard fire behavior fuel models: a comprehensive set for use with Rothermel’s surface fire spread model. Gen. Tech.

Rep. RMRS-GTR-153. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 72 p.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service [USDA FS]. 2001. FEIS final 

environmental impact statement: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 

Fuel Treatment. Duluth, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Superior National Forest; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources;

Milwaukee, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Eastern

Region.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service [USDA FS]. 2004a. FERA—

Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team. Pacific Wildland Fire

Sciences Laboratory. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/. (3 January 2005).

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service [USDA FS]. 2004b. FCCS—

Fuel Characteristic Classification System. Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences

Laboratory. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/fccs/. (14 June 2006)

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service [USDA FS]. 2004c. Fire.org. 

Rocky Mountain Research Station and Systems for Environmental

Management. http://www.fire.org. (3 January 2005).

University of Idaho. 2004. Fire Research and Management Exchange System. 

http://www.frames.gov. (3 January 2005).

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

29
Appendix 1: Tools

For list of acronyms and models, see appendix 2.

Armillaria Response Tool (ART) (Root Disease Analyzer)

Application for fuel ART can help reveal timber stands with site 

treatment conditions that indicate risk for developing Armillaria

root disease, if susceptible host trees are present. It is

intended to help users (e.g., fuel treatment planners, 

silviculturists, resource managers, and NEPA planners)

make predictions and evaluate potential impacts of fuel

treatments.

Description ART is a Web-based tool that can estimate Armillaria

root disease risk in dry forests of the Western United

States. It uses habitat types to identify sites with high 

or low risk potential for developing Armillaria root disease, and indicates how some fuel management activities may exacerbate Armillaria disease in high-risk

stands. ART also helps determine an appropriate fuel

management plan for reducing future damage by

Armillaria root disease.

Appropriate spatial One to several stands, but can be aggregated to larger 

scale scales.

Analyst requirement The user must be familiar with habitat typing within the 

region of the stand location. Accurate identification of

habitat type is critical.

Data inputs Inputs for the stand-level tool include:

√ Stand location: Choices of stand location are currently

limited to forested areas in the intermountain West

(Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, and

Wyoming).

√ Habitat type: Associations of plant species, known as

habitat types, are strong indicators of site conditions 

as influenced by the interaction of topography, soils,

temperature, and precipitation patterns. Lists of habitat

types are taken from the 12 habitat type manuals that

cover the Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Forest

biotic communities.

30

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ Fuel treatment: Fuel treatments include (1) no treatment, (2) thinning, (3) prescribed burning, and (4)

wildfire.

Outputs Outputs of the tool suggest whether a stand has high 

or low risk of pathogenic A. ostoyae being present and

the potential effects of different fuel treatments on

Armillaria root disease. Outputs for ART include: 

√ Subseries: Subseries categories comprise groups of

habitat types that reflect combined temperaturemoisture regimes.

√ Fire group: Indicates a cluster of habitat types based 

on response of dominant tree species to fire, potential

frequency of fire, and similarity in postfire succession.

Fire groups are not available for every region described

in the tool.

√ Fire regime: Fire behavior in Western forests has been

classified into five fire regimes based on moisture and

temperature gradients determined by subseries. Fire

regimes are separated into broader categories than fire

groups and are available for every region.

√ ARMILLARIA regime: Likelihood of Armillaria impact

on a stand (low or high) that depends on the subseries

of the stand and the seral and climax tree species found

on the site. 

√ Potential impact on conifer species by subseries: List

of potential impacts of Armillaria disease is presented

based on presence and successional role of conifer

species.

√ Likely impact of fuel treatment on Armillaria root 

disease: Fuel treatments under consideration include

(1) no treatment, (2) thinning, (3) prescribed burning,

and (4) wildfire. A proposed synopsis is provided on

the potential activity of Armillaria after a fuel treatment. Within subseries where pathogenic A. ostoyae

does not occur, fuel treatments will not affect

Armillaria root disease, regardless of host tree species

present. Within subseries where pathogenic A. ostoyae

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

31
does occur, fuel treatments may affect Armillaria root

disease.

Linkage to other No direct links to other programs are presently 

models/tools available. However, ART can be used in conjunction 

with other models developed by the Fuels Planning:

Science Synthesis and Integration Project, to estimate

other potential effects of fuel treatments on stands.

Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service—Fuels Planning: Science 

Synthesis and Integration Project, and the Rocky

Mountain Research Station. 

Current status Available for use at small scabes. Broader scale 

version is in development. Additional information is

available at http://forest.moscowfsl. wsu.edu/fuels.

Training availability May be arranged on request from contacts listed below.

Technical Documentation is available at http://forest.moscowfsl. 

documentation wsu.edu/fuels/art/.

Contact Tom Rice 

USDA Forest Service

trice@fs.fed.us

or 

Mee-Sook Kim

USDA Forest Service 

mkim@fs.fed.us

Additional Root rot caused by Armillaria fungi warrants special 

information consideration before fuel management activities are

selected in Western forests. Armillaria species are 

widely distributed, and their effects on disease and 

mortality can increase greatly after human-caused 

disturbances. In many environments, pathogenic

Armillaria fungi cause reduced tree growth, increased

mortality, and predisposition to bark beetle attack. In

addition, Armillaria root disease can increase wildfire

risk by contributing to fuel accumulation and fuel 

ladders.

32

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
BehavePlus

Application for In fuels projects, BehavePlus can be used to predict 

fuel treatment surface fire flame length, rate of spread, tree mortality,

crown scorch height, spotting distance, and fire containment.

Description The BehavePlus fire modeling system is a Microsoft

Windows1 application to predict wildland fire behavior

for fire management purposes. It is designed for use by

fire and land managers who are familiar with fuels,

weather, topography, wildfire situations, and associated

terminology.

Appropriate spatial Primarily stand scale but can be used to assess 6th-field 

scale hydrologic unit codes (HUCs).

Analyst requirement Requires a basic understanding of fire behavior inputs 

and outputs. The tool is not data intensive, but the user

needs to be familiar with the differences in fuel models

and underlying assumptions of the mathematics in the

model to provide accurate inputs and to interpret outputs.

Data inputs Inputs differ with modules used. Typical modules used 

for fuel planning include SURFACE, CROWN, CONTAIN, SPOT, SCORCH, and MORTALITY. Users can

run each module separately or link the runs through

SURFACE.

√ SURFACE inputs—Fuel model, live and dead fuel

moistures, windspeed (midflame or 20-foot with adjustment factor), direction for which to calculate maximum

rate of spread or upslope direction of spread, wind

direction (upslope or degrees clockwise from either

upslope or north), and slope steepness.

√ CROWN inputs—The same inputs as SURFACE plus

canopy base height, canopy bulk density, and foliar

moisture.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

33

1 The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not imply

endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.
√ CONTAIN inputs—Maximum rate of spread, fire size

at report, length-to-width ratio of the fire, suppression

tactic, line construction offset, resource name, resource

line production rate, resource arrival time, and resource

duration.

√ SPOT inputs (for torching trees)—Mean cover height,

tree height, spotting tree species, diameter at breast

height, 20-foot windspeed, ridge-to-valley elevation

difference, ridge-to-valley horizontal distance, spotting

source location (valley bottom, midslope, ridgetop, lee

side of ridge, windward side of ridge), and number of

torching trees.

√ SCORCH inputs—Midflame windspeed, air temperature, and flame length.

√ MORTALITY inputs—Tree height, crown ratio, mortality tree species, bark thickness, scorch height.

Outputs Users can specify the types of outputs provided in 

modules with more than one output option. For fuel

planning, the most common outputs used include the

following.

√ SURFACE outputs—Rate of spread, flame length,

direction of maximum spread if not uphill, midflame

windspeed if 20-foot windspeed used, wind/slope/

spread direction diagram if direction of maximum

spread is not uphill, and fire characteristics chart. The

fire characteristics chart provides a graph of heat per

unit area versus rate of spread with flame length categories, allowing users to note when fire behavior is

expected to exceed the limitations of hand crews,

mechanical equipment, and erratic fire behavior.

√ CROWN outputs—Critical surface fire intensity, 

critical surface fire flame length, transition ratio,

whether the fire will transition to crown fire, crown

rate of spread, critical crown rate of spread, active

ratio, whether the fire will be an active crown fire, fire

type, and crown spread distance (if a time is specified

in the inputs).

34

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ CONTAIN outputs—Containment status (contained or

escaped), contained area, fireline constructed, number

of resources used, and containment diagram. The containment diagram displays the fireline constructed relative to the fire length-to-width ratio along with other

output data related to the fire.

√ SPOT output—Spotting distance from torching trees.

√ SCORCH output—Scorch height.

√ MORTALITY outputs—Bark thickness, tree crown

length scorched, tree crown volume scorched, and

probability of mortality.

Linkage to other There are no direct linkages to other tools, but the 

models/tools √ BehavePlus equations are the basic underlying equations used in FOFEM, FMA Plus, FFE-FVS, NEXUS,

FARSITE, and FlamMap.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

(Systems for Environmental Management).

Current status BehavePlus 3.0.1 is fully functional and includes the 

new fuel models released in spring 2005. Additional

information is available at http://www.fire.org. Future

versions are expected to add table shading for use in

prescribed fire planning, postfrontal combustion, and

soil heating, potentially resulting in a merging of

FOFEM and BehavePlus.

Training availability Self-directed tutorial available at Web site where the 

program files can be downloaded, http://www.fire.org.

S-390 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior class provides students with training on use of SURFACE, 

CONTAIN, and SPOT. Concepts useful for the

SCORCH and MORTALITY modules in BehavePlus

can be obtained from RX-310 Introduction to Fire

Effects class.

Technical Rothermel, R.C. 1972. A mathematical model for predocumentation dicting fire spread in wildland fuels. Res. Pap. INT-115.

Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

35
Station. 40 p. Surface fire spread model that is a fundamental component of BehavePlus.

Anderson, H.E. 1982. Aids to determining fuel models 

for estimating fire behavior. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-122.

Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment

Station. 22 p. http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_int/int_gtr

122.html. Describes the 13 standard fire behavior fuel

models. Pictures of the fuel models are included in the

BehavePlus program. 

Andrews, P.L.; Bevins, C.D.; Seli, R.C. 2005. 

BehavePlus fire modeling system, version 3.0: User’s

guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-106WWW. Ogden,

UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Rocky Mountain Research Station. 142 p. http://www.

fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr106.html.

Contact Fire and Aviation Management Helpdesk

USDA Forest Service

1-800-253-5559

fire_help@dms.nwcg.gov

http://fire.org/index.php?option=content&task=

category§ionid=2&id=7&Itemid=26

Additional BehavePlus can be used to provide basic analyses of 

information potential fire behavior before and after fuel treatments.

The original 13 fuel models are considered too coarse 

to display some of the differences in potential fire

behavior that can be present both before and after fuel

treatments. Potential fire behavior in many fuel types 

is not well represented in the original models. The

recent addition of 42 fuel models partially addresses

this problem.

BehavePlus can assess potential spotting distance and 

how initial attack success is likely to change after those

fuel treatments designed to increase suppression effectiveness. Some aspects of suppression effectiveness are

qualitative.

36

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
BehavePlus can be used to assess potential fire behavior 

at large spatial scales when data are insufficient to support the use of other tools, such as FlamMap. In those

cases, estimates can be made for each stand for key fire

behavior elements, classes of behavior identified (i.e.,

low, moderate, high, and extreme rates of spread), and

maps prepared by using stands as the basic unit. This

approach requires modifying certain stand features such

as slope steepness, exposure to wind, fuel moisture, and

weather inputs.

BehavePlus ties crowning potential to flame length, but 

other support tools such as FlamMap, FMA Plus, and

NEXUS, use a variety of approaches to assess crown

fire potential. The output provided by BehavePlus,

FlamMap, FMA Plus, and NEXUS may well differ.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

37
BlueSky Smoke Forecast System (BlueSky)

Application for Help land managers meet prescribed burn goals by 

fuel treatment providing a forecast of where surface smoke from 

burning operations could go, in order to mitigate 

potential negative impacts to sensitive receptors and 

to aid in go/no-go decisions.

Description A framework of models linking burn information, 

meteorology, mapped fuel loadings, fuel consumption

and emission models, and dispersion and trajectory

models, to yield a forecast of surface smoke concentrations from prescribed fire and wildfire across a

region.

Appropriate spatial Applicable on a regional or national scale, where the 

scale scale is determined by the meteorology forecast domain

and the availability of mapped fuel loadings. BlueSky 

is currently being run for the following domains and

scales:

√ Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana–4-km

resolution

√ Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, northern

California, northern Nevada, southwest Canada–12-km

resolution

√ Western United States–36-km resolution

√ Rocky Mountain region–6-km resolution

Analyst requirement Readily accessible at http://www.blueskyrains.org, but 

data are best viewed or interpreted by someone with

knowledge of smoke dispersion, meteorology, and fire.

Data inputs Burn information—Currently BlueSky is integrated with 

the FASTRACS2 system used by the Forest Service 

and Bureau of Land Management to manage prescribed

burning in Oregon; the Washington State Department 

of Natural Resources SMOKEM prescribed burning

system; the Montana-Idaho Airshed Group's RAZU

38

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

2 Fuel Analysis, Smoke Tracking, and Report Access Computer System. 

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/fire/fastracs/
burn reporting system3 (which accounts for most 

federal, state, and private burning in the two states); 

and the wildfire 209 incident status summary, which

contains a daily record of wildfires occurring nationally.

√ Meteorology—A three-dimensional description of a

windfield and other meteorological parameters is necessary to drive the trajectory and dispersion models in

BlueSky. Currently BlueSky is integrated with MM5

output products from the University of Washington,

University of California-Santa Barbara, and the Rocky

Mountain FCAMMS Consortium MM5 forecast 

system.

√ Fuel loadings—BlueSky offers a selection of fuel load

mappings. There is a 1-km-resolution (0.62-mile) fuel

load coverage for the Western United States. BlueSky

is also using the 1-km National Fire Danger Rating

System (NFDRS) fuel load mapping. Work is underway to use FCCS fuel load mapping.

Outputs √ Predicted PM2.5 concentrations from planned 

prescribed burns and ongoing wildfires

√ Trajectories from each burn location showing where

neutrally buoyant smoke will travel (horizontally and

vertically) over the next 12 hours

√ Trajectories from default locations across the domain

that are used to indicate where smoke from a burn

would go if a burn were lit at that location. This tool 

is useful in cases for which a burn did not get into

BlueSky. 

These outputs are displayed in the Rapid Access 

Information System (RAINS) developed by partners at

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). RAINS is a

Web-based geographic information system (GIS) application that allows for overlay of BlueSky outputs on

GIS layers such as topography, census information,

roads, hospitals, schools, and Class I wilderness.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

39

3 http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/fire/nrcc/Smoke_web_pages/razu_ug.pdf
Linkage to other BlueSky links many pieces of existing data and 

models/tools models, including the Fire Emission Production

Simulator (FEPS), Consume, FCCS, NFDRS,

CALPUFF, MM5, HYSPLIT, FASTRACS, MT/ID

Airshed Group, and Washington Department of Natural

Resources and ICS-209 wildfire incident status 

summary reports.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station; 

Bureau of Land Management; National Park Service;

U.S. EPA Region 10; University of Washington;

Washington State University; Washington State

Department of Ecology; Idaho Department of

Environmental Quality; Oregon Department of 

Forestry; Montana-Idaho Airshed Group; Montana

Department of Environmental Quality; Nez Perce 

Tribe; Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

Current status Fully functional. Available at http://www. 

blueskyrains.org.

Training availability Annual training workshops are taught by Jeanne Hoadley

(jhoadley@fs.fed.us), USDA Forest Service Pacific

Northwest Research Station

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

documentation

Contact Narasimhan Larkin 

USDA Forest Service

(206)732-7849

larkin@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

40

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Comparative Risk Assessment in Fire and Fuels 

Planning (CRAFT)

Application for Calculates the relative risks and tradeoffs associated

fuel treatment with alternative fire and fuel management scenarios.

Identifies which variables and assumptions have the

greatest influence.

Description CRAFT is a Web-based tool that leads natural resource 

managers through an integrated assessment of risks,

uncertainties, and tradeoffs that surround fire and fuel

management. CRAFT helps planners identify and 

clarify objectives, design alternatives, assess probable

effects, and compare and communicate risks. It integrates data, model outputs, and personal beliefs.

CRAFT helps planners design alternatives based on how 

well they might satisfy objectives. Relatively crude

models are developed in the “Alternative Design” 

section, paving the way for a more detailed analysis 

of tradeoffs in the “Effects” section that follows.

Designing alternatives is iterative. CRAFT users alter,

add, or remove alternatives from consideration based on

initial analysis of alternative effects. Analyzing effects

probabilistically helps planners readily see the most

important components of projects. This helps managers

revise alternatives to better meet objectives.

Appropriate Best for large scale (e.g., 4th-field HUC) but can be 

spatial scale applied at smaller scales.

Analyst requirement Appropriate for use by experienced or relatively 

inexperienced planning teams, but it helps to have

expertise in decisionmaking with multiple options and

outcomes.

Data inputs Objectives of management action.

Outputs Probabilistic estimates of outcomes for various treatment 

options on a landscape, including vegetation, fire characteristics, and suppression costs.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

41
Linkage to other Can work with BehavePlus, FVS, and FARSITE.

models/tools

Developers (partners) Pacific Southwest Research Station; School of Business, 

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Current status CRAFT is an ongoing project. For more information and 

to check on the availability and specific capabilities of

CRAFT with respect to your project, see “Contact.”

Training availability Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/

fire_science/craft/craft.

Technical Lee, D.C.; Irwin, L.L. 2005. Assessing risks to spotted 

documentation owls from forest thinning in fire-adapted forests of the

Western United States. Forest Ecology and

Management. 211: 191-209.

Contact Dr. Steven P. Norman

USDA Forest Service

(707) 825-2919

stevenorman@fs.fed.us

Additional Belief nets allow decisionmakers to explore the relative 

information effects of different choices on intermediate variables

and final outcomes. One can also determine which

actions, variables, or events most affect specific

resources of interest. If the risks seem too high under 

all alternatives, belief nets help identify where additional knowledge may help decrease uncertainties

resulting from lack of information. 

CRAFT provides a framework to improve communication among all stakeholders by transparently 

portraying objectives, tradeoffs, uncertainties, and risk

tolerance. Uncertainty is unavoidable in all decisions,

but different uncertainties have different consequences.

The use of probability in CRAFT portrays relative

uncertainties and their relevance to each stakeholder

group.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Consume 3.0

Application for Consume predicts fuel consumption and pollutant

fuel treatment emissions from wildland fires. Resource managers can

use Consume to plan treatment windows that satisfy

fuel reduction goals while minimizing pollutant emissions. Consume will also provide fuel consumption and

emissions information for dispersion models and for

national and regional fuel consumption, emissions, 

and carbon assessments and inventories.

Description Consume is designed for resource managers, fire managers, researchers, air quality regulators, and carbon

modelers with some working knowledge of Microsoft

Windows applications. The software predicts the

amount of fuel consumption and emissions during wildland fires in all fuelbed types based on fuel loadings,

weather conditions, site environmental data, and fuel

moisture. Using these predictions, resource managers

can determine when and where to conduct a prescribed

burn (or manage a wildland fire) to achieve desired

objectives while reducing impacts on other resources

and for smoke reporting. Consume can be applied to

most forest, shrub, and grassland systems in North

America.

Appropriate spatial Consume can be used at any spatial scale, from a single 

scale fuelbed in a burn unit to national assessments. It is most

commonly applied to burn units confined to a single

project area, e.g., within a watershed or small subset 

of a national forest district or BLM resource area.

Analyst requirement Anyone who is comfortable using Microsoft Windows 

applications will be able to easily navigate the Consume

user interface. However, a working knowledge of fuels

and prescribed fire prescriptions is still required to

obtain reliable model results.

Data inputs Consume contains a library of files for FCCS fuel loadings. Fuels are organized into six strata: canopy, shrub,

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

43
nonwoody vegetation, downed woody fuels, a litterlichen-moss layer, and ground fuels. Each stratum is further broken down into one or more fuelbed categories.

Users can select a fuel loadings file based on selection

criteria (e.g., ecoregion, vegetation form, cover type or

change agent) or the FCCS fuelbed identification number. Alternatively, users can enter their own fuel data

directly into Consume. Additional inputs include information about the project, burn unit, type of fire, weather

conditions, and environmental data such as fuel moistures, midflame windspeed, slope, and whether the

fuelbed was created through natural processes or timber

harvest activities.

Outputs Consume calculates fuel consumption and emissions by 

combustion phase for each fuelbed stratum and category

based on input fuel loadings and environmental conditions. Users can specify a variety of report options,

including consumption or emissions by date, fire combustion phase, and range of 1,000-hour fuel moistures.

Consumption and emissions by 1,000-hour fuel moistures also can be viewed graphically to visually determine favorable burn conditions. Fuel consumption 

and fire emissions may be reported at multiple spatial

scales, including projects, units, fuelbeds, and fuel 

strata. Users also may use a scenario-testing tool to

model prescribed burns under a variety of environmental conditions to determine favorable burning 

conditions. Results can be printed directly in Consume or

exported into spreadsheets, databases, or statistical packages for additional analysis.

Linkage to other Consume contains a library of fuel loading files 

models/tools exported from FCCS and an update option to remain 

current with future versions of FCCS. Consume can be

run in batch mode to support linkages with BlueSky,

SmokeTracs, and other applications on operating 

systems that do not support the Microsoft Windowsbased user interface.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Hoefler Consulting Group, Seattle, Washington;

University of Washington; Forest Service Rocky

Mountain Research Station)

Current status Consume v. 3.0 was released in 2005. Available at 

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/products/consume.html.

Training availability A tutorial is available at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/ 

fera/products/consume.html.

Technical Prichard, S.J.; Ottmar, R.D.; Anderson, G.K. 

documentation [In preparation]. Consume 3.0 User’s Guide.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/consume/consume30

_users_guide.pdf.

Contact Roger Ottmar

USDA Forest Service

(206)732-7826

rottmar@fs.fed.us

Additional See http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/products/consume.html.

information

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

45
Fire Area Spread Simulator (FARSITE 4.0.4)

Application for fuel FARSITE can be used to test the potential effects 

treatment of different fuel treatments on landscapes subjected to 

a fire or group of fires burning under a given weather

stream. 

Description FARSITE is a fire growth simulation model that uses 

spatial information on topography and fuels along with

weather and wind files. It incorporates the existing

models for surface fire, crown fire, spotting, and fire

acceleration into a two-dimensional fire growth model. 

Appropriate spatial Small watersheds (e.g., 6th-field HUC) to large landscale scapes (4th-field to 5th-field HUC).

Analyst requirement FARSITE requires a high level of expertise for the

analyst and for GIS support. Users can teach themselves

to run FARSITE, but considerable experience is needed

to competently run simulations and judge how realistic

outputs are. 

Creating the necessary data layers to support FARSITE 

requires a relatively high level of GIS expertise. Most

data layers are created through remote sensing to provide wall-to-wall coverage at the same resolution. The

usefulness of both tools increases greatly when the data

layers include inholdings and adjacent lands.

Data inputs FARSITE uses up to eight base data layers of which five 

are mandatory and three are optional. These layers must

be in raster format and are combined to create a landscape file.

√ The five mandatory layers are slope, aspect, elevation,

canopy cover, fuel model. 

√ The three optional layers are canopy base height,

canopy ceiling height, canopy bulk density. These 

layers are needed to include spotting from torching

trees and crown fire simulation. In the absence of these

three layers, the models assume fully stocked stands 

of fully crowned Douglas-fir.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
FARSITE allows importing of auxiliary grid and vector 

files for features such as roads, streams, barriers, point

locations, etc. It requires weather and wind files, which

can be extensive and should overlap the analysis period

by at least 24 hours on each side. A large number of run

parameters must be specified, such as time step to be

used in calculations, visible steps to display, perimeter

resolution, and distance resolution. Crown fire can be

enabled or disabled. Spotting can be enabled or disabled, and include or exclude torching trees and a

specified ignition frequency. FARSITE requires a fire

start location.

Outputs FARSITE produces maps of fire behavior parameters in 

exportable form, and graphs and tables of fire area,

perimeter, fire characteristics chart plots, postfrontal

combustion, wind gauge locations, and weather station

locations.

Linkage to other FlamMap uses FARSITE landscape files. Current 

models/tools development efforts include a large-scale fuel treatment

optimization model that uses features from both FARSITE and FlamMap.

Developers (partners) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service 

Rocky Mountain Research Station (Bureau of Land

Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian

Affairs, Systems for Environmental Management)

Current status FARSITE 4.1.03 is fully functional. For more information, see http://www.fire.org.

Training availability FARSITE use is taught in S-493 Fire Area Simulation, 

and the program includes a tutorial in the help files. 

Technical Finney, M.A. 1998. FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator—

documentation model development and evaluation. Res. Pap. RMRSRP-4, Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 47 p. 

Finney, M.A. 1999. Spatial modeling of post-frontal fire 

behavior. Final Report RMRS-99557-RJVA. Missoula,

MT: Systems for Environmental Management. 8 p. 

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

47
Keane, R.E.; Mincemoyer, S.A.; Schmidt, K.M.; Long, 

D.G.; Garner, J.L. 2000. Mapping vegetation and fuels

for fire management on the Gila National Forest

Complex, New Mexico. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRSGTR-46-CD. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station. 126 p. [plus CD-ROM].

Contact National Interagency Fire Center Computer Support 

Desk

(800) 253-5559

fire_help@dms.nwcg.gov

Additional information FARSITE is intended to simulate fire spread for a single 

start or group of starts using a weather stream for the

days to be assessed. 

FARSITE is most accurate when calibrated by using 

previous weather data and fire perimeters for a particular fire. The model will run simulations for any time

desired, but cumulative errors make outputs after 5 

simulation-days unreliable. When spotting is enabled,

several simulations should be run using the same 

weather streams and model parameters, because spotting is stochastic, and each run will produce different

results. FARSITE output files can be imported into GIS

and analyzed further or displayed with different layers

stored in polygon format.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fire Behavior Assessment Tool (FBAT)

Application for Designing and prioritizing hazardous fuel treatments, 

fuel treatment and evaluating the effectiveness of proposed treatments

in altering potential fire behavior. 

Description The Fire Behavior Assessment Tool provides an interface 

between the ArcMap geographic information system

(GIS) and FlamMap3, a fire behavior mapping and

analysis program that calculates potential fire behavior

characteristics at a stand level. Users may select any

threshold of flame length, rate of spread, and crown fire

activity. They may choose to map a single metric fire

behavior (Absolute Fire Behavior Query), maps of each

threshold including only those polygons exceeding the

threshold (Simple Query), or maps of each threshold

where polygons are classified based in multiple degrees

(Classification Query) such as low, medium, and high.

Appropriate spatial Small

scale 

Analyst requirement Low

Data inputs √ LANDFIRE topography, surface fuel, and canopy fuel 

GIS data layers.

√ Historical weather records.

√ Threshold limits for flame lengths, rate of spread, and

crown fire activity (required only for Simple Query and

Classification Query).

Outputs √ Potential flame length GIS data layer(s).

√ Rate of spread GIS data layer(s).

√ Crown fire activity GIS data layer(s).

Linkage to other LANDFIRE (provides data layers). 

models/tools FlamMap3 (calculates fire behavior).

Developers (partners) National Interagency Fuels Technology Team.

Current status FBAT is currently undergoing beta testing.

Training availability Informal.

Technical Not yet available.

documentation

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

49
Contact Jeffrey L. Jones

USDA Forest Service

(406) 758-5341

jjones@fs.fed.us

Additional information The Fire Behavior Assessment tool provides an interface 

between FlamMap and ArcMap that allows users to run

FlamMap from the ArcMap platform. FBAT converts

ArcGRIDS depicting topography and fuels characteristics into ASCII files, builds the landscape profile, and

initiates a FlamMap run. FBAT then converts the

FlamMap outputs from ASCII format to ArcGRID 

format for display and to facilitate additional analysis.

FBAT contains a user interface that can be used to query 

the three spatial layers derived by FlamMap. Caution is

urged in interpreting the single metric derived from the

integration of the three layers; it is recommended that

users simply use these metrics to evaluate relative

differences of potential fire behavior and avoid any

interpretation pertaining to the absolute consequences 

of a specific wildland fire event. 

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT)

Application for Application for storing, managing, and analyzing 

fuel treatment National Park Service (NPS) fire effects monitoring

data

Description FEAT is a comprehensive, relational database management system that was developed to support immediate

and long-term monitoring and reporting of fire effects in

the National Park Service units. The system will make

monitoring data readily available at the park level, with

the long-term goal of having Internet-accessible databases at the local, regional, and national levels in order

to disseminate results to land managers (fire and

resource professionals) and other scientists. FEAT’s data

structure and design will facilitate data sharing between

the NPS Wildland Fire Management Program, natural

resource programs, and other agencies, resulting in

broader and more comprehensive landscape-scale

assessments.

FEAT is an integrated tabular and spatial information 

system supporting data management and analysis for

immediate and long-term monitoring and reporting 

of fire effects. FEAT is based on the integration of

ArcView (9.0) and Microsoft Desktop Engine. FEAT is

designed to use PDAs (personal data assistants) for field

data collection and automated database updating. FEAT

also includes an interactive “Protocol Builder” that supports automatic updating of new protocol database

tables and data collection screens.

Appropriate spatial Local to regional 

scale

Analyst requirement Low

Data inputs √ Brush or grass burn severity data recorded for a 

planned or unplanned disturbance event when the 

disturbance type is fire.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

51
√ The fire behavior data recorded for a planned or

unplanned disturbance event when the disturbance type

is fire.

√ Tree burn severity data recorded for a planned disturbance event when the disturbance type is fire.

√ Weather data recorded for a planned or unplanned 

disturbance event when the disturbance type is fire.

√ The date, time, location, and protocol for collecting

sampling data related to a disturbance.

√ The spatial dimension of a disturbance.

√ The diameter and condition of 1,000-hour fuel along a

transect within a plot.

√ The depth of litter and duff along a transect within a

plot.

√ The number of 1-hour, 10-hour and 100-hour fuels

along a transect within a plot.

√ The date, time, location, and protocol for collecting

sampling data related to a type of monitoring: vegetation, fuels, or disturbance.

√ The species code, live/dead flag, and tally for herbs

found within a frame.

√ The species code, live/dead flag, and height for herbs

found along a transect.

√ The user identification of the individual who recorded

measurement data.

√ The species code, age, and tally for shrubs within a belt

transect.

√ The species code, d.b.h. (diameter at breast height),

damage code, and live/dead flag for trees within a plot.

√ The species code, height, resprout flag code, live/dead

flag, and tally for trees within a plot.

√ The unique identification of a major fuel-vegetation

complex or vegetation association subject to a particular treatment prescription.

√ The management objectives selected for a monitoring

type.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ The spatial dimension of the monitoring type.

√ A National Park Service code to designate a national

park.

√ A landscape unit used to collect sampling data.

√ A line with beginning and end points within a plot 

used to collect species data.

√ A visit to a plot and the associated visit code that 

identifies the reason for the visit.

√ The catalog of approved sampling methods used to 

collect monitoring data.

√ The spatial dimension of the treatment.

√ The management objectives associated with a 

monitoring type.

√ The protocols selected for a monitoring type.

Outputs √ Generates summary statistics for fuels.

√ Summaries of input data with user-defined classifications to review fire effects data.

Linkage to other Replaces the NPS fire monitoring handbook, which is 

models/tools no longer supported.

Developers (partners) National Park Service

(Spatial Dynamics)

Current status FEAT version 2.4 

Training availability Informal.

Technical User’s Guide: http://feathelp.spatialdynamics.com 

documentation Spatial User’s Guide: http://featgishelp.spatialdynamics.

com

Contacts A forum is available at http://forum.spatialdynamics.com

Additional An effort is currently underway to merge FEAT and 

information FIREMON into a single system that includes spatial

links (currently lacking in FIREMON) and statistical

analysis (currently lacking in FEAT).

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

53
Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Application for fuel Provides background information on the potential 

treatment effects of fire on flora and fauna.

Description FEIS summarizes and synthesizes research about living 

organisms in the United States—their biology, ecology,

and relationship to fire. It is based on literature reviews,

taken from current English-language literature of almost

900 plant species, about 100 animal species, and 16

Küchler plant communities found on the North

American continent. The emphasis of each review is

fire and how it affects each species. Background information on taxonomy, distribution, basic biology, and

ecology of each species is also included. Reviews are

thoroughly documented, and each contains a complete

bibliography.

Appropriate spatial Can be applied at any spatial scale

scale

Analyst requirement No specialized skill required.

Data inputs None

Outputs Bibliographic information

Linkage to other None

models/tools

Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Current status Available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis.

Training availability Tutorial available at http://www.fs.fed.us/database 

/feis/tutorial/scavenger_hunt.html.

Technical Research project summaries available 

documentation http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/

research_project_summaries/index.html.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Contacts Cam Johnston 

(406) 329-4810

cjohnston@fs.fed.us

or

Jane Kapler Smith 

(406) 329-4805

jsmith09@fs.fed.us

Additional FEIS is currently undergoing extensive updating of older 

information species accounts and some redesign of the information

reported.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

55
Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF)

Application for Creates map libraries useful for identifying where, and 

fuel treatment under what burning conditions, fire may be beneficial

for achieving fuel treatments with respect to fire behavior and effect upon other management objectives. Areas

where fire is likely to result in detrimental effects may

be candidates for mechanical treatments or fire under

less severe conditions.

Description FEPF simultaneously calculates risks and benefits from 

fire under a variety of fire weather conditions. FEPF is

an analytic framework that steps the user through a

series of existing software programs to generate spatially explicit map libraries depicting the effect of fire on

resources of interest.

Appropriate spatial FEPF can be used at any scale from stand to landscape. 

scale Appropriate scale of analysis depends on the accuracy

of underlying data used, but in any case is not less than

the 30-meter (100-foot) scale of vegetation and fuel

data inputs.

Analyst requirement Local expertise is required to develop the crosswalk 

among mapable entities (such as vegetation type and

structure), management objectives, and fire behavior

and fire effects on management objectives. A landscape

dynamic simulation model is required if users wish to

consider future scenarios. Subject matter experts need 

to be consulted to specify fire weather parameters,

wildlife-habitat relationships, and fire effects on key

habitat characteristics. 

Data inputs FEPF requires information on fire behavior, vegetative 

conditions, and fire effects on management objectives. 

At its most basic, FEPF requires users to model fire 

behavior under a series of locally derived fire weather

conditions (typical of moderate, severe, and extreme

fire weather conditions). 

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
This is generally obtained from an analysis of historical 

weather conditions that uses FireFamilyPlus, followed

by FlamMap runs for each of the fire weather scenarios

(although users could use FFE-FVS in combination with

a landscape interpolation program, instead of

FlamMap). FlamMap requires: 

√ Slope √ Fuel model

√ Aspect √ Stand height

√ Elevation √ Crown base height

√ Canopy cover √ Canopy bulk density

Alternatively, analysts can use vegetation dynamics simulators (such as SIMPPLLE) to generate qualitative fire

behavior measures. Management objectives must be

mapped; generally this requires tying key habitat or

species characteristics to geospatial vegetative attributes. Information about fire effects on management

objectives may be obtained from a variety of sources,

including fire effects information system, other software

(such as the WHRM or URM), published literature, and

local expertise.

Outputs Digital map libraries of fire behavior and fire effects. 

Each library consists of output for the 3 to 5 fire 

weather scenarios chosen.

Linkage to other FEPF does not link directly to any other program; 

models/tools however, it is expected that most users will want 

quantitative measures of fire behavior, such as are

currently modeled by FlamMap or FFE-FVS. Use of

FireFamilyPlus greatly facilitates weather analysis, 

but is not critical. Additional inputs may be generated

through use of a landscape dynamic simulation model.

FEPF has been tested with the SIMPPLLE landscape

dynamic simulation model, and could conceptually use

output from FFE-FVS, RMLANDS or other vegetation

simulators. Information on fire effects may be obtained

from FOFEM, the URM, or the WHRM.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

57
Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Current status The framework has been developed through a pilot 

project on the Bitterroot National Forest. Subject to

funding, additional implementation and training materials are scheduled.

Training availability Training materials are being developed and tested during 

the early part of 2005. Additional training opportunities

and distribution are planned, pending success of submitted funding proposals.

Technical Black, A.; Opperman, T. 2005. Fire effects planning 

documentation framework: a user's guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. GTRRMRS-163WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain

Research Station. 63 p. 

Contact Anne Black

790 E Beckwith Ave.

Missoula, MT 59801 

(406) 329-2126

aeblack@fs.fed.us 

Additional A Web site with additional background and information 

information on demonstration sites, the draft user’s guide, and a

series of 2-page fact sheets describing various aspects

of the FEPF is located at http://leopold.wilderness.net/

research/fprojects/F005.htm.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM)

Application for Evaluates the effects of alternative land management

fuel treatment practices, including fuel treatments, over long periods

and under diverse environmental conditions and natural

fire regimes. 

Description FETM is a disturbance model designed to simulate the 

effects of alternative land management practices on

future landscape conditions over long periods and under

diverse environmental conditions, natural fire regimes,

and fuel and fire management strategies. The model is

based on a stationary Markov formulation, which uses

matrices of empirically determined probabilities to 

predict vegetation class replacement, and therefore 

composition, over time.

FETM accounts for natural and management-related 

disturbances. Natural disturbances include wildfire (for

different fire intensity levels), insects and disease, and

other user-specified disturbances. Management-related

disturbances include harvesting, mechanical fuel treatments, prescribed fire, firewood collection, and other

user-specified activities. Management activities and

acres are scheduled in FETM. The user enters the 

number of acres by fuel characteristic class per year 

or range of years. Disturbance effects are represented 

as a change in surface loading, fuelbed configuration, 

vegetation age or structure, or any combination of the

above. 

FETM predicts annual changes in landscape composition 

and effects over any period ranging from 1 to 300 years.

For each independent run, the starting composition in

any year of simulation is linked to the previous year’s

results. The model is stochastic; random variables

include wildfire frequencies in each of the four National

Fire Danger Rating System weather classes, and potential wildfire size in the event that fuel loadings exceed

the range of historical variability. FETM is a nonspatial

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

59
model, capable of predicting disturbance effects within

an area by vegetation class, but not capable of predicting where those impacts will occur on the landscape or

whether the impacts are contiguous or dispersed. 

FETM uses fire behavior algorithms to determine size 

and intensity of fire events. It integrates aspects of

physical fire behavior modeling into its simulations,

rather than relying on historical fire data as the basis for

determining future fire sizes and effects. Integration of

fire behavior modeling allows FETM users to evaluate

consequences of changes in fire environment (e.g., fuel

loading, canopy structure, weather, topography) on

wildfire area and other fire effects. For example, FETM

can evaluate the effect of a change in surface fuel loading or stand configuration on the potential for crown

fires. Integration of fire behavior modeling also offers

an opportunity to quantify fuel consumption and smoke

emissions over time.

Appropriate spatial FETM was designed for large landscapes. A rule of 

scale thumb is that the modeling domain should be not less

than 10 times the area of the largest fire that is expected

to occur within the simulation period.

Analyst requirement Requires a midlevel analyst or GIS specialist to run the 

model or tool or make it usable for local situations.

More information on team requirements is available in

the FETM users guide at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/

aq/fetm/FETM_Downloads/Manual_060403.pdf.

Data inputs Inputs include:

√ Delineation of administrative units included in analysis

area.

√ Personal Computer Historic Analysis (PCHA) and

Interagency Initial Attack Assessment (IIAA) database

files for each included administrative unit (major

source of required input data). 

√ Initial acres by fuel characteristic class (FCC).

√ Fuelbed description for each FCC.

√ Stand description (if applicable) for each FCC.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ User-specific disturbance effects pathways and 

coefficients.

√ Mean fire frequency for low, moderate, high, and

extreme NFDRS weather classes.

√ Relationship between expected final fire size and rate

of spread from wildfire case history data.

√ Description of alternatives, including fire suppression

program option.

√ Schedules of treatment activities, including prescribed

fire.

√ Simulation period.

√ Number of model iterations over which to average

results

Outputs Graphical and tabular model outputs include:

√ Annual landscape composition (acres by FCC).

√ Annual wildfire acres, total and by fire intensity level.

√ Annual fuel treatment acres (both targeted and 

accomplished).

√ Annual smoke emissions from wildfire and prescribed

fire (seven pollutants).

√ Smoke emissions by prescribed fire treatment intensity

in any future year.

√ Net present value of future costs and benefits from

wildfire and prescribed fire.

Linkage to other FETM has the capability to link to administrative unitmodels/tools specific PCHA and IIAA database files. In addition,

FETM uses the key functionality and algorithms from

several other state-of-the-science models, including

Consume 2.1 (fuel consumption and emissions),

CrownMass (predicting canopy structure and loading),

BEHAVE (predicting crown fire rates of spread), PCHA

(provides access to fire weather and history data; algorithms used to compute new weather-based outputs),

IIAA (provides access to fire suppression organization

costs and benefits data; algorithms used to compute new

breakpoint rates of spread for fires burning in different

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

61
derivative fuel models), and NFDRCalc (algorithms

used to compute NFDRS fire output parameters), and

others. 

Developers (partners) Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Air Quality 

and Fire and Aviation Management Programs (Oregon

State Office of the Bureau of Land Management, Air

Sciences Inc.)

Current status FETM is available to any organization or individual. A

complete description of FETM, along with model setup

files, user guide, technical documentation, brochure,

and series of currently published papers are at

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/aq/fetm. 

Training availability Training is available as needed. For more information on 

training, please contact John Szymoniak or Mark Schaaf

(see below).

Technical Available at http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/aq/fetm/FETM_ 

documentation Downloads/Technical%20Documentation_060403.pdf.

Contacts John Szymoniak

USDA Forest Service

(208) 387-5748

jszymoniak@fs.fed.us

or

Mark Schaaf

Air Sciences Inc.

(503) 525-9394 ext. 11

mschaaf@airsci.com

Additional information Two example FETM applications are found on the 

FETM Web site at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/aq/fetm/

Applications.htm: (1) the Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Wilderness fuel treatment final environmental impact

statement, Superior National Forest, Minnesota (USDA

FS 2001), and (2) an analysis of fuel treatment and fire

suppression strategies for the Angeles National Forest,

California (http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/aq/fetm/anf.htm).

FETM is currently being applied at numerous other

sites in the United States.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)

Application for fuel FEPS is used to simulate fuel consumption, emission 

treatment production, and plume buoyancy for prescribed burns

and wildland fires under various meteorological 

conditions.

Description FEPS is a dynamic simulation of fuel consumption, 

emission production, and plume buoyancy. It produces

data concerning consumption, emissions, and heat

release characteristics of prescribed burns and wildland

fires. Total burn consumption values are distributed

over the life of the burn to generate hourly emission and

plume heat release information. The user can initiate a

program run from a library of “typical” fuelbed and fire

progressions or from previously stored user defaults,

providing a means to compile or plan emission inventories. The size and growth rate of typical fires can be

adjusted to fit local applications.

Appropriate spatial FEPS is applicable at the scale of a wildfire or a prescale scribed burn, and can be used for most forest, shrub,

and grassland types in North America and the world.

Analyst requirement FEPS is designed for scientists and resource managers 

with some working knowledge of Microsoft Windows

applications. The program allows users to produce 

outputs with very little input information by providing

default values and calculations; advanced users can 

customize the data they provide to produce more

refined results.

Data inputs The FEPS interface allows the user to customize a 

burning or wildfire event. The user may enter or adjust

default fuel loadings, fuel moistures, fuel consumption

algorithms, fuelbed proportions. and fire growth rates to

fit specific events or situations, and can specify diurnal

changes in meteorological conditions that will modify

plume rise. Many intermediate results are exposed to

the user, and the user may accept these results or insert

values of their own.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

63
Outputs FEPS provides a series of tabular reports and charts that 

document the results of a particular event. Results can

be displayed in either “English” (Imperial) or metric

(SI) units. Reports can be printed in a default format or

exported as text or Excel files, and include the following: (1) consumption for each phase of the fire (flaming,

short-term smoldering, and long-term smoldering); (2)

emissions of carbon monoxide, methane, and PM2.5 

for each hour of the event, and the drift percentage of

PM2.5; and (3) buoyancy results for each hour of the

event. Charts can be printed or exported as image files,

and display the following: (1) consumption by combustion stage over the life of the event, (2) results of

several plume rise calculations, (3) PM2.5 emissions

over time, and (4) carbon monoxide emissions over

time.

Linkage to other None currently, but FEPS v. 1.1 will link with FCCS and 

models/tools BlueSky.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Hoefler Consulting Group, Seattle, WA)

Current status FEPS version 1.0 can be downloaded at http://www.fs. 

fed.us/pnw/fera/feps/index.html.

Training availability A Web-based tutorial will be available in 2006.

Technical The FEPS User’s Guide can be downloaded from

documentation http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/feps/index.html.

Contact Roger D. Ottmar

USDA Forest Service

(206) 732-7826

rottmar@fs.fed.us

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Additional information FEPS is an update to the Emissions Production Model 

(EPM) software. The original EPM was designed to

help managers estimate and mitigate the rates of heat,

particles, and carbon gas emissions from controlled

burns of harvest-slash residue in Northwest forests. In

updating EPM, a significant number of improvements

were made to the usability, applicability, and accuracy

of the model. The calculation approach was redesigned,

and the model was renamed FEPS.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

65
FireFamily Plus

Application for fuel Percentile weather can provide scientifically-based burntreatment ing conditions for use in CrownMass, BehavePlus,

NEXUS, and similar tools used to evaluate potential fire

behavior. Data cannot be used by FFE-FVS. Wind data

can be used to determine percentage of days winds are

from a given quadrant and potential windspeeds for use

in smoke dispersion analysis. Climatology analyses can

aid in determining which weather elements are most

closely associated with large fire growth.

Description FireFamily Plus conducts analyses of historical fire 

weather and fire occurrence by using databases in the

National Integrated Fire Management Interagency

Database (NIFMID). Weather files can be extracted to

prepare input data for the Rare Event and Risk Analysis

Process (RERAP) or for FARSITE or for other uses.

Appropriate spatial Mostly large watersheds (e.g., 5th-field HUC); occasionscale ally individual stations used for large to very large landscapes (e.g., 4th-field HUC, ranger district/resource area

and larger).

Analyst requirement Moderate skill level is needed by analyst to examine 

weather and station catalog data for quality, to correct

errors, and to interpret results.

Data inputs √ Weather data files and station catalog files extracted 

from the interagency Weather Information Management

System (WIMS) database.

√ Data years to use for the analysis.

√ Months and days to use in the analysis.

√ Length of analysis period. 

Outputs Primary outputs of concern for fuel management are:

√ Percentile weather

√ Winds analysis

Linkage to other Provides data for input into RERAP, FARSITE, 

models/tools CrownMass, and NEXUS.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Developers (partners) Forest Service, Department of the Interior, Systems for 

Environmental Management.

Current status Program is fully functional. Go to http://www.fire.org/ 

for additional information.

Training availability Use of FireFamily Plus is taught in S-491 Intermediate 

National Fire Danger Rating System. See http://www.

nationalfiretraining.net for class dates and locations.

Course guides can be purchased from the National

Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Publication Management

System.

Technical None

documentation

Contact For technical support:

Fire and Aviation Management System Help Desk

(800) 253-5559

fire_help@dms.nwgc.gov 

Additional information When coupled with data on fire occurrence, users can 

analyze area-specific weather conditions associated with

large fire spread. Analysis of fire occurrence data also

provides information on predominant statistical causes

and distribution of fire size classes to support purpose

and need statements.

Weather data for some stations extend into the 1960s; 

however, data prior to the mid-1970s is usually incomplete and can result in erroneous output. Weather data

must be checked for quality, with errors removed or

corrected. Days with incomplete data should be completed if possible, or deleted. Missing records affect

resulting analyses. Weather and fire occurrence data sets

analyzed for use in fire planning usually have had errors

corrected and are preferred over raw data extracted

from WIMS. 

Weather records covering at least 20 years are preferred. 

Note that there are differences in long-term weather 

patterns at the decadal scale, so the data period used 

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

67
can affect the output. Stations with less than 10 years of

data should be used cautiously and avoided if possible.

Data from older manual stations and newer Remote

Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) can be merged

through use of a Special Interest Group (SIG) and 

analyzed.

A strong correlation exists between large fire growthdays and 100-hour fuel moisture and energy release

component (ERC) for the G model. Critical values for

100-hour fuel moistures and ERC are listed as part of

predictive analyses for 10-day and seasonal fire danger

and posted in the “Predictive Services” section of most

Geographic Area Coordination Centers in the Western

United States (e.g., see http://www.nwccweb.us/ 

predict/index.asp). FireFamily Plus allows for analyses

using both variables simultaneously to estimate the

number of days when large fire growth is possible.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fire and Fuels Extension-Forest Vegetation 

Simulator (FFE-FVS)

Application for Silviculturists have long used FVS to analyze 

fuel treatment forest growth and yield under a variety of treatment

options. FFE allows the user to evaluate potential fire

behavior and stand mortality and resulting effects on

snag longevity and subsequent tree growth.

Description FFE-FVS simulates the effects of fire on forest structure, 

and the effects of different treatments on fire potential.

Appropriate spatial Forest stands to small watersheds (mostly 6th-field HUC 

scale and smaller), but can be cautiously aggregated to larger

scales.

Analyst requirement Requires an experienced user to run the model and 

produce usable results. Users should be familiar with the

concepts used in FVS and the data used to develop snag

longevity and surface fuel loading outputs. These outputs

are based on a mix of scientifically based equations and

expert judgment.

Data inputs Forest stand attribute data are required to initialize a run 

of FVS. Users can also provide:

√ Detailed snag records

√ Adjustments to defaults for snag breakage rates, decay

rates, fall rates, and burn-up rates

√ Initial surface fuel loading

√ Adjustments to decay rates and duff production rates

√ Custom fuel models

√ Static or dynamic fuel models

√ Changes in fuel loading resulting from mechanical

treatments such as crushing; burning conditions

√ Fuel moistures

√ Windspeed

√ Pile burning

√ Flame adjustment factors

Outputs √ Images of resulting stand structures before and after 

treatment and fires.

√ “Movies” of fires burning through stands.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

69
√ Graphs of potential surface fire flame length, crowning

index, surface fuel loadings, snag numbers, canopy

cover, stand structure, canopy ceiling height, and timber volume through time.

√ Detailed or summary reports of snags, surface fuels;

type of fire; scorch height; tree mortality; and fuel 

consumption.

Linkage to other Tree tables generated by FVS can be imported into 

models/tools CrownMass. “Cut lists” for trees removed by thinning

can be used directly by My Fuel Treatment Planner,

Understory Response Model, and Wildlife Habitat

Response Model.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (Joint 

Fire Science Program)

Current status Model is fully functional at http://forest.moscowfsl. 

wsu.edu/4155/ffe-fvs.html. Variants are available for all

portions of the Western United States.

Training availability Training is periodically available through the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest

Management Service Center in Fort Collins, CO.

http://www.fs.fed.us/fmsc/fvs/training/index.php.

Technical Dixon, G. 1998. Evaluating stand density management 

documentation alternatives using the Forest Vegetation Simulator. Fort

Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Forest Management Service Center. 16 p.

http://ftp.fs.fed. us/pub/fmsc/ftp/fvs/docs/gtr/canpap.pdf.

Reinhardt, E.D.; Crookston, N.L. 2004. The fire and 

fuels extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator.

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-116. Ogden, UT: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station. 209 p.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Contacts Elizabeth Reinhardt

USDA Forest Service

(406) 329-4760

ereinhardt@fs.fed.us

or

Nicholas Crookston

USDA Forest Service

(208) 882-3507

ncrookston@fs.fed.us

Additional information FFE-FVS produces different crown fire results than 

CrownMass and NEXUS and different estimates of

mortality and fuel consumption than FOFEM. Results

can be skewed because FFE works on a 1-year time

step and FVS works on a 5- to 10-year time step. 

Live fuels are poorly represented in FFE-FVS.

Decomposition rates are not sensitive to aspect, 

elevation, or potential vegetation type.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

71
Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

Application for At the 6th-field HUC scale or equivalent, FRCC can aid

fuel treatment in determining stand types on which to focus treatment.

At the 5th-field HUC scale or equivalent, it can aid in

prioritizing 6th-field HUCs and fire regimes as well as

stand types on which to focus treatment. At the 4th-field

HUC scale or equivalent, it can aid in prioritizing 5thfield HUCs and fire regimes for treatment.

Description FRCC is an interagency, standardized tool for determining the degree of departure from presettlement vegetation, fuel, and disturbance regimes. Assessing FRCC

can help guide management objectives and set priorities

for treatments. 

Appropriate spatial Originally designed for large scale (e.g., 4th-field HUC) 

scale but being applied at all scales; very coarse classifications.

Analyst requirement Moderate to high; the FRCC process is intended to be 

completed by a team including a vegetation management specialist with expertise on successional concepts

and a fuel management specialist with expertise on fire

ecology. Although not required by the tool, maps of

stand types and fire regimes can aid in determining fire

regime condition class.

Data inputs √ Regsitration code

√ Several project area identifiers and descriptors

√ Several biophysical setting descriptors for the landscape and each stratum

√ Reference fire frequency and severity for each stratum

√ Current fire frequency and severity for each stratum

√ Breakpoint between open and closed canopy (defaults

are provided)

√ Reference percentages of five vegetation-fuel classes

for each stratum

√ Current percentages of five vegetation-fuel classes plus

any percentages of uncharacteristic vegetation-fuel

classes for each stratum

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Outputs √ Departure from reference conditions for vegetation-fuel

fire frequency, and fire severity for each stratum

√ FRCC by vegetation-fuel and fire frequency and 

severity for each stratum

√ Weighted mean reference condition and class for fire

frequency and severity

√ Landscape natural fire regime group

√ Landscape weighted mean departure for vegetationfuel, fire frequency, and fire severity

√ Landscape FRCC

√ Graph of stratum and landscape FRCC

Linkage to other No direct linkage to other models and tools. The 

models/tools Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) can

be used to describe different seral structure stages–

present, past, and desired. LANDFIRE is expected to

produce maps of FRCC at 30-m resolution in the

Western United States by 2009.

Developers (partners) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; Bureau 

of Land Management; National Park Service; Fish and

Wildlife Service; Bureau of Indian Affairs; U.S.

Geological Survey (The Nature Conservancy)

Current status The second generation guidebook and methods are 

available. Baseline reference conditions for historical

seral stages have been developed for most historical

cover types in the continental United States. For additional information, see http://www.frcc.gov.

Training availability Online training and certification is available at 

http://www.frames.gov/frcc. Various training opportunities are offered by federal agencies throughout the

United States. 

Technical Schmidt, K.M.; Menakis, J.P.; Hardy, C.C.; Hann, W.J.; 

documentation Bunnell, D.L. 2002. Development of coarse-scale spatial data for wildland fire and fuel management. Gen.

Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-87. Fort Collins, CO: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station. 41 p. + CD-ROM.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

73
Contacts For answers related to methods and procedures, contact 

helpdesk@frcc.gov

or

Wendel Hann 

USDA Forest Service

(505) 388-8243

whann@fs.fed.us

Additional information Example analyses using FRCC are available at 

http://www.frcc.gov. Although nonspatial in nature, the

overall approach can include spatial considerations. The

FRCC process is biased toward dry forests with short

fire-return intervals. At longer fire-return intervals, the

process is less effective, because it is unlikely a large

landscape will meet the size requirements specified in

the process, or have all five seral stages present at any

given time. In long-interval, high-severity fire regimes,

time since the last ecologically significant disturbance 

is more important than spatial arrangement of different

seral stages. One seral stage is likely to dominate the

landscape at any given time. These considerations are

not included in the reference baselines. Adequate explanations of how to use the uncharacteristic seral stages

are not available. These “stages” include a mix of spatial considerations, other disturbance types, patch sizes,

and road densities.

The FRCC process has undergone extensive peer review 

that resulted in considerable changes in the terminology,

procedures, and methods in the first 2 to 3 years of its

development. Users who attended the initial classes may

be using out-dated methods and terminology. For example, “potential vegetation” is now called “biophysical

setting.” The current version of the software now

includes a GIS-based process (mapping tool) to automate inputs of current conditions.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Because each seral stage can be assigned other resource 

values, such as hydrological function or habitat for a

given species, the FRCC process provides a method to

integrate other resource considerations and to examine

how the mix of environmental functions and services

may change among historical, current, and desired 

conditions.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

75
Fireshed Assessment: An Integrated Approach to 

Landscape Planning

Application for Fireshed assessments are used to:

fuel treatment √ Develop a program of work—Interdisciplinary teams

use a logical, step-by-step process to design, test, and

schedule fuel and vegetation management projects to

meet multiple resource objectives.

√ Ensure forest plan consistency—A Fireshed assessment

documents a strategic design of treatments across the

fireshed, demonstrating consistency with forest plan

strategies for managing fire and fuels, and National

Fire Plan goals for reducing hazardous fuels, protecting

communities, and restoring fire-adapted systems. 

√ Invite interagency and public participation at an early

stage in the planning process—Fireshed assessments

alone do not result in decisions. Assessments identify

opportunities for projects, making them a platform

from which interagency partners, collaborators, stakeholders, and the public can participate in developing

and testing treatment designs.

√ Assess cumulative effects—As part of the fireshed

assessment process, interdisciplinary teams look at

potential changes in fire behavior, habitat, and watershed conditions. The results from these tests can ultimately feed into cumulative effects analyses that are

conducted as part of site-specific project planning.

Description Firesheds are large (thousands of acres) landscapes, 

delineated based on fire regime, condition class, fire

history, fire hazard and risk, and potential wildland 

fire behavior. Fireshed assessment refers to an interdisciplinary and collaborative process for designing

and scheduling site-specific projects consistent with

goals of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003,

National Fire Plan, and national forest land and 

resource management plans. Steps in the fireshed

assessment process include:

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ Delineate firesheds.

√ Select a fireshed for assessment based on national,

regional, and forest priorities.

√ Describe goals and desired conditions.

√ Describe existing conditions for fire behavior, habitat,

forest health, and community protection.

√ Identify opportunities and project proposals to move

the existing landscape toward desired conditions for

fire behavior, forest health, and habitat.

Appropriate spatial Medium to large landscapes (e.g., 4th- and 5th-field 

scale HUC) to allow managers to assess progress toward

meeting: 

√ National Fire Plan goals to (1) reduce hazardous fuels

to reduce the risk of unplanned and unwanted wildland fire to communities and to the environment, and

(2) restore, rehabilitate, and maintain fire-adapted 

ecosystems.

√ Local planning goals relative to fire, fuel, and habitat,

such as (1) strategically place treatment areas across

landscapes to interrupt potential wildland fire spread,

and reduce the extent and severity of fires, and (2)

improve the continuity and distribution of old forest

across landscapes.

Analyst requirement Fireshed assessments consider an array of desired conditions and environmental changes in a spatially explicit

manner. As such, they require a moderately high level

of GIS, fire behavior modeling, silviculture, programming, and analytical support.

Data inputs To model changes in fire behavior by using FARSITE, 

fireshed assessments use the following raster landscape

themes: elevation, slope, aspect, fuel model, canopy

cover, canopy height, crown base height, crown bulk

density, duff loading, and coarse woody material. Fire

weather variables are also used as data inputs.

Changes in vegetation, habitat, and treatment costs are 

assessed by using the following raster landscape

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

77
themes: California Wildlife Habitat Relationships types,

vegetation type, tree size, canopy cover, protected activity centers, California spotted owl home range core

areas, treatment prescriptions, tree lists, volume, and

biomass potential. Timber stumpage values are also

used as input variables to assess treatment costs.

Outputs Fireshed assessments spatially display opportunities for 

meeting multiple objectives (reducing the size and

severity of wildland fires, enhancing resilience of forest

stands to insect- and drought-related tree mortality, and

conserving habitat for at-risk wildlife species). The

assessments also provide a spatially explicit, preliminary assessment of changes in fire behavior, vegetation,

habitat, and economics under different scenarios, with

each scenario designed to move existing fireshed conditions toward desired conditions.

Linkage to other Fireshed assessments rely on a variety of tools, 

models/tools including FVS, FARSITE, FLAMMAP, and ArcGIS

tools such as focal mean. The products from a fireshed

assessment can be linked to various reporting systems,

including FACTS, NFPORS, My Fuel Treatment

Planner, and treatment scheduler.

Developers (partners) Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

Current status A regional cadre of resource specialists has been 

working to develop, test, and refine the fireshed 

assessment process. The cadre has conducted beta 

tests of the fireshed assessment process during 

workshops with the Modoc, Mendocino, and Stanislaus

National Forests. The remaining forests in the Pacific

Southwest Region are scheduled for workshops.

At each workshop, the cadre works through the fireshed 

assessment process with a forest or district interdisciplinary team on an actual fireshed. The cadre members

complement the skills and experience of the workshop

interdisciplinary team, acting as an extension of the

team and filling gaps. The cadre provides “real time”

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
spatial analysis products displaying changes in fire

behavior, habitat, and economics and helps the team

learn how to produce similar products. After the workshop, the cadre continues to provide advice and support

to workshop participants to facilitate refinements to

their assessments.

Training availability None.

Technical None.

documentation

Contact Bernie Bahro 

USDA Forest Service

(916) 640-1066

bbahro@fs.fed.us

Additional information The Washington Office of the Forest Service has sponsored a pilot project to test Fireshed in other national

forests outside the Pacific Southwest. Reports from 

the pilot projects are expected in 2006.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

79
First Order Fire Effects Model 5.2 (FOFEM)

Application for Potential uses include wildfire impact assessment, 

fuel treatment development of timber salvage specifications, design 

of fire prescriptions, analysis of first-order treatment

effects in environmental analyses, and fire management

planning.

Description FOFEM predicts fuel consumption, soil heating, smoke 

production, and tree mortality. The model contains a

planning mode for prescription development.

Appropriate spatial Primarily stand scale but can be used for smaller waterscale sheds (e.g., 6th-field HUC).

Analyst requirement A low-level analyst can run FOFEM. It is nonspatial.

Data inputs √ Mortality—Region (Interior West, Pacific West, 

Northeast, Southeast); general burning conditions (low 

to extreme); for each species and d.b.h. class species,

density (trees/acre), d.b.h., tree height, crown ratio; 

and flame length or scorch height.

√ Fuel/smoke/soil—Region; cover classification system

(SAF/SRM, NVCS, FCC); cover type; season of burn;

general burning condition (low to very high); fuel type

(natural, slash, or piles); fuel loading by size class 

(litter, 0-4, 4-1, 1-3, 3+ inch; duff, herb, shrub,

foliage, branchwood) with adjustments permitted from

defaults (typical, light or sparse, heavy or abundant);

fuel moisture for 4-1 and 3+inch woody fuels, and for

duff; percentage of 3+ inch that is rotten and how it 

is distributed; duff depth and type of duff moisture

(entire, lower, NFDR, adjusted NFDR); and percentage

of crown burned. The soil module also includes soil

texture and soil moisture percentage.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Outputs √ Mortality—Percentage of tree mortality by species and 

size class, and pre- and postfire canopy cover.

√ Fuel—Preburn loading, consumed loading, postburn

loading, percentage reduction, duff depth consumed,

percentage mineral soil exposure.

√ Smoke—Same as fuel outputs, plus emissions for

PM10, PM2.5, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, 

sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and methane from 

flaming and smoldering combustion; total consumption

in flaming and smoldering combustion; and duration of

flaming and smoldering combustion.

√ Soil—Same as fuel, plus soil layer maximum temperatures and duration of heating at 0 to13 cm (0 to 5 inch)

depth by 1-cm increments, maximum depth reaching

60 °C (140 °F), and maximum depth reaching 275 °C

(527 °F).

Linkage to other No current linkages, but a possible linkage to Fuel 

models/tools Characteristic Classification System may be added in

the future. BehavePlus and FOFEM may merge into a

single tool in the future.

Developers (partners) Rocky Mountain Research Station (Systems for 

Environmental Management)

Current status Fully functional

Training availability No formal training is available. Self-directed tutorials 

can be downloaded from http://www.fire.org.

Technical None.

documentation

Contacts Elizabeth Reinhardt

USDA Forest Service

(406) 329-4760

ereinhardt@fs.fed.us

or

Robert Keane 

(406) 329-4846

rkeane@fs.fed.us

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

81
Additional information One of the best uses of FOFEM currently is to evaluate 

potential soil heating with and without salvage in dry

forests burned with uncharacteristic severity. Equations

used in FOFEM to estimate scorch and mortality are

more robust than those used in FFE-FVS; the equations

are the same as those used in BehavePlus. Scorch and

mortality information may be displayed in a more useful format in FOFEM than in BehavePlus, although

BehavePlus produces graphs as well as tables.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
FlamMap 3.0 Beta 6

Application for FlamMap can be used to identify those portions of 

fuel treatment the landscape where expected fire behavior and certain

fire effects are potentially within or outside of acceptable levels, indicating where fuel treatments may be 

justified. 

The Minimum Travel Time tool allows the user to determine the fastest pathways of fire travel under specified

weather and wind conditions. 

The Treatment Optimization Model allows the user to 

identify treatment locations and sizes needed to disrupt

the fastest pathways.

Description FlamMap is a spatial fire behavior tool, where an entire 

landscape is analyzed by using a single set of wind and

weather conditions. It creates raster maps of potential

fire behavior characteristics (rate of spread, flame

length, crown fire activity, etc.) and environmental 

conditions (dead fuel moistures, midflame windspeeds,

solar irradiance) and minor and major travel paths over

an entire landscape. 

FARSITE landscapes may be imported or landscapes 

can be assembled from the needed input layers within

FlamMap. Use of the Minimum Travel Time and

Treatment Optimization Model tools is enhanced

through the use of gridded winds, which adjust input

windspeeds and direction based on terrain, soon to be

readily available through Wind Wizard. The output

maps can be viewed in FlamMap or exported for use 

in a GIS, image processor, or word processor.

Appropriate spatial Small watersheds (e.g., 6th-field HUC) to large land

scale scapes (4th-field to 5th-field HUC).

Analyst requirement Users can readily teach themselves how to use FlamMap.

The current version does not contain help files for the

Minimum Travel Time and Treatment Optimization

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

83
Model tools. As a result, some input variables are not

made clear to the user. Others are not readily apparent,

but can eventually be deduced by experimenting with

the model inputs. FlamMap is organized in an expanding tree structure rather than a command-and-menu

structure.

Developing input layers can require a high level of 

expertise for the user or GIS support staff. Most data

layers are created through remote sensing to provide

wall-to-wall coverage at the same resolution. The usefulness of FlamMap increases greatly when the data

layers include inholdings and adjacent lands.

Data inputs FlamMap uses the same base data layers as FARSITE, of 

which five are mandatory and three are optional. These

layers must be in raster format and are combined to create a landscape file.

√ The five mandatory layers are slope, aspect, elevation, 

canopy cover, fuel model. 

√ The three optional layers are canopy base height, 

canopy ceiling height, canopy bulk density. These layers are needed to include spotting from torching trees

and crown fire simulation. In the absence of these three 

layers, the models assume fully stocked stands of fully

crowned Douglas-fir.

FlamMap can use the 13 standard fuel models as well 

as the new models released by Scott and Burgan (2005).

Outputs Outputs can be specified and consist of maps in 

exportable form. The Minimum Travel Time and

Treatment Optimization Model tools also create three

outputs pertaining to elliptical spread, although these

outputs are not explained in the help files.

Linkage to other FlamMap uses FARSITE landscape files and can 

models/tools use FARSITE wind and weather files. In the future,

FlamMap will be able to use gridded wind files developed by using Wind Wizard.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Developers (partners) Rocky Mountain Research Station (Systems for 

Environmental Management)

Current status FlamMap 2.0 is available; FlamMap 3.0 is in beta test 

model. For more information see http://www.fire.org.

Training availability Currently, there is no training and no online tutorial for 

FlamMap.

Technical Stratton, R.D. 2004. Assessing the effectiveness of 

documentation landscape fuel treatments on fire growth and behavior.

Journal of Forestry. 102(7): 32-40. 

Contact Mark Finney 

USDA Forest Service

(406) 329-4832

mfinney@fs.fed.us

Additional information FlamMap is not a replacement for FARSITE or a fire 

growth simulation model. There is no temporal component in FlamMap. It uses spatial information on topography and fuels to calculate fire behavior characteristics

at one instant. 

Auxiliary grid and vector files for features such as roads, 

streams, point locations, etc. can be imported and displayed, but have no effect on the outputs. FlamMap

does not display polygons as filled, but only as outlines.

Unlike FARSITE, the current version of FlamMap does

not recognize barrier files. Wind and weather inputs 

are required. Winds may be specified within the model,

imported as FARSITE wind file, or imported as gridded

winds. Weather files can be used to condition fuels

ahead of the simulation run to adjust 1-hour fuel moistures by aspect, elevation, and shading. Use of a fire

start location or line of fire is optional, depending on

the type of analysis being conducted.

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85
Forest Inventory and Analysis Biomass Summarization 

System (FIA BioSum)

Application for Used to identify promising locations for woody 

fuel treatment biomass-fired electrical generation plants and conventional wood processing facilities, and to assess

costs/revenues of treating broad landscapes under 

various assumptions, objectives, and scenarios. The

effectiveness and economic attractiveness of numerous

alternative prescriptions can be compared and evaluated

with respect to a large, representative sample of the

forested landscape. 

Individual land management units, ecoregions, and whole

states can be compared and contrasted with respect to

the scope of current fuel hazard, the extent to which

fuel treatments can pay for themselves, and the extent to

which fuel treatments can reduce fire hazard. 

Description This framework combines and integrates the publicly 

available models FFE-FVS and STHARVEST with 

forest inventory plot data and digital representations of

road networks. It simulates implementation of a wide

range of fuel treatments at large spatial scales, costs of

treatments, fire hazard reduction, mix of merchantable

and nonmerchantable wood products generated by treatments, and “hot spots” of woody material that could

merit processing facilities. Nearly any objective function and constraint set can be specified to analyze fuel

treatment feasibility. Results represent fuel reduction

opportunities, costs and yields for entire forested landscapes, based on FIA plots that represent a sample of 

all forest types and conditions on all ownerships. 

Appropriate spatial Very large forest landscapes (10,000 square miles and 

scale larger)

Analyst requirement A high level of analyst sophistication and experience is 

required to use the current version of this tool; efforts

are underway to make it accessible to midlevel analysts.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Even then, users will need to be familiar with generating prescriptions in FVS, interpreting outputs from FFE,

and (optionally) carrying out standard geoprocessing

activities with ArcInfo or ArcGIS via execution of Arc

macro language scripts (AMLs) in Grid and Arc environments if detailed representation of haul costs is

desired. 

Data inputs √ Standard FIA inventory plot, condition, and tree data, 

including at least fuzzed plot locations. 

√ A complete road network for the study area (precise

connectivity not required) attributed with road speed

classes (3 to 5 classes are usually sufficient). 

√ Land ownership/designation/status GIS layers and 

decision rules that determine which acres may be 

treated, which areas can host processing facilities, 

and over which areas fuel treatment yields may be

transported.

√ A set of standardized fuel treatments by forest type that

can be broadly applied within the FVS framework. 

√ A set of potential processing sites at which woody 

biomass or merchantable wood processing facilities

may be considered for construction, or a set of rules 

for generating such locations.

√ Objectives and constraints to be applied either heuristically or via an optimization framework (e.g., treat all

acres where torching index and crowning index can be

improved from below 15 miles per hour to above 15

miles per hour, and pick the treatment for each acre 

that maximizes net revenue, but only if net revenue is

greater than -$200 per acre).

Outputs Area treated, total net revenue (or cost), amount of 

biomass and merchantable-size material that would

arrive at each simulated processing site; the best prescription associated with each inventory plot, and the

amount of hazard reduction achieved.

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87
Linkage to other Framework integrates FFE-FVS, STHARVEST, 

models/tools FIA data; may ultimately be linked with GNNfire to

produce wall-to-wall maps of fuel treatment effects

(e.g., hazard reduction in every pixel). 

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station,

Southwestern Region)

Current status Proof of concept essentially complete. Analysis for northern California and western Oregon complete and being

documented in a research paper. Analysis for Arizona

and New Mexico ongoing. See http://www.fs.fed.us/

pnw/fia/biosum for more information and links to 

articles.

Training availability Not currently available. User manual anticipated in 

winter 2006 followed by training sessions if interest

warrants.

Technical See http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fia/biosum.

documentation

Contact Jeremy Fried

USDA Forest Service

(503) 808-2058

jsfried@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS)

Application for √ Map fuelbeds with associated fuel characteristics 

fuel treatment and fire potentials, and input fuelbed characteristics 

into various fire behavior and fire effects models for 

fire planning and assessing fuel treatment activities.

√ Quantitative measure of effectiveness of fuel or vegetation treatment for reducing fire potential, and may be

used to plan and prioritize fuel treatments or to monitor

changes on a landscape over time. Can be an alternative to using change in Fire Regime Condition Class 

as the sole performance measure.

√ Characterization and quantification of landscapes for

the purpose of assessing the effects of fuel treatments,

e.g., a spatial layer of fuel loadings or FCCS fire 

potentials before and after the implementation of a 

fuel treatment.

Description FCCS assigns fuel properties and fire potentials to landscapes at all scales across the United States. FCCS 

consists of a large database of physical parameters that

describe the abundance, physical character, and arrangement of wildland fuelbeds. The database currently

includes 220 fuelbeds common in the United States. 

The FCCS stratifies fuelbeds into 6 horizontal fuelbed

strata that represent unique combustion environments 

and 16 fuelbed categories with common combustion

characteristics. 

FCCS also includes an expert system to interactively (1) 

select fuelbed prototypes by inputting location, vegetation form, structure, cover type, change agent, fire

regime, and condition class and (2) customize fuelbeds

in the database to site-specific data. It also contains a

calculator to generate fuelbed characteristics and fire

potentials (the intrinsic capacity of the fuelbed for 

surface fire behavior, crowning potential, and fuel 

consumption) for each fuelbed.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

89
Appropriate spatial All.

scale

Analyst requirement FCCS is simple to run. Identifying and constructing 

fuelbeds to represent the area to be assessed requires a

midlevel fuels or fire management specialist. Standard

fire potentials are calculated automatically. Customized

fire potentials require interaction between a user and the

FCCS development team. 

Data inputs At a minimum, FCCS requires users to:

√ Identify the Bailey’s ecoregion and vegetation form of

the assessment area.

√ Select the fuelbed prototype that most closely represents fuelbeds within the assessment area.

√ Accept a fuelbed prototype or customize the selected

fuelbed by adjusting variables assigned for each

fuelbed category with inventory data.

Outputs √ Quantitative fuel characteristics (physical, chemical, 

and structural properties) based on user input.

√ Fire potential based on the intrinsic capability of the

fuelbed for surface fire behavior, crowning potential,

and fuel consumption. 

Several basic output reports are available including:

√ Fuelbed name and description.

√ All input information provided by the user or inferred

by the FCCS.

√ All fuel characteristics generated by the system including fuel loading and fuel area index.

√ Fire potential, NFDRS and fire behavior fuel model

assignments. The fire hazard potential of any fuelbed is

represented as a three-digit rating, e.g. “582” where the

three digits represent (1) potential surface fire behavior

(on a scale from 1 to 9), (2) potential crown fire potential (1 to 9), and (3) potential available fuel (or carbon)

(1 to 9). Nine optional fire potentials are calculated

automatically, and others may be added or customized

for the user by developers.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ Reliability or data quality index.

Linkage to other FCCS will be linked to several models that require 

models/tools fuel characteristics as inputs including Consume 3.0,

FOFEM, and FVS.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region, Forest

Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program, Joint

Fire Science Program, National Fire Plan, National Park

Service, Bureau of Land Management)

Current status FCCS version 1.0 has been released, and can be downloaded at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/fccs.

Training availability A Web-based tutorial will be available in 2006; see 

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/fccs.

Technical Sandberg. D.V.; Ottmar, R.D.; Cushon, G.H. 2001. 

documentation Characterizing fuels in the 21st century. International 

Journal of Wildland Fire. 10: 381-387. 

Ottmar, R.D.; Sandberg, D.V.; Riccardi, C.L.; Prichard, 

S.J. [In preparation]. An overview of the Fuel

Characteristic Classification System—quantifying, classifying, and creating fuelbeds for resource planners. 

Riccardi, C.L.; Andreu, A.G.; Elman, E.; Kopper, K.; 

Long, J.; Ottmar, R. [In preparation]. National system to

characterize physical properties of wildland fuels.

Riccardi, C.L.; Sandberg, D.V.; Prichard, S.J.; Ottmar, 

R.D. [In preparation]. Calculating physical characteristics of wildland fuels in the Fuel Characteristic

Classification System.

Sandberg, D.V.; Riccardi, C.L.; Schaaf, M.D. [In 

preparation]. Fire potential rating for wildland fuelbeds

using the Fuel Characteristic Classification System.

Contact Roger Ottmar 

USDA Forest Service

(206) 732-7826

rottmar@fs.fed.us

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

91
Additional information FCCS can be used to map fuelbeds, their characteristics, 

and intrinsic fire potential. A manager may want to prioritize and measure the effectiveness of fuel treatments

across an assessment region. By mapping a combination

of selected and customized fuelbeds from the FCCS

with the associated fire behavior (FB), crown fire (CF),

and available fuel (AF) potential index (1 to 10, with 10

being the highest), decision-support and performance

measures for the vegetation and fuel treatments can be

assessed for fire hazard reduction and improved Fire

Regime Condition Class distribution.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) 

Fuelbed Mapping

Application for Mapping fuelbeds to assess effects of fuel treatments

fuel treatment

Description Characterization and quantification (through links to 

FCCS) of landscapes for the purpose of assessing the

effects of fuel treatments, e.g., a spatial layer of fuel

loadings or FCCS fire potentials before and after the

implementation of a fuel treatment. 

Rule sets and knowledge base for associating FCCS 

fuelbeds with spatial location. Used for modeling consumption and emissions from prescribed and wildland

fires.

Appropriate spatial Applicable at any spatial scale up to 1 km for which 

scale adequate vegetation and environmental data exist.

Useful for regional-scale modeling of air quality (coarse

scale) or for modeling fire hazard, fire potentials, and

fire effects at stand, landscape, or forest/district scale.

Analyst requirement FCCS is simple to run. However, mapping FCCS fire 

potentials across a landscape requires a GIS analyst,

database manager/programmer, and fuel specialist. At

the unit or subunit level, input is needed from local

managers. At the watershed or larger scale, spatial 

statistics may be needed.

Data inputs √ Select the fuelbeds that most closely represent fuelbeds 

within the assessment area.

Mapping across areas without detailed fuel or spatial 

data requires: 

√ GIS layers for vegetation, potential vegetation, or 

biophysical setting, and land use.

√ Definition of FCCS fuelbeds associated with each 

portion of the landscape to be mapped.

Outputs If fuelbeds before and after treatment are identified:

√ Mapped and statistically-represented change in fire

hazard after treatment or natural event.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

93
If spatial information is also available:

√ Mapped layers of FCCS fuelbeds at any scale from

stand to landscape or continental, from natural disturbance or management treatments.

Linkage to other Used in conjunction with FCCS, CONSUME and 

models/tools FEPS, vegetation succession models (e.g., VDDT,

FVS), fire-effects tradeoff models, the Landscape

Management System (LMS), or any other tool that

accepts spatial data layers of fuels. 

Developers (partners) Can best be accomplished through active partnership 

among FCCS development team, other scientists, and

resource managers.

Current status Applied at coarse scale (1 km or 0.62 mile) across the 

Western United States. There is an ongoing partnership

to provide initial application at the regional scale

(Pacific Northwest national forests and districts).

Training availability Training provided through workshops and as requested.

Technical McKenzie, D.; Andreu, A.G.; Norheim, R.A.; Bayard, 

documentation A.R.; Kopper, K.E.; Elman, E. [In preparation].

Mapping fuels across the conterminous United States

for coarse-scale modeling of fire effects. 

Contact Don McKenzie

USDA Forest Service

(206) 732-7824

donaldmckenzie@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Fuels Management Analyst Plus (FMA Plus)

Application for DDWoodyPC calculates fuel loading by size class for 

fuel treatment use in assigning fuel models and assessing general fuel

loadings by using either data collected through Brown’s

planar intercept fuel inventory method or photo series

data used as sample data. CrownMass assesses pretreatment crown fire risk, effects of stand thinning, and posttreatment crown fire risk with or without subsequent

fuel treatment.

Description FMA Plus is used to determine dead, down woody fuel 

loading by using either Brown’s inventory methods or

photo guides, to assess crown fire risk, and to predict

slash resulting from thinning and logging operations.

The tool consists of three modules: (1) DDWoodyPC

for estimating dead, downed woody fuel; (2) Photo

Series Explorer to view scanned images of older photo

guides to fuel loadings; (3) CrownMass to predict

crown fire risks and estimate slash loadings, and Fuel

Model Manager to create custom fuel models for use 

in CrownMass.

Appropriate spatial Primarily stand scale but can be used to assess small 

scale watersheds (e.g., 6th-field HUC).

Analyst requirement Moderate level of analytical skill needed, nonspatial in 

nature, but can be applied to several stands and mapped.

For down woody fuel estimates, users should be familiar with Brown’s fuel inventory methods and equations.

For crown fire risk assessment and slash predictions,

users should be familiar with common stand exam procedures, equations that support debris prediction or the

former DEBMOD (DEbris MODification) program

used on the Forest Service Data General computer 

system, and elements of the fuel complex associated

with the start and spread of crown fires.

Data inputs For DDWoodyPC:

√ Slope

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

95
√ Number of pieces counted in 0-4, 4-1, and 1-3-inch 

size classes

√ Two duff depths

√ Diameter of each sound and rotten piece >3 inches

diameter

√ Three fuel bed depths

√ Predominant species

For CrownMass:

√ Merchantable tip diameter

√ Slope steepness (in two locations)

√ For each tree: plot ID, tree number, diameter breast

height, species, height, crown ratio, trees per acre,

structure stage, proportion in crown of foliage through

1,000-hour fuels, proportion cut, proportion deposited

on surface, proportion of boles left, percentage rotten,

equation set (Intermountain or Pacific Northwest

coast), surface fuel loading, fuel moistures, 20-foot

windspeed, wind adjustment factor, burn day temperature.

Outputs DDWoodyPC:

√ Fuel loading by size class and total loading.

CrownMass:

√ Statistics and graphs on canopy and surface loadings

√ Graphs and data on canopy characteristics by plot

√ Expected fire behavior

√ Canopy bulk density

√ Critical flame length and fireline intensity to initiate

crowning

√ Rate of crown fire spread and rate needed for active

crowning

√ Fire type (surface, passive crown fire, active crown

fire), scorch height, and probability of mortality and

percentage crown scorch by species and diameter.

Linkage to other Can use tree tables developed through the Forest 

models/tools Vegetation Simulator as input files for CrownMass.

Developers (partners) Don Carlton, Fire Program Solutions, a private vendor 

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
(using existing information from federal agencies and

publications)

Current status Tool is fully functional and supported by Fire Program 

Solutions. Future versions will include newer photo

guides and enhancements to crown fire assessment

based on current research. Available for purchase at

http://www.fireps.com/fmanalyst/fmasupport.htm.

Training availability Training is potentially available by arrangement with Fire

Program Solutions.

Technical No direct documentation. Based on previous publications 

documentation and user’s guides.

Contact Don Carlton

Fire Program Solutions LLC

dcarlton@fireps.com

(503) 668-1390

Additional information Crown fire results differ from the results provided 

through NEXUS and FFE-FVS and possibly

BehavePlus. When stand exam data are available,

CrownMass provides a method to test different 

cutting prescriptions if reduction of crown fire risk is 

an objective. For large landscapes, representative stands

can be sampled and evaluated and results applied to

similar stands to determine patterns and identify target

areas for treatment when data layers are not available to

support the use of FlamMap, or landscape sizes are too

small for effective use of FlamMap.

The program allows many adjustments to account for site

differences. Defaults are provided for many of these

potential adjustment factors. For example, users can

adjust canopy loadings based on structural stage 

(co-dominant, intermediate, suppressed). The model

contains variations on both the fire behavior prediction

system and NFDRS fuel models where loading and

fuelbed depth have been adjusted up and down by 

one-third, and some custom models, providing 109

“standard” fuel models.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

97
Gradient Nearest Neighbor (GNN) Method and Software for 

Regional Mapping of Vegetation and Fuels

Application for Maps of fuel and vegetation characteristics can be used 

fuel treatment strategically to plan fuel treatment and vegetation management projects across large landscapes. Maps can be

translated into FCCS fuelbeds. Maps can be linked to

stand (e.g., Forest Vegetation Simulator [FVS]) and

landscape simulators to project future vegetation conditions under alternative treatment scenarios. Maps also

can be linked to models of fire behavior and fire effects.

Because the maps represent total vegetation conditions,

they can be used in integrated analyses of multiple

resources (e.g., effects of proposed fuel treatments 

on wildlife habitat). 

Description A method for vegetation mapping that integrates ground 

data from regional grids of field plots with satellite

imagery and other spatial data by using multivariate

gradient modeling and imputation. 

Appropriate spatial Very large scale (regional)

scale

Analyst requirement Requires a high level of analytical skills to apply this 

mapping method to a particular region. Requires knowledge of multivariate ordination concepts and methods

(CANOCO or PCORD statistical software), spatial

analysis skills (particularly ArcInfo and ArcMap), and

knowledge of relational and spatial database management.

Data inputs Requires the following: 

√ Statistical model developed with canonical correspondence analysis or redundancy analysis by using

CANOCO or PCORD software.

√ Field plot data that sample the range of vegetation 

variability in the area to be mapped, with plots being

georegistered. Only those vegetation attributes measured on the plots, or that can be derived from field

measurements, can be mapped. In other words, if fuels

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
are to be mapped, fuel variables must be available for

the plots. 

√ Spatial data layers for the area to be mapped for variables that are correlated with the vegetation elements 

to be mapped (e.g., measures of climate, topography,

disturbance history, satellite imagery, soils).

Outputs A map with each pixel or grid cell is assigned a single 

(nearest-neighbor) field plot, including all of the vegetation attributes measured on the plot. Maps can then be

generated for any of these attributes, which are represented as continuous variables. Variables derived or

modeled from the basic field-measured data also can be

mapped, such as crown bulk density or fuelbeds from

FCCS.

Linkage to other Maps can translate into FCCS. The maps can be linked 

models/tools to stand (e.g., FVS) and landscape simulators to project

future vegetation and fuel conditions. Maps also can be

linked to models of fire behavior and fire effects (e.g.,

FlamMap, FARSITE). Because the maps represent total

vegetation conditions, they can be used in integrated

analyses of multiple resources (e.g., effects of proposed

fuel treatments on wildlife habitat).

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(California Department of Forestry; Tom Leuschen 

[private consultant])

Current status A beta version of the software is available by contacting 

Matt Gregory (matt.gregory@oregonstate.edu).

Training availability No formal training is available or planned. Collaborative 

work with individuals or groups interested in using the

GNN mapping method is possible.

Technical Ohmann, J.L.; Gregory, M.J. 2002. Predictive mapping 

documentation of forest composition and structure with direct gradient

analysis and nearest neighbor imputation in coastal

Oregon, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 

32: 725-741. 

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

99
Wimberly, M.C.; Ohman, J.L.; Pierce, K.B., Jr.; Gregory, 

M.J.; Fried, J.S. 2003. A multivariate approach to mapping forest vegetation and fuels using GIS databases,

satellite imagery, and forest inventory plots. In:

Proceedings of the second international Wildland Fire

Ecology and Fire Management Congress. Boston, MA:

American Meteorological Society. http://ams.confex.

com/ams/FIRE2003/techprogram/paper_65758.htm 

(25 July 2006)

Contact Janet Ohmann

USDA Forest Service

(541) 750-7487

johmann@fs.fed.us 

Additional information None.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Gradient Nearest Neighbor (GNN) Vegetation and Fuel 

Maps, Including Metadata and Accuracy Assessment

Application for Maps of fuel and vegetation characteristics can be used 

fuel treatment strategically to plan fuel treatment and vegetation management projects across large landscapes. Maps can

translate into FCCS fuelbeds. Maps can be linked to

stand (e.g., Forest Vegetation Simulator [FVS]) and

landscape simulators to project future vegetation conditions. Maps also can be linked to models of fire

behavior and fire effects. Because the maps represent

total vegetation conditions, they can be used in integrated analyses of multiple resources (e.g., effects of

proposed fuel treatments on wildlife habitat).

Description Digital maps of vegetation and fuel developed with the 

GNN method. Maps currently are available for coastal

Oregon, eastern Washington, and the Sierra Nevada

mountains.

Appropriate spatial Maps are developed at a very large scale (region), but 

scale can be used at the scale of a 5th-field HUC.

Analyst requirement A resource specialist or local GIS specialist can run the 

model or tool locally with minimal changes needed for

local situations. Requires knowledge of image viewing

and analysis software such as ArcMap. Conducting 

further analysis and summary of the vegetation and

fuels data may require more advanced skills in gridbased analysis and database management.

Data inputs Geospatial data.

Outputs Digital maps of vegetation and fuel developed with the 

GNN method. Existing maps for coastal Oregon and

eastern Washington are 30-meter (100-foot) resolution

rasters (grid-based maps). Each pixel or grid cell in the

map is assigned a field plot and all of the vegetation

and fuel variables measured on the plot or that can be

derived or modeled from the field measurements. Maps

can be developed for any of these variables, which are

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

101
represented as individual variables. New classification

or summary variables also can be developed and

mapped by the user to meet their particular objectives.

Linkage to other Maps can be translated into FCCS fuelbeds. Maps can 

models/tools be linked to stand (e.g., FVS) and landscape simulators

to project future vegetation and fuel conditions. The

maps also can be linked to models of fire behavior and

fire effects (e.g., FlamMap, FARSITE). Because the

maps represent total vegetation conditions, they can be

used in integrated analyses of multiple resources (e.g.,

effects of proposed fuel treatments on wildlife habitat).

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(California Department of Forestry, Oregon State

University, University of Georgia, Tom Leuschen 

[private consultant])

Current status Maps currently are available for coastal Oregon, 

eastern Washington, and Sierra Nevada.

Training availability No formal training is available or planned. Collaborative 

work with individuals or groups interested in using the

GNN maps is possible.

Technical Ohmann, J.L.; Gregory, M.J. 2002. Predictive mapping 

documentation of forest composition and structure with direct gradient

analysis and nearest neighbor imputation in coastal

Oregon, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 

32: 725-741. 

Wimberly, M.C.; Ohman, J.L.; Pierce, K.B., Jr.; 

Gregory, M.J.; Fried, J.S. 2003. A multivariate approach

to mapping forest vegetation and fuels using GIS databases, satellite imagery, and forest inventory plots. In:

Proceedings of the second international Wildland Fire

Ecology and Fire Management Congress. Boston, MA:

American Meteorological Society. http://ams.confex.

com/ams/FIRE2003/techprogram/paper_65758.htm 

(25 July 2006).

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Contact Janet Ohmann

3200 SW Jefferson Way

Corvallis, OR 97331

(541) 750-7487

johmann@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

103
Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests of the Western 

United States: Assessing Forest Structure and Fire Hazard 

Application for Can be used to assess alternatives for NEPA analysis

fuel treatment and other timber stand-level applications relative to

thinning and surface fuel treatments. Can also be used

for long-term scheduling of fuel treatments. Ideally

users can reference fuel-treatment alternatives in the

publication, then run their own FFE-FVS simulations 

to examine alternatives specific to their location.

Description A guidebook and CD with quantitative guidelines and 

visualizations for how alternative silvicultural prescriptions and surface fuel treatments affect forest structure,

fuels, and potential fire behavior. Cases are displayed

for 25 representative forest stands from dry forests

throughout the Western United States. FFE-FVS is used

to calculate the effects of five thinning alternatives and

three surface-fuel treatment alternatives on a large number of stand structure, fuel, and potential fire behavior

metrics.

Appropriate spatial Project/stand scale, but can be aggregated to larger 

scale spatial scales.

Analyst requirement Resource specialist can use the guidebook in hardcopy or 

from the Web, and can apply to local situations.

Data inputs Knowledge of local forest stand and fuel conditions.

Outputs Changes over time, portrayed as:

√ Visualizations

√ Forest stand attributes

√ Fuelbed properties

Linkage to other Uses FFE-FVS, EnVision, the Landscape Management 

System (LMS), and potentially FCCS to derive outputs

presented in guidebook.

The guidebook is part of a set of tools online at 

http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management Staff

[Washington Office], Forest Service Rocky Mountain

Research Station, University of Washington)

Current status Available at http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels.

Training availability Training generally is unnecessary unless users want to 

run their own FFE-FVS simulations. Developers are

available for consultation.

Technical Johnson, M.C.; Peterson, D.L.; Raymond, C.L. 2006. 

documentation [In press]. Guide to fuel treatments in dry forests of 

the Western United States: Assessing forest structure

and fire hazard. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-686.

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Contact Morris Johnson

USDA Forest Service

(206) 732-7852

mcjohnson@fs.fed.us

or

David L. Peterson

USDA Forest Service

(206) 732-7812

peterson@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

105
Harvest Cost and Revenue Estimator (HCR Estimator)

Application for Provides detailed cost estimates for fuel treatment 

fuel treatment projects and financial return given available biomass

and solid wood products from ponderosa pine within

the region. 

Description The HCR Estimator is designed for ponderosa pine and 

calculates detailed harvest costs for fuel treatments, 

predicts volumes of material used by diameter class,

and estimates financial return for raw material markets

to be used for project appraisal.

The model provides information to forest planners to 

conduct project appraisal, set minimum contract bid

rates, and assess stumpage value of material removed.

Contractors can use the model to estimate operation and

maintenance costs of equipment and generate detailed

cost estimates for project bidding. Community partners

can use the model to assess project feasibility and assist

project design and community development.

Appropriate spatial Stand/project scale.

scale

Analyst requirement Resource specialist or local GIS specialist can run the 

model or tool locally with minimal changes needed for

local situation.

Data inputs Base resource data readily available at the regional or 

local scale, and some specialized data in the form of

harvesting equipment used.

Outputs The HCR Estimator provides a:

√ Log calculator that calculates log types (size and 

volume) and numbers as a function of cut trees and

market specifications. 

√ Cost estimator that determines harvesting, handling,

and transportation costs from production rate relationships, equipment and labor costs, trucking information,

and cut tree and log data.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ Revenue predictor that estimates financial return and

economic thresholds based on the log calculator and

user-defined raw material market specifications for

wood-plastic composites, heating and electricity, biochemicals, engineered lumber, and other value-added

products.

Linkage to other Potential to integrate with FVS.

models/tools

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Forest Service Southern Research Station, Rocky

Mountain Research Station, and Southwestern Region;

Northern Arizona University)

Current status A beta version of the model is being tested, with regional 

trainings to be conducted in 2006. More information at

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sev/esp/ESP-JFSP.htm.

Training availability Workshops may be available up on request.

Technical Barbour, R.J.; Parry, D.L. 2001. Log and lumber grades 

documentation as indicators of wood quality in 20- to 100-year-old

Douglas-fir trees from thinned and unthinned stands.

Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-510. Portland, OR: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Research Station. 22 p.

Parry, D.L.; Filip, G.M.; Willits, S.A.; Parks, C.G. 1996. 

Lumber recovery and deterioration of beetle-killed

Douglas-fir and grand fir in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-376. Portland,

OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Pacific Northwest Research Station. 24 p. 

Stevens, J.A.; Barbour, R.J. 2000. Managing the stands 

of the future based on the lessons of the past: estimating

Western timber species product recovery by using historical data. Res. Note PNW-RN-528. Portland, OR:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Research Station. 11 p.

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107
Barbour, R.J.; Fight, R.D.; Christensen, G.; Pinjuv, G.L.; 

Venkatarao, N. 2001. Assessing the need, costs, and

potential benefits of prescribed fire and mechanical

treatments to reduce fire hazard in Montana and New

Mexico. Report to the Joint Fire Science Program.

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/woodquality/JLMFinal_report

_dft5.PDF (4 August 2006).

Contact Eini Lowell

USDA Forest Service

(503) 808-2072

elowell@fs.fed.us

Additional information The HCR Estimator is a Windows -based, public-domain 

engineering software program for evaluating stand-scale

economic thresholds for harvesting small-diameter

ponderosa pine. It depends on an internal log calculator

to determine merchantable volumes and log potential 

as a function of stand data and market conditions.

Merchantable tree definitions and log volumes are calculated directly from tree data and log specifications.

Predictions of followup treatment activities are linked

directly to log potential, better reflecting true stand 

conditions and revenue potential.

The model has three parts with required user-defined 

inputs (defaults available for different levels of users):

√ Log calculator–Calculates the size and volume of logs

generated from fuel reduction and forest restoration

treatments as a function of cut trees and market specifications. 

√ Cost estimator–Determines harvesting and transportation costs from production rate relationships, equipment and labor costs, trucking information, and cut tree

and log data.

√ Revenue predictor–Estimates net financial return 

of biomass and logs removed from forest treatments

and sold to primary and secondary manufacturing 

businesses. 

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Financial returns are based on existing market specifications in the region. For example, logs with a 4-inch top

(outside bark) that are 16 feet long used to make wood

pallets have a different market value than logs with a 

6-inch top (outside bark) that are 24 feet long used for

dimensional lumber.

The HCR Estimator optimizes economic return by determining which harvested trees generate logs that meet

user-defined markets. For example, if the greatest return

is from logs used for dimensional lumber, the model

will determine the maximum number of logs that meet

market specifications for that end use. Remaining logs

and biomass are then allocated according to the next

highest raw material market value. Different markets

presumably have different costs associated with harvesting requirements and transportation distances to manufacturing facilities. These costs, along with possible

offsets from service contracts, are compared against

total financial return to calculate potential net profit.

This information can be used to identify per-acre cost

thresholds, appraise service contract bid rates, and

assess stumpage values for small-diameter timber and

biomass.

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Integrated Forest Resource Management System 

(INFORMS)

Application for INFORMS currently is used mostly to support the NEPA

fuel treatment process, particularly for fuel treatment projects. The

application uses data from the FSVeg database grown

forward by using the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS)

including the Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE-FVS) for

the current condition and each decade into the future up

to 40 years. It is possible to create as many treatment

alternatives as desired. These can be portrayed for the

same growth periods to compare differences between

treatment and no treatment and between alternative

treatments.

Description INFORMS is a software system designed to facilitate 

planning activities in the USDA Forest Service. It is

designed specifically to help support project-scale

(NEPA) and landscape-scale planning. However, some

users may find INFORMS useful for other types of

planning exercises.

INFORMS is installed on the Forest Service computer 

network at certain sites. 

Appropriate spatial Small to medium

scale

Analyst requirement Low. Users define project information, manage the 

project team, execute tools, build alternatives, etc.

Data inputs √ Choice of GIS data sets already located in INFORMS 

database

√ Choice of which analytical tools to integrate

Outputs INFORMS can be used for several types of land management planning. In the fire and fuel analysis packages,

the outputs are:

√ Maps of burn intensity

√ FARSITE-ready data

Linkage to other ArcView, FVS, FARSITE, MSN, SVS

models/tools

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Developers (partners) In addition to many field-level partners, the INFORMS 

development team is coordinating closely with several

other development teams. These groups include FSVEG

database, FVS (i.e., the Forest Management Service

Center and the Intermountain Research Station), and

Decision Protocol development teams.

Current status Currently available on the Forest Service computer 

network, and being developed for use by others who use

Linux.

Training availability Unknown.

Technical User’s Guide available at http://www.fs.fed.us/ 

documentation informs/Usersguide/informs_help.html

Contact Eric Twombly 

USDA Forest Service

(541) 742-6707 

etwombly@fs.fed.us

Additional information INFORMS is not available to other agencies at present.

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111
LANDFIRE

Application for Provides maps of vegetation, fire, and fuel characteristics 

fuel treatment at scales fine enough to assist in prioritizing and planning specific hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem

restoration projects.

Description LANDFIRE is a 5-year, multipartner wildland fire, 

ecosystem, and wildland fuel mapping project. The 

consistent and comprehensive nature of LANDFIRE

methods ensures that data will be nationally relevant,

and the 30-meter (100-foot) grid resolution assures that

data can be locally applicable.

Appropriate spatial Medium to large. Available nationally at 30-meter 

scale (100-foot) resolution.

Analyst requirement Low to moderate

Data inputs Geographic area for which you wish to view a map. 

Outputs √ Prototype products consisting of various databases, 

computer models, and geospatial data developed for the

LANDFIRE prototype project to demonstrate that the

methods and protocols could be applied nationwide.

√ Rapid assessment products (maps and models of potential natural vegetation groups, reference fire regimes,

and fire regime condition class for the conterminous

United States) that can be used for national- to 

regional-scale strategic planning, broad ecological

assessments, and resource allocation.

√ National assessment products, a set of 30+ digital maps

of vegetation composition and structure; wildland fuel

(crown and surface); and current departure from simulated historical vegetation conditions.

Linkage to other National—FARSITE, FOFEM, Consume

models/tools Prototype—WXFIRE, DAYMET, Biome-BGC, 

LANDSUM. Each potential natural vegetation group

was modeled quantitatively in the Vegetation Dynamics

Development Tool (VDDT) software.

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Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station 

Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory; USGS National

Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science;

(USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing and

Applications Center and Pacific Northwest Research

Station; USDI Office of Wildland Fire Coordination,

Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management,

National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

and Fish and Wildlife Service; Federal Emergency

Management Agency; Western Governors’ Association;

The Nature Conservancy; Student Conservation

Association; Nature Serve; Systems for Environmental

Management; Science Application International

Cooperation; National Association of State Foresters;

and National Association of County Officials)

Current status LANDFIRE products will be completed by zone through 

2009. http://www.landfire.gov/schedule_map.php.

Training availability From December 2005 through 2009, the National 

Interagency Fuels Technology Team (NIFTT) will travel

around the United States—starting in the West—to conduct technology transfer workshops (FOR 438) through

which participants will learn how to use LANDFIRE

data in their local areas. Specifically, participants will

learn about and be trained to use the tools that facilitate

the local application of LANDFIRE data to support the

prioritization and planning of specific hazardous fuel

reduction and ecosystem restoration projects. For 

more information, visit http://www.landfire.gov/

TT_TTW.html.

Technical Keane, R.E.; Rollins, M.G.; McNicoll, C.H.; Parsons, 

documentation R.A. 2002. Integrating ecosystem sampling, gradient

modeling, remote sensing, and ecosystem simulation to

create spatially explicit landscape inventories. RMRSGTR-92. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station. 61 p.

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113
Schmidt, K.M.; Menakis, J.P.; Hardy, C.C.; Hann, W.J.; 

Bunnell, D.L. 2002. Development of coarse-scale spatial data for wildland fire and fuel management. Gen.

Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-87. Fort Collins, CO: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station. 41 p. + CD-ROM.

Contact helpdesk@landfire.gov

Additional information These types of geospatial data provide fire and land 

managers with needed information to identify the

amount and location of lands with wildland fuel buildup

and facilitate the prioritization and implementation of

landscape fuel treatments. Moreover, these data may be

used during specific wildland fire incidents to increase

firefighter safety, pre-position resources, and evaluate

fire behavior under a variety of weather conditions.

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LANDIS and LANDIS-II

Application for LANDIS enables a user to simulate multiple interacting 

fuel treatment disturbance processes (including fuel treatments and

timber management) and forest succession. Replicate

simulations can be used to produce a fire probability

map, which can be compared for alternative fuel treatment or landscape management strategies. Because

interactions among multiple processes are accounted

for, unintended effects of fuel treatments can be 

avoided.

Description LANDIS was designed to model forest succession, 

disturbance (including fire, wind, harvesting, fuel treatments, insects, climate change), and seed dispersal

across large landscapes. LANDIS tracks age and spatial

distribution of individual species and has a flexible spatial resolution. LANDIS-II also tracks living and dead

biomass of species cohorts (using PnET-II).

Appropriate spatial 1000 to >1 million ha (2,500 to >2,500,000 acres)

scale 

Analyst requirement Familiarity with ecological modeling, GIS, and forest 

ecology is desirable.

Data inputs LANDIS requires raster GIS layers of tree species and 

age cohort information, ecological units (land type), and

management areas (when spatially distributing varied

harvest or fuel treatment activities). Required parameters include life history attributes for each tree species,

disturbance regime parameters, and harvest and fuel

treatment parameters. A wide range of optional processes provide a high degree of flexibility in the questions

that may be addressed, as well as the input data required

to address those questions.

Outputs The primary outputs of LANDIS are maps that represent 

the state of the landscape at a given time step. The 

user specifies what maps are to be output and at what

interval. Typical outputs are forest type or age class, 

relative dominance of species or age classes, location of

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115
disturbances (at a time step or cumulative), intensity of

disturbances, fuel load, and (from LANDIS-II) species

biomass.

Linkage to other Spatial pattern of output maps is readily analyzed by 

models/tools using APACK, IAN and FRAGSTATS. The fire module

has the optional capability to emulate FARSITE behavior. LINKAGES has been used to estimate establishment coefficients for tree species. LANDIS-II

incorporates PnET-II to model living and dead biomass.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Northern Research Station, University of 

Wisconsin-Madison, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Current status LANDIS 4.0 was released in April 2005. LANDIS-II was

released in October 2005, but the full complement of

disturbance modules will not be completed until fall 

of 2006.

Training availability By request.

Technical He, H.S.; Li, W.; Sturtevant, B.R.; Yang, J.; Shang, B.Z.; 

documentation Gustafson, E.J.; Mladenoff, B.J. 2005. LANDIS 4.0

users guide. LANDIS: a spatially explicit model of forest landscape disturbance, management, and succession.

Gen. Tech. Rep. GTR-NC-263. St. Paul, MN: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North

Central Research Station. 93 p.

Contact Eric Gustafson

USDA Forest Service

(715) 362-1152

egustafson@fs.fed.us

Additional information The appropriate temporal scale for LANDIS applications 

is 50 to 1,000 years.

LANDIS has been applied in ecosystems as varied 

as sub-boreal (upper Midwest), boreal (Canada,

Scandinavia), alpine (Switzerland), central hardwoods

(Midwest), loblolly pine (Georgia), California chaparral,

and forests of China.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Landscape Simulator 

Application for The model is designed to examine potential interactions 

fuel treatment between terrestrial processes of sediment and wood 

production and aquatic processes of habitat creation and

maintenance, including the stochastic elements of fire

and storm-driven sediment fluxes. Potential uses include

examination of consequences of changes in fire regime.

Description Simulation of landscape elements that drive channel 

dynamics, including fires, storms, landslides, woody

debris recruitment, and sediment routing. Currently

applied only for estimated natural conditions, but management scenarios and effects of altered fire and soil

erosion regimes will be addressed in future work.

Appropriate spatial The model runs at the resolution of available digital 

scale elevation data (e.g., 10 meters [33 feet]), but results 

can be integrated and displayed over larger scales. 

The model has been used on a 200 square kilometer 

(80 square mile) portion of the Tilton River basin in

Washington, and extended to a 1300 square kilometer

(500 square mile) portion of the Cowlitz River basin in

Washington.

Analyst requirement A user interface has not yet been developed. The model 

requires development of a variety of data sets (e.g.,

characterization of the fire regime, climate, soil production), requiring a high level of analysis.

Data inputs The processes simulated by the model must all be 

characterized, including fire regime (e.g., ignition 

probability, topographic and vegetation controls on

fire size and location), storm magnitude (e.g., intensity,

duration), spatially distributed patterns of forest growth

and mortality, soil production and transport, mass wasting, attrition rates for fluvially transported sediment.

Parameterization is done primarily by using probability

distribution functions, which must be developed 

regionally.

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117
Outputs Production and flux of sediment and woody debris pixel 

by pixel over a DEM-representation of a watershed.

Outputs include volume of sediment and wood within

pixel-length channel reaches for each year of the simulation.

Linkage to other Potential linkage with the CLAMS vegetation models. 

models/tools Ongoing development will couple the landscape simulation model with a model of fish productivity to examine

potential consequences to fish populations of dynamic

physical elements in aquatic ecosystems.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Earth Systems, NOAA Fisheries)

Current status Available on CD-ROM; user interface not yet developed.

Training availability None.

Technical U.S. Deparment of Agriculture, Forest Service. 2003. 

documentation Landscape dynamics and forest management. [CDROM] Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-101CD. Fort

Collins, CO: Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Contact Daniel Miller

Earth Systems Institute

(206) 633-1792

danmiller@earthsystems.net

Additional information None.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP)

Application for Intended for the early stages of project planning and for 

fuel treatment stimulating discussion within interdisciplinary teams

about what is and is not feasible given available budgets. It is particularly useful for NEPA analyses and similar documents for which alternative treatments are

examined.

Description MyFTP calculates and presents cost and revenue information on fuel treatment scenarios. The target audience

includes district and forest staffs and their counterparts

in the Bureau of Land Management who often have little background in timber management or sales. Those

familiar with timber sale planning might find the tool a

useful first step in the planning process. It is designed to

deal with a limited set of scenarios, and default values

are presented for many of the data items.

Appropriate spatial MyFTP is intended for use at the project or stand scale 

scale but it could also be used for larger landscapes to analyze typical or average conditions.

Analyst requirement A low level of analyst support is required.

Data inputs MyFTP requires: 

√ Cut tree list (from a stand exam, or imported from

FVS).

√ Product (log and chip) prices, which are available from

Forest Service regional sources and BLM state offices. 

√ Objective for using cut trees–logs, chips, unutilized;

slope, unit size, skidding/yarding distance, pretreatment

fuel load, minimum top for utilized trees, log prices,

and a few other optional items provided by the analyst

Outputs The analyst creates a scenario, then visits the various 

calculators within the model that are relevant to the

chosen scenario to complete the analysis of: 

√ Harvest cost

√ Hauling cost

√ Mastication cost

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119
√ Prescribed fire

√ Economic impacts on local communities

Linkage to other MyFTP imports data from FVS.

models/tools My FTP is part of a set of tools online at

http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management Staff

[Washington Office], Southern Research Station, Rocky

Mountain Research Station)

Current status MyFTP is available from the developers and online at 

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/data/myftp/myftp_home.htm.

Training availability Training is available to interested parties through a Forest

Service enterprise team.

Technical Biesecker, R.L.; Fight, R.D. 2006. My fuel treatment 

documentation planner: a users guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-663.

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 31 p.

Contacts Dennis Dykstra

USDA Forest Service

(503) 808-3132

ddykstra@fs.fed.us

or

Stephanie Rebain

USDA Forest Service

(970) 295-5793

sarebain@fs.fed.us

Additional information Although MyFTP allows for comparison of alternatives 

and some co-imaging of scenarios, it is not intended to

provide a site-specific appraisal for a project. MyFTP

was designed to address treatment costs, potential for

offsetting costs with product utilization, the effect of

treatment on surface fuel loads, and the economic

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impact at the time of fuel treatment. Longer term economic impacts could occur if fuel treatment affects

other forest uses such as recreation. Current research on

the effect of thinning and prescribed fire treatments on

recreation and other forest uses is too limited to provide

the basis for modeling these effects.

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121
NEXUS

Application for The model can be used to estimate surface, transition, 

fuel treatment and crown fire behavior, generate site-specific indices

of torching and crown fire potential, and to evaluate

alternative treatments for reducing risk of crown fire.

Description The spreadsheet is used to assess crown fire potential 

in up to six stands at a time.

Appropriate spatial Primarily stand scale, but can be used to assess small 

scale watersheds (e.g., 6th-field HUC).

Analyst requirement Moderate level of analyst skill is needed to provide 

certain inputs. User must be able to obtain an estimate

of canopy characteristics, such as canopy bulk density

and canopy fuel loading.

Data inputs √ Fuel model √ Wind direction from uphill 

√ Live and dead fuel √ Wind reduction factor

moistures √ Multipliers for surface 

√ Canopy bulk density and crown fire rates 

√ Canopy foliar moisture of spread

√ Canopy base height √ Surface loading, depth,

√ Canopy fuel load fire intensity

√ Slope steepness √ Temperature

√ 20-foot windspeed √ Elapsed time

√ Map scale

Outputs Type of fire, crown fraction burned, surface fire behavior,

scorch height, fire length-to-width ratio, perimeter

growth rate, fire area, spread distance, map spread 

distance, potential crown-fire rate of spread, torching

index, crowning index, surfacing index, and critical

parameters for crown fire initiation, active spread, and

cessation.

Linkage to other None.

models/tools

Developers (partners) Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station 

(Systems for Environmental Management)

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Current status Spreadsheet is fully functional. Available at 

http://www.fire.org.

Training availability None.

Technical Scott, J.H.; Reinhardt, E.D. 2001. Assessing crown fire 

documentation potential by linking models of surface and crown fire

behavior. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-29. Ogden, UT: U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station. 59 p.

http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_rp29.pdf

Contact Joe Scott

Systems for Environmental Management

(406) 329-4837

joe.scott@montana.com

Additional information Crown fire results differ from the results provided 

through CrownMass and FFE-FVS, and possibly

BehavePlus. CrownMass has been used to generate

canopy characteristics for use in NEXUS. A separate

help file is included in the download package.

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123
Optimizing Fuel Solutions and Ecological Values 

in Landscapes (FUELSOLVE)

Application for Planning fuel treatment and vegetation management 

fuel treatment projects and forest planning efforts (e.g., scenario planning, prioritization, describing desired future conditions,

fire effects modeling).

Description Intended to optimize amount and pattern of fuel treatments and the persistence of ecological features from

wildfire, such as late-successional forest. It uses current

condition in a short-term simulation period (i.e., does

not model forest growth). Assists the design and evaluation of “firesafe” landscapes based on fuel, fire, and

ecological criteria. A separate landscape condition

assessment tool, NOCLAMMS, will be integrated as a

pre-optimization step to provide an ecological evaluation of landscape deviation from baseline historical 

conditions based on Interior Columbia River Basin

Management Project midscale analysis.

Appropriate spatial Landscapes of less than 50,000 acres. Designed for 

scale watershed-scale analysis. Ranger district/resource area

project-level application.

Analyst requirement Requires a midlevel analyst or GIS specialist to run the 

model or tool or make it usable for local situations.

Data inputs √ Ignition data

√ Map of zones with ignition probability used to “start”

wildfires, and severe fire weather data

√ Identification of untreated stands

√ FARSITE fire model stand data for elevation, aspect,

slope, fuel model, stand height, height to live canopy,

canopy bulk density, etc.

√ Treatment details of stand structure modification 

(e.g. silvicultural practices, prescribed burning, spatial

patterns of fuel treatments ([random, adjacent to 

protected stands, etc.])

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
√ Evaluation criteria (e.g., simulated wildfire size, 

intensity, effects, late-seral forest amount, and connectivity). Other fire or ecosystem values can be added

in later development).

Outputs √ Maps of options and wildfire and ecological 

evaluations

√ Text data on evaluation criteria for treatment 

combinations

Linkage to other FARSITE (abbreviated version), FlamMap, and FCCS 

fuelbeds and fire potentials. A grand fir series model for

NOCLAMMS is available, but development of a dry

forest (ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir) version is needed.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(University of Washington)

Current status Development in progress, with final prototype available 

in 2006.

Training availability Training will be available, pending completion of 

prototype in 2006.

Technical None.

documentation

Contact John Lehmkuhl

USDA Forest Service

(509) 664-1737

jlehmkuhl@fs.fed.us

Additional information Goal is to allow fuel planners, fire staff, biologists, 

regulators, and the public to (1) plan and evaluate the

area and spatial pattern of fuel treatment alternatives,

potential wildfire futures, and ecological effects on 

key protected resources (e.g., spotted owl habitat or

locations) and (2) identify preferred alternatives to 

maximize fuel treatments and protect resources based

on best available science.

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125
Simulating Patterns and Processes at Landscape 

Scales (SIMPPLLE)

Application for SIMPPLLE enables a user to generate probability maps 

fuel treatment of disturbance processes and vegetation attributes from

multiple stochastic simulations. These results can be

used to assign priorities for fuel treatments across landscapes. Changes in the occurrence and intensity of wildfire and other disturbance processes can be evaluated

with alternatives of temporal and spatial assignment of

fuel treatments.

Description SIMPPLLE was developed as a management tool to 

provide resource analysts and managers with the ability

to create spatially explicit, stochastic simulations of

vegetation changes caused by disturbance processes.

Multiple simulations are used to identify not just average future conditions, but a range of conditions for both

plant communities and processes that can be expected

for specific landscapes. Both short- and long-term 

simulations can be used to analyze treatment scenarios

for their impact on disturbance processes and the attainment of desired future conditions. SIMPPLLE is a Java

application and will run on any platform that has a Java

Virtual Machine version 1.4.1 or higher.

Appropriate spatial SIMPPLLE can be used across all spatial scales from a 

scale few hundred acres to millions of acres.

Analyst requirement SIMPPLLE is easy to run. Changing system knowledge 

database requires more effort to learn the system, but

changes can be made through the user interface.

Developing all the system knowledge data for a new

geographic area can be partially accomplished by a user

and requires some system developer involvement.

Data inputs For each landscape, SIMPPLLE requires a GIS layer of 

vegetation (either grid or polygons) that provides dominant cover type, size-class and structure, and density; 

a GIS layer of ecological stratifications; and a digital

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
elevation model or an elevation field within the vegetation layer. Optional inputs are GIS layers of insect and

disease activity; fire events and treatments to provide

each plant community with a history; and GIS layers to

identify each plant community by ownership, wildlandurban interface, land use allocation, drainage, etc. that

can be used to schedule treatments and summarize output. Areas that have a geographic zone developed in

SIMPPLLE have attributes for both the vegetation and

ecological stratification already defined.

Outputs SIMPPLLE provides output for both individual vegetation units and the entire landscape. For individual units,

the system provides the disturbance processes modeled,

their occurrence probabilities, changes in vegetation

state, and whether a process originated within a unit or

spread to a unit. The acres for each vegetation attribute,

disturbance process, and treatments are displayed by 

time step for the entire landscape. These results can be

produced in a report, or the attributes for individual

units can be mapped. Mapping can be done through

either a customized ArcView project file or an ArcGIS

extension that comes with the system. 

Reports list the number of fire events by size class. 

For each fire event, its origin and the units to which it

spreads are identified. Smoke emissions produced by

wildfires and prescribed fires, and fire suppression

costs, if fire suppression is used, are reported. For 

multiple simulations, the display for individual units

includes the frequency for each unique value of species,

size-class/size-structure, and density, and disturbance

process. The time-step summaries for the entire landscape display an average and the high and low values

from the multiple simulations. Excel spreadsheets with

macros are available that provide basic statistics for the

output and line graphs, provide for statistical testing of

output between alternatives, and combine data for use in

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127
a diversity matrix. Interpretative reports can be selected

for ecological restoration needs and for acres of potential habitat for wildlife species.

Linkage to other The system knowledge in SIMPPLLE can be developed 

models/tools from fine-scale models on sample plant communities

and smaller landscapes. FVS with its extensions can 

be used to develop the time and next states within

SIMPPLLE pathways. FARSITE can be used to improve

the fire spread logic within the system. SIMPPLLE can 

be used with optimization and scheduling systems of

MAGIS and SPECTRUM. SIMPPLLE can provide

input that can be used by these systems in their scheduling algorithms and by testing the treatment schedules

developed by them. If a grid is used to represent the

vegetation, the output can be used with FRAGSTATS.

Change in vegetation attributes can be used as input

into the U.S. Geological Survey Precipitation Runoff

Modeling System (PRMS).

Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, 

(USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research

Station and Northern Region; Joint Fire Science

Program; National Fire Plan; USDI Bureau of Land

Management)

Current status SIMPPLLE 2.2 and a draft user’s guide were released in 

2004. Geographic areas available are the Forest Service

Northern Region (applicable to any ownership within

the area), Sierra Nevada, and southern California.

SIMPPLLE 2.3 is available for downloading, although

the user manual has not been updated for it. Additional

geographic areas that are operational are the Gila

National Forest, south-central Alaska, southwest Utah,

and the Colorado Front Range. Each geographic area

has a sample landscape within SIMPPLLE that can be

used as a training aid.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
Training availability Versions of SIMPPLLE and its draft users guide with 

training exercises can be downloaded at http://www.fs.

fed.us/rm/missoula/4151/SIMPPLLE.

Technical Chew, J.D.; Stalling, C; Moeller, K. 2004. Integrating 

documentation knowledge for simulating vegetation change at landscape scales. Western Journal of Applied Forestry. 

19: 102-108.

Contact Jim Chew 

USDA Forest Service

Missoula, MT 59807

(406) 542-4171

jchew@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

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129
Smoke Impact Spreadsheet (SIS)

Application for SIS evaluates smoke impacts of different wildland 

fuel treatment burning scenarios for all vegetation types in the United

States

Description SIS is a planning model for calculating particulate matter 

emissions and concentrations downwind of wildland

fires. It conservatively predicts downwind particulate

matter concentrations for comparison with appropriate

federal or state air quality standards. It replaces

SASEM. 

Appropriate spatial Small

scale 

Analys requirement Low

Data inputs √ Burn name √ Pile data

√ Burn type √ Broadcast burn data

√ Burn acres √ Location

√ FOFEM fuel type √ Windspeed and direction

√ Fuel loading by size √ Maximum temperature

√ Terrain information √ Pasquill-Gifford stability class

Outputs √ Prediction of 1-hour and 24-hour average particulate 

matter concentrations 

Linkage to other FOFEM, Consume, CALPUFF (replaces SASEM)

models/tools

Developers (partners) Forest Service, Northern Region

(Air Sciences Inc.)

Current status Available.

Training availability Unknown.

Technical User’s manual available at 

documentation http://www.airsci.com/SISmodel/SIS_Users_Manual6.17.03.pdf.

Contact Trent Wickman

USDA Forest Service

(218) 626-4372

twickman@fs.fed.us

Additional information None.

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Stereo Photo Series for Quantifying Natural Fuels

Application for Straightforward determinations of fuel quantities and 

fuel treatment stand conditions for predicting fuel consumption, smoke

production, fire behavior, and effects of wildfires and

prescribed fires.

Description Natural fuels photo series are designed to help land 

managers appraise fuel and vegetation conditions in 

natural settings. It currently includes 11 volumes representing various regions of the United States and one

volume from Brazil. There are 1 to 4 series in each 

volume, each having 4 to 17 sites. Sites include standard, wide-angle, and stereo-pair photographs. Each

group of photos includes inventory data summarizing

vegetation composition, structure, and loading; woody

material loading; density by size class, forest floor

depth, and loading; and various site characteristics.

Appropriate spatial Small to medium, depending on the heterogeneity of 

scale the landscape.

Analys requirement Low

Data inputs Knowledge of forest type, biomass, and structure of 

fuelbed components sufficient to choose a best match

from a series of single photos and stereo photo pairs.

Outputs Inventory data summarizing: 

√ Vegetation composition, structure, and loading

√ Woody material loading

√ Density by size class

√ Forest floor depth and loading

√ Various site characteristics

Linkage to other Data from the photo series were used to construct many 

models/tools of the standard fuelbeds within the Fuel Characteristic

Classification System (FCCS). Fuels data determined

by the photo series can be input into fire and fuels 

programs such as Consume 3.0, FOFEM, and FEPS. 

It can also be used to customize FCCS fuelbeds.

A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

131
Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(National Fire Plan; Joint Fire Science Program; 

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land

Management [Alaska Fire Service], U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, and National Park Service; USDA

Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region and Pacific

Southwest Research Station; U.S. Agency for

International Development Brazil Program; Department

of Defense—Eglin Air Force Base [Natural Resources

Branch], Pohakulo and Makua Training Areas; State 

of Hawaii, Department of Natural Resources [Division

of Forestry and Wildlife]; University of Brasilia

Department of Ecology).

Current status Eleven volumes available, and six in progress. Detailed 

information on available series and ordering can be

found at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/.

Training availability Tutorial is available at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/

outreach/tutorials.

Technical Ottmar, R.D.; Vihnanek, R.E.; Miranda, H.S.; Sato, 

documentation M.N.; Andrade, S.M.A. 2004. Stereo photo series for

quantifying biomass for the cerrado vegetation in 

central Brazil. Floresta. 34: 109-112.

Ottmar, R.D.; Vihnanek, R.E.; Wright C.S. 2003. 

Stereo photo series for quantifying natural fuels in the

Americas. [Abstract]. In: Kush, J.S., comp. Longleaf

pine: a Southern legacy rising from the ashes, proceedings of the fourth Longleaf Alliance regional conference. Longleaf Alliance Report No. 6:123.

Contact Roger Ottmar 

USDA Forest Service

(206)732-7826

rottmar@fs.fed.us

Additional information The photo series can be used to assess live and dead 

woody material and vegetation biomass, and stand 

characteristics across landscapes. Once an ecological 

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690
assessment has been completed, stand treatment options

such as prescribed fire or harvesting can be planned and

implemented to better achieve desired effects while

minimizing negative impacts on other resources.

The photo series is useful in several branches of 

natural resource science and management. Inventory

data such as these can be used as inputs for evaluating

wildlife habitat, nutrient cycling, and microclimate. 

In addition, the photo series can be used to appraise 

carbon distribution in biomass and to link remotely

sensed signatures to live and dead fuels on the ground.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis (TELSA)

Application for TELSA can be used to examine changes in vegetation 

fuel treatment and fuel conditions given different management scenarios, natural disturbance regimes, and assumed longterm trends (e.g., warming climate). Spatial strategies

for fuel treatments can be examined, but the model does

not project actual fire weather and burning conditions.

Fire contagion is a relatively simple process based on

the susceptibility of adjacent polygons to fire. However,

the model is useful for examining landscape vegetation,

fuel, and fire trends given different management

approaches.

Description TELSA is a spatially explicit state and transition model 

that can be used to model the short- and long-term

interactions of vegetation, management, and disturbance. Most analysts use it to depict vegetation as structure (e.g., grass/shrub, seedling, sapling, pole, etc.) and

cover (e.g., dominant species group) classes connected

by growth, succession, management activities, and 

natural disturbances.

Appropriate spatial TELSA can be used at stand to watershed or larger scales

scale through the appropriate choice of state classes (usually

vegetation types). TELSA is limited by the maximum

size of Microsoft Access97 databases (1 gigabyte),

although the database is being converted to a newer 

version of Access, and maximum size limits will

become 2 gigabytes or more. This limitation makes

TELSA difficult to run on very large landscapes or

where the number of simulated vegetation polygons

exceeds 75,000 to 100,000.

Analyst requirement TELSA requires thoughtful assembly and local expertise 

in vegetation types, disturbances, and management

activities. VDDT models are used as the basis for

TELSA, but additional expertise in GIS and Access

database analysis is required.
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

135

Data inputs TELSA models are generally built by an analyst, 

resource specialist, or planner using local expert 

opinion, existing data, and available literature. The

process is facilitated by first building and testing 

VDDT models. GIS coverages of vegetation state 

classes, management allocations or zones, potential 

vegetation type groups, roads (optional), proposed 

management units (optional), and other attributes are

either required or optional.

Outputs √ Graphic and GIS (ArcGIS shapefiles and databases)

displays of state class conditions, disturbances, management activities, and calculated or other assigned

attributes over time. 

√ Time step-by-time step output of percentages and area

of the landscape in vegetation state classes, management activities, and natural disturbances. 

Output can be easily imported to spreadsheets or databases for further analyses. Model runs of a few hundred

years typically require several hours, and randomly 

chosen initial probability seeds can be run for statistical

analysis.

Linkage to other TELSA models feed directly from VDDT and can be 

used to examine the spatial implications of VDDT

models. FVS and other simulation tools can be used to

develop TELSA pathways and probabilities. Any other

model or tool that uses vegetation state classes (e.g.,

GIS, FRAGSTATS, Bayesian Belief Network,

INFORMS) can supply input to or use data from

TELSA. This is straightforward when spreadsheets or

databases are used for output.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(ESSA Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia)

Current status Available for research or educational use without charge 

at http://www.essa.com. Potential users should contact

Diana Abraham of ESSA Technologies to discuss

obtaining TELSA or for contracted support.
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Training availability Interested potential users should contact Diana Abraham 

of ESSA Technologies to discuss training sessions for

TELSA.

Technical ESSA Technologies Ltd. 2005. TELSA—tool for 

documentation exploratory landscape scenario analyses: user’s guide

version 3.3. Vancouver, BC. 236 p.

ESSA Technologies Ltd. 2005. TELSA: tool for 

exploratory landscape scenario analyses, model 

description, version 3.3. Vancouver, BC. 50 p.

Beukema, S.J.; Kurz, W.A.; Klenner, W.; Merzenich, J.; 

Arbaugh, M. 2003. Applying TELSA to assess alternative management scenarios. In: Arthaud, G.J.; Barrett,

T.M., eds. Systems analysis in forest resources.

Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 145-154. 

Merzenich, J.; Kurz, W.A.; Beukema, S.J.; Arbaugh, M.; 

Schilling, S. 1999. Long-range modelling of stochastic

disturbances and management treatments using VDDT

and TELSA. In: Proceedings, Society of American

Foresters 1999 national convention; SAF Publication

00-1. Bethesda, MD: Society of American Foresters.

http://www.essa.com/downloads/vddt–telsa.pdf.

Contacts Sarah Beukema or Don Robinson

ESSA Technologies Ltd.

(604) 733-2996 INCLUDEPICTURE 

sbeukema@essa.com or drobinson@essa.com

Additional information Example map output for a 100-year run of a natural 

disturbance regime scenario in the upper Grande Ronde

River basin area in Oregon. Extensive tabular and other

graphic output is available.
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137

Understory Response Model (URM)

Application for The Understory Response Model will help managers 

fuel treatment predict the impact of specific fuel treatment on specific

plant species, select between alternative fuel treatments,

predict the impact of fuel treatment on threatened and

endangered species (TES), and predict the location and

magnitude of posttreatment weed response. This will

aid managers in selecting management strategies to 

mitigate against potential negative effects of fuel treatments on understory plants.

Description The Understory Response Model is a species-specific 

computer model that qualitatively predicts change in

total species biomass for grasses, forbs, and shrubs after

thinning, prescribed fire, or wildfire. The model examines the effect of fuel management on plant survivorship

(the survival, growth, and colonial growth of plants

present at the site before treatment) and reproduction

(establishment and growth of plants from stored seeds

and onsite and offsite colonization). It can be accessed

online at http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels/; a PCbased model is being developed as well.

Appropriate spatial The model was designed to be used at the stand level.

scale 

Analyst requirement There are no specific user requirements to run the model. 

However, local knowledge of the site and understory

vegetation is needed for the model inputs.

Data inputs √ Initial stand conditions (size of treatment area, starting 

canopy cover, average duff depth).

√ Plant life history traits (lifespan, life form, shade tolerance, root location, bud location, vegetative reproduction, weediness, sprouting ability, preferred light levels,

seed dispersal, seedbank, fire stimulated seeds, presence onsite or offsite).

√ Thinning effects (canopy cover after thinning, mineral

soil exposed by thinning, timing of thinning and 

prescribed fire).
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

√ Fire effects (canopy cover after fire, fuel and duff

moisture at time of fire). 

The model supplies some of the plant life history data, 

but other data can be obtained from local botanists or

natural historians. Thinning and fire effects data can be

obtained from FFE-FVS runs or from expert opinion.

Outputs √ Predictions for plant survivorship (thinning mortality, 

fire mortality, nutrient effects, clonal growth effects,

weed effects, canopy effects, shrub damage, and survivorship sum, which is a qualitative measure of

change in plant biomass from pretreatment conditions). 

√ Predictions for plant reproduction (stored seeds; onsite

colonization; offsite colonization; weed effects; mineral

soil effects; canopy effects; and reproduction sum,

which is a qualitative measure of the potential for a

plant to colonize or recolonize an area after fuels

reduction).

Linkage to other URM does not link directly to any other program. 

However, outputs from FOFEM or FFE-FVS will help

in providing inputs to URM. Output from URM will

help in providing inputs to the Wildlife Habitat

Response Model. URM is part of a set of tools online 

at http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/tech_transfer/synthesis/ 

synthesis_index.htm.

Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,

Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory

USDI Bureau of Land Management.

Current status URM was developed as part of the Fuel Planning 

Project-Science Synthesis and Integration 

(http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels).

Training availability Training materials are available at the Web site listed 

above. Additional training opportunities and distribution

are planned.
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

139

Technical Sutherland, S.; Miller M. [In press]. Predicting the 

documentation impact of fuels reduction on understory species: the

understory response model. In: Sutherland, E.K.; Black,

A., eds. Estimating the environmental consequences of

fuels treatments: users guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. Ogden,

UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,

Rocky Mountain Research Station. 

Sutherland, S.; Miller M. [In press]. Evaluating the 

effects of alternative fuels treatments on understory

vegetation. In: Sutherland, E.K.; Black, A., eds.

Estimating the environmental consequences of fuels

treatments: users guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. Ogden, UT:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky

Mountain Research Station. 

A draft of the User’s Guide is available online at 

http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels.

Contact Steve Sutherland

USDA Forest Service

(406) 329-4813

ssutherland@fs.fed.us 

Additional information A Web site with background information, additional 

models, draft user guides, examples of model applications, and a series of two-page fact sheets describing

various aspects of environmental consequences of fuel

reduction can be found at http://forest.moscowfsl.

wsu.edu/fuels/.
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Valuation of Ecosystem Restoration Strategies (VERSTRA)

Application for The primary application of the model is to assess the cost

fuel treatment or revenue associated with treatments allocated on a

subject landscape. These treatments can be fuel treatments, stand density reductions, timber harvest, or any

other activity that involves removal of trees.

Description VERSTRA was designed to read FVS cut-tree lists 

associated with a given management scenario and 

determine their product potential. The gross value of

products is then merged with information on individual

polygons to derive access and net value or cost of an

operation (gross product value, logging costs, hauling

costs). Another version of VERSTRA assigns a cut-tree

list to management activities imposed by the statetransition model VDDT, then similarly determines the

net value of potential products and the logging and

hauling costs associated with utilizing the removed

material.

Appropriate spatial VERSTRA was designed to help assess implications 

scale of management activities and policies on the scale of

100,000- to 500,000-acre watersheds, although smaller

and larger areas can be accommodated.

Analyst requirement Analytical requirements for VERSTRA are low. The 

user simply specifies an input file that must be in FVS

format and the output file to which the polygon-level

information will be written.

Data inputs √ Cut-tree list in FVS format. 

√ Other data are stored in text files, but can be changed

by the user to account for local differences in log

prices, logging costs, hauling costs, and stem taper.

Outputs Visually displayed in a GIS are:

√ Indices of accessibility

√ Product potential

√ Revenue potential 

√ Integrated utilization index 
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

141

√ Polygon number, CVS plot number representing the

polygon, total cubic volume, total chip log volume,

board foot volume, gross revenue, and net revenue 

for each polygon.

Linkage to other VERSTRA was designed to be an integral part of the 

models/tools Landscape Visualization System (LVS) developed as

part of the Inland Northwest Landscape Analysis

System (INLAS). It also links to FVS and

VDDT/TELSA if tree lists can be generated.

Developers (partners) Oregon State University (Forest Service Pacific 

Northwest Research Station)

Current status Testing ongoing in the context of VDDT/TELSA.

Training availability None.

Technical None.

documentation

Contact Doug Maguire

Oregon State University

(541) 737-2244

doug.maguire@oregonstate.edu

Additional information None.
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Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)

Application for VDDT is used to examine changes in vegetation/fuel 

fuel treatment conditions given different management scenarios, natural disturbance regimes, and assumed long-term trends

(e.g., climate warming). Results are not spatial, so spatial strategies for fuel treatments cannot be examined.

However, the model is useful for estimating vegetation,

fuel, and fire trends given different management

approaches.

Description VDDT is a state and transition model that can be used to 

model the short- and long-term interactions of vegetation, management, and disturbance. Most analysts use 

it to depict vegetation as structure (e.g., grass/shrub,

seedling, sapling, pole, etc.) and cover (e.g., dominant

species group) classes connected by growth, succession,

management activities, and natural disturbances. VDDT

can be used for any system that connects state classes

through probabilities of different kinds of changes.

VDDT is not spatial. It produces a variety of database

and graphical outputs, but not maps.

Appropriate spatial VDDT can be used at any scale through the appropriate 

scale choice of state classes (usually vegetation types).

VDDT is often used for medium to large spatial scales

for which other modeling systems tend to become difficult to assemble, data intensive, and time-consuming 

to run.

Analyst requirement VDDT is becoming increasingly easy to use through the 

development of user interfaces that use EXCEL spreadsheets and ACCESS databases, but still requires

thoughtful assembly and local expertise on vegetation

types, disturbances, and management activities.

Data inputs VDDT models are generally built by an analyst, resource 

specialist, or planner using local expert opinion, existing data, and available literature. The process requires

developing vegetation state classes useful in addressing

important issues (e.g., fire risks, wildlife habitats, forest
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

143

products, recreation, and others); defining growth, 

succession, response to management, and response to 

natural disturbance timelines or probabilities (expert

opinion, literature, FVS or other models); and reviewing

model outputs. Current vegetation condition is generally

taken from GIS layers (pixel or polygon) and used to

supply current condition by vegetation state class.

Potential vegetation is often used to stratify models 

and account for different environments, disturbance

regimes, and productivity. Several different management allocations can be used by adjusting disturbance

probabilities, so GIS coverage of allocation and land

ownership is useful.

Outputs Graphic displays of state class conditions, disturbances, 

management activities, and calculated or other assigned

attributes over time. VDDT can generate time step-bytime step output of percentages and area of the landscape in vegetation state classes, management activities,

and natural disturbances. Output can be easily imported

to spreadsheets or databases for further analyses. Model

runs of several hundred years typically require only a

few minutes, and many runs using randomly chosen 

initial probability seeds can be run for statistical 

analysis.

Linkage to other VDDT models feed directly into the TELSA modeling 

models/tools process, which is spatial. FVS and other simulation

tools can be used to develop VDDT pathways and probabilities. Any other model or tool that uses vegetation

state classes (e.g., FRAGSTATS, Bayesian Belief

Network, INFORMS, others) can supply input to or use

data from VDDT. This is especially easy when spreadsheets or databases are used to supply or analyze output.

Developers (partners) Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station 

(ESSA Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia)
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Current status Available to Forest Service and Bureau of Land 

Management without charge at http://ww.essa.com. A

password to unzip the downloaded file can be obtained

free of charge from the ESSA Web site. The model is

currently being used for forest planning at many locations in the United States and is an integral part of

LANDFIRE and FRCC.

Training availability Training courses can be arranged through ESSA

Technologies at http://www.essa.com/training/ 

index.htm.

Technical ESSA Technologies Ltd. 2005. Vegetation dynamics 

development tool user guide, Version 5.1. Vancouver,

BC. 188 p. http://www.essa.com/downloads/vddt/ 

VDDT-51-User-Guide.pdf 

Contact Sarah Beukema

ESSA Technologies Ltd. 

(604) 733-2996 

sbeukema@essa.com

Additional information Publications can be found at http://www.essa.com/

downloads/vddt/reppub.htm.
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145

Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) Fuel 

Management (FuMe) Tool

Application for WEPP FuMe estimates sediment generated by fuel 

fuel treatment management activities.

Description WEPP FuMe estimates background erosion rates and 

compares sediment loads and erosion from wildfire,

thinning, prescribed fire, and low- and high-use road

networks for a given topography. Soil and water 

databases are the same as those used for WEPP.

It is intended to be used as a planning tool for NEPA

analysis and similar documentation.

Appropriate spatial Small.

scale

Analyst requirement WEPP FuMe is an online interface that can be run with 

any recent Web browser. 

Data inputs √ Climate

√ Soil texture

√ Road density

√ Length(s) of treated hillslope(s)

√ Length(s) of untreated buffers(s)

√ Hillslope gradient

√ Time between disturbances

Outputs Twelve output runs determining long-term averages 

based on time between disturbances. A narrative is then

presented that aids the user in interpreting and reporting

on the results. 

Linkage to other WEPP FuMe is part of a set of tools online at 

models/tools http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels.

Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain, Pacific 

Northwest, North Central, and Pacific Southwest

Research Stations

Current status Available.

Training availability Unknown.
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Technical Elliot, W.J.; Wu, J.Q. 2005. Predicting cumulative 

documentation watershed effects of fuel management with improved

WEPP technology. In: Moglen, G.E., ed., Managing

watersheds for human and natural impacts: engineering,

ecological, and economic challenges: proceedings of the

2005 Watershed Management Conference. Reston, VA:

American Society of Civil Engineers.

http://www.pubs.asce.org.

Elliot, W.J. 2004. WEPP Internet interfaces for forest 

erosion prediction. Paper No. 02021. Journal of the

American Water Resources Association (JAWRA).

40(2): 299-309. 

Contact William Elliot

USDA Forest Service

(208) 883-2338

welliot@fs.fed.us

Additional information WEPP FuMe models only hillslope surface erosion 

processes. It does not model channel processes such as

sediment transport and gullying. The interface does not

model landslides on disturbed hillslopes or on road networks.
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147

Wildlife Habitat Response Model (WHRM)

Application for Assists forest planners and specialists in evaluating 

fuel treatment alternative fuel treatments on terrestrial wildlife habitats

in dry interior forests of the Western United States.

Description The Wildlife Habitat Response Model (WHRM) is a 

Web-based computer tool for evaluating the potential

effects of fuel-reduction projects on terrestrial wildlife

habitats. The WHRM uses species-habitat associations

in ponderosa pine, dry-type Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine,

and mixed-conifer forests to qualitatively predict how

changes in critical habitat elements may affect wildlife

habitat suitability of treated stands. Organizing potential

responses of fauna into a conceptual framework based

on knowledge of habitat requirements can help predict

outcomes of fuel treatments, even when first-hand 

information about treatment effects does not exist.

Appropriate spatial Small.

scale

Analyst requirement Low.

Data inputs Users input the percentage of change in key habitat 

elements based on fuel treatment objectives or desired

future conditions, or predicted from computer simulations such as the Forest Vegetation Simulator with the

Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE-FVS). A keyword file is

available for FVS users that will automatically generate

these reports. The WHRM uses relative change values

(percentage of change from pretreatment to posttreatment). Some habitat elements are subdivided into size

classes. These elements include:

√ Bare mineral soil √ Crown base height

√ Litter √ Shrubs

√ Duff √ Tree canopy cover

√ Forbs √ Down wood

√ Grasses √ Live trees

√ Snags
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

Outputs Predicted effects on the various habitat requirements in 

qualitative terms: positive, null, or negative, and some

summary text about the results.

Linkage to other Input data can come from FFE-FVS. WHRM is part 

models/tools of a set of tools online at http://forest.moscowfsl.

wsu.edu/fuels.

Developers (partners) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Current status WHRM is in nearly final form and currently under 

review. The literature used in WHRM has already been

published and was reviewed according to the standards

of the individual publishers. The model itself is under

open review by academic, federal, and nongovernmental organization scientists with expertise in various 

taxonomic groups and species. In the end, all products

related to WHRM will have undergone rigorous review

and will conform to the standards of the Data Quality

Act (Federal Register 2002, Office of Management and

Budget 2004).

Training availability Unknown.

Technical http://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/fuels/whrm/index.html

documentation Documentation is in draft form and cannot be cited or 

referenced.

Contact Elaine Kennedy Sutherland

USDA Forest Service

(406) 542-4150

esutherland@fs.fed.us

Additional information The WHRM does not make quantitative predictions, nor 

does it predict population-level responses of wildlife

species. The WHRM does not include inter- and

intraspecific interactions such as competition among

species, nor environmental or demographic random

events. The WHRM does not have a temporal scale, but

users can predict changes over time by altering the

habitat elements appropriately. This can be effectively

accomplished by referring to FFE-FVS habitat element

predictions at 1, 5, and 10 years.
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Appendix 2: Acronyms and Models

AF Available fuel

AML Software architecture meta-language

APACK An analysis package for rapid calculation of landscape metrics 

on large-scale data

Biome-BGC A terrestrial ecosystem model

BlueSky BlueSky Smoke Forecast System

CALPUFF An air quality dispersion model

CANOCO A program for canonical community ordination

CF Crown fire

CLAMS Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling study

Consume Software that calculates consumption and emissions of fires

CRAFT Comparative Risk Assessment in Fire and Fuels Planning model

CrownMass Assessment of potential fire behavior

CVS Current Vegetation Survey

DAYMET Model that generates daily surfaces of temperature, precipitation,

humidity, and radiation over large regions of complex terrain.

DEBMOD Debris prediction program

DEM Digital elevation model

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

EPM Emission Production Model

ERC Energy release component

FACTS Forest Service Activity Tracking System

FARSITE Fire area spread simulation model

FASTRACS Fuel Analysis, Smoke Tracking, and Report Access Computer 

system

FB Fire behavior

FBAT Fire Behavior Assessment Tool

FCAMMS Fire Consortia for Advanced Modeling of Meteorology and 

Smoke

FCC Fire Condition Class

FCCS Fuel Characteristic Classification System

FEPS Fire Emission Production Simulator

FETM Fire Effects Tradeoff Model

FFE Fire and Fuels Extension

FIA Forest Inventory and Analysis 

FIREMON Fire Effects Monitoring and Inventory System
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-690

FMA Fire Management Analyst® 

FOFEM First Order Fire Effects Model

FRAGSTATS A program that calculates landscape measurements and statistics

FRCC Fire Regime Condition Class

FUELSOLVE Optimizing fuel solutions and ecological values in landscapes

FVS Forest Vegetation Simulator

GIS Geographic information systems

HCR Harvest Cost and Revenue estimator

HUC Hydrologic unit code

HYSPLIT Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model

IAN A raster image analysis software program

IIAA Interagency Initial Attack Assessment 

INFORMS Integrated resource management system

LANDFIRE Interagency vegetation and fuel mapping project

LANDSUM Landscape Succession Model

LINKAGES A linked forest productivity-soil water, carbon, and nitrogen 

model

LMS Landscape Management System

MAGIS Multiresource Analysis and Geographic Information System

MM5 Mesoscale atmospheric circulation model

MSN Most Similar Neighbor

MyFTP My Fuel Treatment Planner

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

NEXUS An Excel spreadsheet that links surface and crown-fire

prediction models

NFDR National Fire Danger Rating

NFDRS National Fire Danger Rating System

NFPORS National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System

NOAA National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

NOCLAMMS Northeastern Cascades Landscape Analysis Management and 

Monitoring System

NVCS National Vegetation Classification Standard

PCHA Personal Computer Historic Analysis 

PCORD Program that performs multivariate statistical analysis of 

ecological data, including cluster analysis, ordination, and 

species diversity.
A Consumer Guide: Tools to Manage Vegetation and Fuels

151

PM2.5 Particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter

PnET-II A forest carbon and water balance model

PNVG Potential natural vegetation group

PM10 Particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter

PRMS Precipitation Runoff Modeling System

RAINS Rapid Access Information System

RAWS Remote Automated Weather Stations

RAZU A smoke management Web application

RERAP Rare Event Risk Analysis Process

RMLANDS Rocky Mountain Landscape Simulator

RX-310 Introduction to Fire Effects class

S-491 Intermediate National Fire Danger Rating System class

S-493 Fire Area Simulation clas

SAF Society of American Foresters

SASEM Simple Approach Smoke Estimation Model

SIG Special interest group

SIS Smoke Impact Spreadsheet model

SPECTRUM An economic scheduling model

SRM Society for Range Management

STHARVEST Simulates the cost of harvesting

SVS Stand Visualization System

TELSA Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis

URM Understory Response Model

VDDT Vegetation Development Dynamics Tool

WHRM Wildlife Habitat Response Model

WIMS Weather Information Management System

WXFIRE A weather program that extrapolates and summarizes DAYMET

weather to finer resolutions
Pacific Northwest Research Station

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

Telephone (503) 808-2592

Publication requests (503) 808-2138

FAX (503) 808-2130

E-mail pnw_pnwpubs@fs.fed.us

Mailing address Publications Distribution

Pacific Northwest Research Station

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890
U.S. Department of Agriculture

Pacific Northwest Research Station

333 S.W. First Avenue

P.O. Box 3890

Portland, OR 97208-3890

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use, $300