Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy

Northeast Region
Plymouth, MA Fire Dept.
Resilient Landscapes - Fire-Adapted Communities - Safe and Effective Wildfire Response  
The Northeast Regional Strategy Committee (NE RSC) provides executive leadership, coordination, and guidance to carry out the Northeast Regional Action Plan while providing a forum for members to guide strategic direction for fire and land management activities. The NE RSC continues to collaboratively recognize, support, and help with National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy goals and implementation efforts.

NE RSC Chair: Brad Simpkins, New Hampshire State Forester
In This Issue
Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy Key Contacts
Chair

New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands

172 Pembroke Road

PO Box 1856

Concord, NH 03302-1856

 

Terry Gallagher

Technical Working Group Lead

U.S. Forest Service Eastern Region

 

Maureen Brooks

Communications Working Group Lead

U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF

 

Larry Mastic

Coordinator, Northeast Region

Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy

Important Links

Northeast Regional Cohesive Strategy Committee

 

Forest Fire Compacts

Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact

 

Big Rivers Forest Fire Management Compact

 

Great Lakes Forest Fire Compact

 

Middle Atlantic Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact

 

Eastern Area Coordinating Group

 

Quick Links

Cohesive Strategy

 

Fire Adapted Communities Coalition

 

Dovetail Partners

 

Science and Joint Fire Science Consortium & Exchanges

National Joint Fire Science Program (firescience.gov)

 

North Atlantic Fire Science Consortium

 

Lake States Fire Science Consortium

 

Tallgrass Prairie & Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium

 

Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center

 

Social Media

Cohesive Strategy on Twitter and Facebook

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April 2015
[Editor's Note: This issue of the Northeast Regional Cohesive Strategy News contains a number of excellent projects accomplished through positive partnerships that truly illustrate the collaborative spirit embodied in the Northeast Regional Strategy. Stay tuned for more great stories next month!]

Prescribed Fire Success at the National Conservation Training Center
Submitted by Gerald W. Vickers, Jr.
Regional Fire Management Specialist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Region 5
 
On March 18, 2015, a prescribed burn was conducted on 39.4 acres at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, WV, to maintain warm season grass habitat (figure 1). While habitat management was the primary biological objective of the burn, a second objective was to strengthen the prescribed fire partnership between State and Federal fire management agencies. Over 20 firefighters came from NCTC, USFWS Northeast Region Fire Management, Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, West Virginia Division of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Maryland, and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. Color aerial photograph of the National Conservation Training Center showing proposed prescribed burn areas for 2015 outlined in red.
Figure 1. Map of proposed 2015 prescribed fire areas at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center in Shepardstown, WV.
 

Read the full NCTC prescribed fire article.
AmeriCorps Team Serving the Hoosier National Forest 
Group of 10 Will Work 5 Weeks on a Variety of Tasks
Submitted by Terry L. Severson, Forest Fire Management Officer
U.S. Forest Service, Hoosier National Forest, Tell City Ranger District

AmeriCorps NCCC logo TELL CITY - An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team of 10 arrived March 18 to help the staff of the Hoosier National Forest with a variety of natural resource projects. They will help with prescribed burning, removing non-native and invasive species, and maintaining equipment. NCCC teams volunteer for a 10-month tour with a mission of public service. The team is from the North Central Region campus in Vinton, IA, and is made up of young men and women from places throughout the country, including Queens and Buffalo, NY; Boston; Memphis; and California.  

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Treats 800 Acres with Prescribed Fire
Green field in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area one month after a prescribed burn.
Toms Creek unit one month after burning. (Photo: M. Boss, NPS)

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (NRA) has 70,000 acres of land. Approximately 3,000 of these acres are actively managed in the open space program. During April and May of 2014, Delaware Water Gap NRA used prescribed fire to treat 800 acres across 12 burn units to maintain open space, reduce hazardous fuels, and restore the cultural landscape as addressed in the park's enabling legislation. The burn also contributed to the park's natural resource management goal of providing early successional habitat for grassland birds such as bobolink and grasshopper sparrows, various insect species, and upland game bird species such as wild turkey.

Read the full Delaware Water Gap NRA prescribed fire article on the Web
Recent Research: Predicting Fire Frequency with Chemistry and Climate1
Richard P. Guyette, Michael C. Stambaugh, Daniel C. Dey, and Rose-Marie Muzika
North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange (NAFSE), Fire science communication in a complex landscape logo

We developed a predictive equation for estimating fire frequency from theories and data in physical chemistry, ecosystem ecology, and climatology. We refer to this equation as the Physical Chemistry Fire Frequency Model (PC2FM).

Management Implications

  • For areas where fire history is unavailable, the PC2FM model can provide estimates of mean fire intervals using local temperature and precipitation.
  • Managers can use this map to understand the amount of influence temperature and precipitation variables have on mean fire intervals in their region, in comparison to other influences such as topography and land use.
Map illustrating historic mean fire intervals in the Northeast. Intervals are longer toward the north and east of the region, shorter in the south and west.  

Read the full fire frequency research publication on the Web.

___________

1 Guyette, Richard P.; Stambaugh, Michael C.; Dey, Daniel C.; Muzika, Rose-Marie. 2012. Predicting fire frequency with chemistry and climate. Ecosystems. 15: 332-335. 

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Firescience.gov Friday Flash eNews  I  Issue 123  I March 13, 2015
Upgrade Your Knowledge: Online Training and Certifications 

Joint Fire Science Program, Firescience.gov, Research Supporting Sound Decisions logo
Check out one-stop shopping for wildland fire online training and certification with the frames.gov online course system.

Fire Research and Management Exchange System logo 

Fire Regime Condition Class 

Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) is an interagency, standardized tool for determining the degree of ecological departure from historical (reference condition) vegetation, fuels, and disturbance regimes. The FRCC online course gives participants the background information necessary for understanding FRCC assessments, including an overview of what FRCC is and various assessment methods; key theories, principles, and concepts; its role in policy and law; and FRCC resources.

 

Wildland Fire Management, Research, Development, and Application

Offering courses such as the Wildland Fire Assessment Tool, Nomographs, Introduction to Fuel Loadings, and many others.

 

LANDFIRE

LANDFIRE delivers vegetation, fuel, disturbance, and fire regime geospatial data products for the entire Nation. Learn about different data layers, methods, and applications.

 

National Wildfire Coordinating Group

Currently offering S-491, S-495, and S-590 instructor-led courses.

 

Smoke Management and Air Quality for Land Managers

University of Idaho Online Masters of Natural Resources

Learn the science behind fire ecology and management--the science you will need for our rapidly changing world. Affordable, peer-reviewed courses provide high-quality education at value.

 

View All Online Courses

National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day: May 2, 2015

Commit a couple of hours, or the entire day, and join others throughout the Nation on Saturday, May 2, to help make communities a safer place to live. Challenge friends, family members, a faith-based group, or youth organization to create a project and accomplish something great together!
 

Efforts will raise wildfire awareness and help protect homes, neighborhoods, and entire communities, while increasing safety for wildland firefighters; your project could also lessen current post-fire impacts. 

 

Set of three logos. Wildfire Community Preparedness Day 2015, State Farm, and Fire Adapted Communities. The National Fire Protection Association is pleased to announce that State Farm?, the largest home insurer in the United States, has provided funding for 65 $500 project funding awards to carry out projects on May 2. State Farm has a long history of proactive wildfire safety education for its policyholders in high-risk regions.

Visit the National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day 2015 Web site.

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Conferences, Meetings, and Training

--Regional--
 

Northeast Forest Fire Supervisors Annual 2015 Meeting

June 15-19, 2015

Dedham, MA
 


--National--

 

National Wildland Fire Training

 

National Wildfire Coordinating Group Training


5th Fire in Eastern Oak Forests Conference
May 27-29, 2015

Tuscaloosa, AL

Backyards and Beyond 2015 Wildland Fire Education Conference

October 22-24, 2015

Myrtle Beach, SC

Pre-conference seminars October 20-21, 2015

 

6th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress
Advancing Ecology in Fire Management: Knowledge Transfer through Workshops, Presentations, and Meetings
November 16-20, 2015

San Antonio, TX

 


--Wildfire Training--

 

Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy, June 6-12, 2015

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.--West Virginia University will host the ninth annual Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy, June 6-12, 2015, in Morgantown. The academy will offer a suite of courses in essential wildland firefighting skills, from basic to advanced. Upon successful course completion, students will receive certificates from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. Some courses require pre-course work. Register on the Mid-Atlantic Forest Fire Compact Web site. The academy is presented by the Mid-Atlantic Forest Fire Compact, West Virginia University Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, and the U.S. Forest Service.

 

The Northeast Regional Strategy Committee (NE RSC) delivers articles and stories each month that demonstrate the collaborative efforts of agencies, organizations and communities supporting and promoting the three goals of the Cohesive Strategy: Restoring Resilient Landscapes, Creating Fire Adapted Communities and Responding to Wildfire. 

 

This news update is our primary communication tool with our partners and the public. Looking for more Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy information or past published news update issues? Visit this Web site.

 

Does your agency, organization, or community have a project or event you'd like to see featured in the NE RSC News Update? 

 

Tell us about it! Just contact  Larry Mastic .
Northeastern Area State & Private Forestry | 304-285-1524 | creger@fs.fed.us | http://www.na.fs.fed.us
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