Presenters: R. Gregory Corace, III (US Fish and Wildlife Service-Seney National Wildlife Refuge), Lindsey M. Shartell (MN Department of Natural Resources), and Dawn S. Marsh (US Fish and Wildlife Service, Seney National Wildlife Refuge)

Dr. Greg Corace is an Ecologist at Seney National Wildlife Refuge, and is a co-PI on the Lake States Fire Science Consortium funded by the multi-federal agency Joint Fire Science Program.

The Lake States Fire Science Consortium (LSFSC), funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP), is a network of fire managers and scientists interested in the fire-dependent ecosystems of the northern Lake States (http://www.lakestatesfiresci.net/). To enhance our existing understanding of disturbances, vegetation, and wildlife and the integration of this knowledge into the management of northern Lake States ecosystems, we are initiating an information exchange whereby we will:

1) improve our publicly accessible wildlife-fire literature citation database by seeking input from wildlife professionals who might identify missed information, especially theses and dissertations;
2) evaluate state Wildlife Action Plans and other documents as appropriate and consult with state-level experts to identify wildlife (vertebrate species primarily) with high affinity for fire-dependent ecosystem types of particular interest to the LSFSC (i.e., not generalist species);
3) identify individuals and organizations across the northern portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario that are conducting related inventory, monitoring, research and management and communicate this information with other interested parties;
4) promote information exchange related to the above at one or more professional events (webinar and/or conference and/or field trips); and
5) use all the above to draft a research needs statement that will be presented to JFSP through the LSFSC.

We will discuss the above and identify ways in which audience members can help by:

1) contributing citations of academic theses/dissertations and grey (i.e., agency) publications related to fire in northern (primarily forested) Lake States ecosystems;
2) identifying individuals and organizations described under #3, above; and
3) forwarding this information to other interested parties.

This webinar is hosted by the Lake States Fire Science Consortium.