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Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
Northeast Region
Pagami Creek Fire, Superior NF, Minnesota, September 2011. (Photo: Kari Greer)
Resilient Landscapes - Fire-Adapted Communities - Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
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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.
Brad Simpkins, New Hampshire State Forester
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Northeast Region Cohesive Strategy Key Contacts
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Chair Chief Fire Warden Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation Maureen Brooks Vice-Chair U.S. Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF Larry Mastic Coordinator, Northeast Region Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy |
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Forest Fire Compacts
Quick Links
Science and Joint Fire Science Consortiums & Exchanges
Social Media
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August 2017
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Why Big Blazes are Burning Up Budgets and Landscapes
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Diane Banegas, Research & Development
July 21, 2017
In 1995, the U.S. Forest Service spent 16 percent of its total budget on fighting fires. Today, it's 52 percent and growing. What's changed?
"Everything," said Matthew Thompson, a research forester who works at the agency's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colorado. "The length of the fire season, more people on the landscape to start fires or to be impacted by them, more community interest in the relation between managing fires and protecting lives, property, and natural resources, and more media interest partly because there is so much more media today, including social media."
What hasn't changed is the agency's key role in managing wildland fires that threaten local communities and natural resources and its desire to manage them as safely and cost-effectively as possible.
A fire whorl in chaparral. Research can ideally help fire-managers make better, more cost-effective decisions when dealing with big blazes, and it can help everyone understand the trade-offs of fire-management decisions so fire managers can make the best possible decisions at all times for future wildland fires, according to research forester Matthew Thompson. (Photo from U.S. Forest Service blog).
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Evacuation Planning --- What Does It Take to Get a Community Started?
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June 20, 2017
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(Courtesy photo by Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network)
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Does every community need an evacuation plan? What does it take for a community to ask this question? Must there be a fire, a flood or some other disaster to trigger action? Or is common sense enough to motivate a community to create a plan before disaster strikes? In the case of Eagle's Nest Township, near Ely, Minnesota, a number of factors helped trigger the process of creating an evacuation plan.
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Maine Forest Rangers, Firefighters Help Contain Wildfires in Montana
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Editor's Note: The following two articles are examples of the many wildland fire crews from several Northeast States that have made, and continue to make, contributions to the national wildfire suppression effort this year.
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The Maine Forest Service sent this 20-member crew of wildland firefighters to Montana to help put out some of the large fires that have been burning out there since the beginning of the week. (Courtesy photo provided by Maine Forest Service)
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The Maine Forest Service has sent a 20-member crew to Montana, where the group will spend two weeks helping to contain wildfires that have been raging there for five days.
Led by Ranger Mike Daigle of Fort Kent and Ranger Brian Getchell of Machias, the crew flew to Billings, Montana, early Wednesday morning and are expected to be there for two weeks, Regional Forest Ranger Jeff Currier said Thursday afternoon.
The rest of the crew consists of 18 trained wildland firefighters who work on a call-when-needed basis. "Plus all the expenses are paid for by the requesting agency," he said, which in this case was the U.S. Forest Service.
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Governor Carney Honors Delaware Forest Service Wildfire Crew at State Fair
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July 27, 2017
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Governor Carney honored the Delaware wildfire crew during ceremonies at the Delaware State Fair. (Photo courtesy of State of Delaware)
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HARRINGTON (July 27) - Governor John C. Carney, Jr. and Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse celebrated the 90th anniversary of the Delaware Forest Service and honored the wildfire crew that just returned from two weeks battling blazes in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. The crew, which left the First State on July 8 and returned on July 23, first tackled the 700-acre Wilson Fire near Meeker, Colorado --- started by lightning on July 7. The firefighters then moved on to the Grizzly Fire before finishing up on the Dragon Fire --- located just south of Rangely, Colorado. Delaware's team included 17 state and federal firefighters from Delaware and three from West Virginia.
Read the full article on the Delaware Web site.
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Megan's Corner: Northeast LANDFIRE
--- Your Data Needed Soon!
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Improving the quality and use of LANDFIRE data was identified as one of the top five priorities for this group for 2016 --- 17. In order to do this, we need your input on where inaccuracies exist! Remember, LANDFIRE data is calculated from a series of models, and as you may have heard, a model is only as good as the data you put in it.
The clock is ticking for submitting data to the LANDFIRE Remap. If you would like LANDFIRE data to improve in your region, now is the time to get involved. See how in the Remap briefing paper sent to this group earlier, and posted on the new Northeast LANDFIRE Google Forum. Data and feedback submissions received by September 17, 2017, will be considered for the Remap.
I urge you to post any questions, concerns, feedback, comments, etc., on the new Northeast LANDFIRE Google Forum. LANDFIRE questions can get complicated very fast, and it is great to have multiple people on the LANDFIRE team, and other users, help address your questions. Plus, each conversation will be documented and searchable so we can all learn from each other!
I am planning a visit with the LANDFIRE mappers in Sioux Falls, SD, at the end of August. This will be a great time to ask questions, clarify issues, and inform them about issues in the Northeast. Please contact me with issues and questions you have so I can pass them along to the mappers.
Lastly, Randy Swaty of The Nature Conservancy's LANDFIRE team and I have created a Webinar series where we focus on any topic of your choice! We have not had any topics or questions submitted so far through the short Google form. If our pre-planned Webinar times do not work for you, we can schedule other dates and times.
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Conferences, Meetings, and Training Opportunities
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--Regional--
2017 Crew Boss Academy
October 4-13, 2017
Fort Custer Training Center, MI
Nomination Form Deadline:
August 18, 2017
4th Biennial Shortleaf Pine Conference
October 3-5, 2017
Galloway, NJ
Field Trip: The Great Acadia Fire 70 Years Later
Hosted by North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange and the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact
October 17-18, 2017
Acadia, ME
Oak Symposium: Sustaining Oak Forests in the 21st Century through Science-based Management
October 24-26, 2017
Knoxville, TN
Igniting Exchange: Bridging the Gap between Science and Management
January 30 - February 1, 2018
Portland, ME
--National--
September 18-21, 2017
Charleston, WV
Orlando, FL
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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?
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