Funding granted for fire information coordination

Controlled burn at Nenana Ridge June 2009 (Photo by Todd Paris, UAF Marketing)

The Alaska Fire Science Consortium at UAF has received $435,000 from the Joint Fire Science Program to provide a conduit for professional research to get into the hands of fire and land managers. The funding, which covers a two-year project, will make it possible to improve fire management by making the results of fire science research more accessible to fire managers and decision-makers.

Alaska’s organization is one of eight regional fire science consortiums recently created around the nation. “This will be a hub for fire science information in Alaska,” said Sarah Trainor, project principal investigator and stakeholder liaison for the UAF Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning. “It will enhance communications between fire science managers and make the research more applicable and useful to people on the ground.”

The consortium will help with coordinating information between various fire agencies and disseminate the results of northern latitude and boreal forest fire science to fire managers. One of Trainor’s goals is to host an annual Alaska-wide workshop, which is set for October in Anchorage this year, and on-site field workshops. The consortium will also produce a newsletter and fact sheets, set up statewide fire science teleconferences and webinars, host a fire science help desk, and develop innovative fire prediction tools.

A consortium coordinator will soon be on board to carry out many of the duties. Partners include the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, the Bureau of Land Management-Alaska Fire Service, the National Park Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, and BLM Lands.