Fire Behavior Portal

The Earth Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is seeking a postdoctoral position in modeling of current/future fire activity and current/future vegetation characteristics. 

In particular, this project aims to assess data and models of plant moisture content (e.g., live fuel moisture) in different species across California and how those patterns in space and time alter wildfire occurrence and severity patterns. Responsibilities include analysis of biophysical models and data related to soil moisture, plant water relations, historical mapped fire patterns, and projections of future conditions under global change (e.g., climate and land use) scenarios.

This position will involve using statistical and/or machine learning models, processing environmental spatial data from a variety of sources (e.g., remote sensing, GIS) at various scales, publishing research results in peer-reviewed journal articles, and proposal development.

Basic Qualifications: Applicants must have completed all requirements for a PhD (or equivalent), except the dissertation, in plant ecology, geography or related field at the time of application.

Nominations are now open for new members of the International Association of Wildland Fires' (IAWF) Board of Directors. Nominations will be accepted through September 30, 2019 and successful candidates will begin their 3-year term on January 1, 2020. Individuals meeting the requirements may self-nominate.

Sagebrush steppe plant communities and the fauna that are supported by the plant communities are negatively impacted by nonindigenous annual grasses. Conservation of sagebrush steppe is enhanced through management of these annual grasses to prevent fire, allow seed bank mediated restoration, and to enhance survival of native plants reseeded because of depleted seed banks. The successful applicant would conduct research that involves annual grass control, fire fuel sampling, modeling of fire behavior, plant community analysis to study response to annual grass removal, and small-scale seeding of forbs to improve habitat for sage grouse and other sagebrush fauna.

The successful applicant will provide evidence of experience with some aspect of computer modeling, utilize herbicides for annual grass management and ability to work in natural areas. The successful applicant will also provide evidence of good communication skills both written and oral. Research will take place at Rinker Rock Creek Ranch, located southwest of Hailey Idaho (https://www.uidaho.edu/research/entities/rock-creek/research).

Please Contact:

Timothy Prather
tprather@uidaho.edu

Eva Strand
evas@uidaho.edu

If you haven't had a chance to submit your oral presentation or fire circle abstract for the 8th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress, you still have time to do so! They are extending the deadline to accommodate summer schedules and those in the field. See the link below for details and submit your abstracts no later than Thursday, August 15.

Abstracts for poster presentations and attached meetings will be accepted until August 30, with no extensions.

The California Fish and Game Journal is looking for submissions around their next special issue: “Effects of Fire on California’s Natural Resources.” The issue will focus on how fire or fire-related management activities may impact, positively or negatively, the state’s fish, wildlife, and plant resources.

Tall Timbers Wildland Fire Science Program has received Department of Defense funding from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to characterize multiscale feedbacks between forest structure, fire behavior and fire effects. This work seeks to advance more mechanistic predictions of fire effects through the application and advancement of coupled fire-atmospheric modeling to empirical study of surface fire regimes. The project is field-intensive and includes intensive fire-line experimentation campaigns using a variety of spatial and temporal monitoring techniques. This post-doctoral fellowship has up to 3.5 years of funding to lead integration efforts of multidisciplinary empirical fire behavior and forest measurements. The position will oversee data management, analysis, and data integration of 3D fuel characterization, fire behavior, fire effects, and 3D flows. The position will also facilitate the transfer of pre- and post-burn datasets to fire behavior modeling teams at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Colorado State University. The incumbent will play a key role in advancing our understanding of heat transfer to vegetation during fire and in improving post fire effects prediction. Primary duties are to assist the Wildland Fire Scientist and project collaborators with implementation of the study plan, help supervise field data acquisition, facilitate data transfer among participating organizations, and lead spatially explicit analysis of energy transfer and resulting fire effects. Other duties range from publication writing and preparation for submission to peer-reviewed journals, administering project management software, budget reporting, and student advisement.