Resource Catalog
Media
- Reginald GoolsbyUS Forest Service, Francis Marion and Sumter National Forest
- Josh McDanielWildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
- Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
IMAGINE aims to solve the issue of technology overload confronting prescribed fire managers today. As the demand to prescribe burn more acres increase, so do the demands on fire management officers (FMOs) to prioritize treatment areas. Prescribed fires accomplish multiple objectives including reducing hazardous fuels, improving wildlife habitat, aiding listed species and increasing resource access. IMAGINE is meant to provide research to managers a simple program that answers the questions of 'when to burn, where to burn, how to burn, and why to burn.' The burn prioritization model ranks treatment areas on ecological and logistical scores and allows users to set optimal burning constraints such as days since rain, KDBI, relative humidity, temperature, and season of burn to achieved desired resource goals. The goal of many burns is ecological restoration therefore some criteria such as percent of fire-dependent vegetation, departure from desired condition, and presence of listed species were factored in. Logistical data is based on cost per acre of conducting each burn. Reginald Goolsby presented a webinar on July 11, 2013 that provides a general overview of the program. This webinar was hosted by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center (http://wildfirelessons.net), the Joint Fire Science Program (http://www.firescience.gov/), and the International Association of Wildland Fire (http://www.iawfonline.org/).
Cataloging Information
- burn prioritization model
- ecological restoration
- GIS - geographic information system
- IMAGINE
- optimal burning constraints