Hurricane Michael left parts of Florida and Georgia with millions of acres of storm-felled trees. Fire professionals including Tall Timbers' Kevin Hiers expressed concern in an article published in Scientific American about the wildfire risk posted by these downed trees, particularly given the difficulty of implementing prescribed fire across the acreage impacted. This difficulty may be a sign of things to come, as climate change prolongs droughts and makes prescribed fire more difficult to implement.

The International Association of Fire Chiefs has released a WUI Chief's Guide. Designed by fire chiefs for fire chiefs, the guide helps individuals understand how a fire chief or other official can help a community manage the risks of fires in the wildland-urban interface.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension has produced a ten-minute video that provides an overview of the benefits and logistics of using prescribed fire in woodlands.

Data on burns conducted between 2015 and 2018 by Oklahoma Prescribed Bun Associations is now available. Those wishing to contribute to this data-set can do so regardless of whether they are PBA members.

SFE's most recent fact sheet gives an overview of the latest research on fire and soil carbon. This includes the importance of soil carbon, the effects of fire on microbes and plant species, and relevance to management.

SFE is accepting applications for an Outreach Specialist position through Friday, May 3. The position will last for one year, with the potential to continue pending additional funding.

USFS Forester Alan Ager’s significant contributions to fire science and ecology include the areas of wildfire risk governance, socioeconomic and ecological trade-offs in forest restoration programs, network analysis of wildfire risk transmission, and landscape scenario modeling. His recent focus has been on developing planning tools to simulate and explore national policy scenarios and predict investment outcomes in terms of economic and ecological conditions on national forests. LANDFIRE posed a few questions to Alan about his work and where LF fits in.

LANDFIRE data are now accessible on the Wildfire Analyst Pocket Edition app, giving the wildland fire community operational fire behavior tools for use in the field

Arkansas' Newton County Times covers why growing-season prescribed fire benefits ground-nesting birds.

Wildfire Today reports on the concern from state and territorial foresters about the cuts to state and private forestry programs proposed in the President's FY20 budget, particularly in light of the executive order to promote forest management released in December.

The High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal describes how a collaboration between a dedicated high school teacher and Oklahoma State University Extension is teaching students about prescribed fire.

The JFSP Funding Opportunity Announcements are open through 5:00 PM MT on May 16. Full FOAs are available on the JFSP website.

Commons Photo Credit: Source

Wildland Restoration International is available to help public and private landowners and land managers in Florida with prescribed fire and habitat management. WRI is specifically reaching out to private landowners receiving cost share funding from NRCS for prescribed burning who need help getting their contracts completed. Landowners are eligible in the counties of Levy, Alachua, Putnam, Marion, Flagler, Volusia, Lake, Sumter, Hernando, Polk, Osceola, Manatee, Hardee, and Highlands.  If you are interested, contact WRI Fire Program Coordinator Ryan Kennelly at ryan.kennelly@wildlandrestoration.org or 352-373-0550.

The Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) will distribute Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) TREE grants. These are designed to help graduate students travel to present at conferences and workshops related to fire science and management. Applications are due 60 days before the start of the event the applicant would like to attend. Additional information and application link are available on the AFE website. 

More recorded webinars on a variety of fire topics can be found on the Southern Fire Exchange webinar page, the Oak Woodlands and Forests Fire Consortium webinar page, and the Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists webinars and presentations page.