Fire Effects Portal

The Great Basin Institute (GBI) expects to have positions available by Spring 2020.

Explore your Public Lands with GBI:

• Spend the season working outside on a forestry, trail, or habitat restoration hand crew
• Support forestry, wildlife, and vegetation monitoring projects in the Sierra Nevada
• Learn and serve in National Parks, Forests, and Wilderness Areas
• Get paid and earn scholarships & college credit
• Work directly with land management agencies

The U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center in Flagstaff, AZ is hiring a fire ecology post-doc to begin December 2019. The position is full-time for 13 months. Salary is $60,000 per year with benefits. The post-doc will apply fuels mapping methods and fire modeling to understand current and future fire behavior in grasslands, savannas, and dry forests of the southwestern U.S. The post-doc will work with federal agencies to develop strategies to reduce wildfire risk and support related management needs.

The Range Technician (Monitoring) works under the supervision and guidance of professional range and natural resource specialists to provide technical support and assistance in range conservation, range management and range improvement.  In addition to serving as a crew member or crew lead for specific projects, the specific duties are: implementing and coordinating Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) procedures; inputting and extracting data for reporting, planning and analysis; completing range condition and trend studies, utilization, actual use, climatological and other allotment evaluation studies; ensuring stipulation compliance for grazing permits and leases; assisting in grazing lease and permit preparation and range administration; assisting with automated billing, updating case files and allotment files; and preparing range transfer documents.

The Woods Hole Research Center seeks a Research Assistant to support several projects related to carbon cycling, landscape disturbances, and vegetation dynamics in the Arctic. The successful candidate will use remote sensing, geospatial data, and modeling techniques to investigate ongoing changes in the Arctic, including gas emission craters in the Siberian Arctic, changing fluxes of CO2, and boreal forest demographics and disturbances. This position requires expertise in advanced statistical techniques and working with geospatial data. Previous experience working in the Arctic is highly preferred.

The University of Montana Wilderness Institute seeks to fill a PhD assistantship to work on a funded project entitled, “Ecosystem Response to Fire in the Wilderness.” This project will measure vegetation and fuels data across sites that burned in the last 40 years in order to assess the potential for fire-caused changes to forest structure and function, including the possibility of conversions to non-forest. This project is a collaboration with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (ALWRI). The position will be supervised by Dr. Andrew Larson.

The PhD student will: conduct field and remote-sensing based investigations of fire effects in wilderness areas, including publication of results in peer-reviewed journals; work collaboratively with UM faculty, staff, and students, ALWRI researchers, and wilderness managers; and support undergraduate education at UM through occasional service as a teaching assistant, field trip leader, or field course assistant. Six semesters of support are available, with annual renewal based on satisfactory performance.

Two PhD degree options are available: Forest and Conservation Sciences or Systems Ecology.

Every two years, the Southern Fire Exchange collects information in an online survey in order to understand whether we are meeting the needs of the Southeast fire community and to help us shape the future of our programming. Please take a few minutes to participate in the survey and help us continue to offer the best in wildland fire science communication.

As Forest Health Fire Ecologist you will be on the leading edge of a developing prescribed fire program improving forest health and resiliency throughout the state. You will be collecting fuels and fire effects data that will help guide prescribed fire implementation and planning efforts as the Washington Department of Natural Resources work towards its 20 year Forest Health Plan goals.

We encourage you to  gather your information to nominate some very deserving folks for these prestigious awards! The recipient does not need to be an IAWF member to receive an award. Awards will be announce and/or presented at one of our upcoming IAWF Conferences in 2020.

If you’ve nominated someone in the past and they were not selected as the recipient, please do not hesitate to re-nominate them. At times we have numerous deserving folks, however, at this time we are only able to select one person per award.

The Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are open through 5 pm MST, December 5, 2019.

The Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) announcement FA-FOA0020-001 has one task statement. Proposals must address one or more of the following topic areas:

• Fuels management and fire behavior
• Changing fire environment
• Emissions and air quality
• Fire effects and post-fire recovery
• Relative impacts of prescribed fire versus wildfire
• Human dimensions of fire

The primary announcement FA-FOA0020-002 has one task statement:

1. Performance of fuel breaks and fuel break systems  

The Regional Fire Science Exchange announcement FA-FOA0020-003 has one task statement focused on leading and executing a regional fire science exchange in the following four regions (see map and supporting information in the FOA):

1. Alaska
2. California
3. Great Basin
4. Pacific Islands

Text of the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) statement:

Climate change has already had significant consequences in the global wildfire reality, affecting citizens as well as the global wildland fire community. Many key issues of importance to the IAWF - including firefighter and civilian safety, fire management expenses, changing weather patterns, natural role of fire, fire regimes and ecosystem succession, as well as the wildland urban interface - all require recognition of the role of climate change.

Globally, we regularly see new reports about the “worst”, “largest”, “most expensive”, and “deadliest” fires and fire seasons. In 2019 and 2018, striking headlines read “Arctic on Fire” (Sweden, Russia, Greenland, Canada and Alaska), and the most expensive and largest fire years were recorded in 2018 in California and British Columbia, respectively, breaking the previous records set in 2017. The Camp Fire (CA, 2018), Attica Greece (2018), Black Saturday Australia (2009), and Portugal (2017) fires were all ranked amongst the top 11 deadliest fires in the last 100 years.

Under current climate change scenarios, fire regimes will change in terms of increases in burned area, severity, fire season length, frequency, and ignitions from lightning. Many parts of the world have already experienced an increase in record breaking temperatures and recurring droughts that have led to shifts in wildland fire. There is already evidence of climate-driven fire regime change in the Northern Hemisphere upper latitudes with fire risk increasing in non-traditional fire-prone countries. The consequences of human actions are here today, not in some distant future, and these are alarming and, most important, escalating.

The IAWF encourages all countries to emphasize increased international fire training and to implement easier cross-border sharing of professional fire management resources for suppression and prescribed fire opportunities. These will lessen the irrationally heavy burden any single country will have to carry to manage extreme fire seasons. Homes and communities must be better planned and built, so they are increasingly fire resistant and more adapted to natural disasters of all types. Health impacts of fires have long-term consequences, not only those that are immediate from the flames but also those from smoke and toxins, and these must be considered when planning and managing for future wildland fires. Wildfires and smoke do not recognize borders. As the global community tries to manage the new wildfire challenges, it is incumbent on everyone to prepare to support international neighbours in protecting lives and communities from fires and their impacts.

IAWF Vice-President Toddi Steelman recently said in Wildfire magazine (August 2019) that “Recent extreme weather events have catalysed public belief in, and concern about, climate change, and boosted public support for government actions to reduce its harmful impacts. This gives us a window of opportunity when conditions are right to make great strides on climate if we are strategic about it.” This window of opportunity requires people having the knowledge and political will to act now. Our global scientific community needs to publicly share knowledge learned about patterns of extreme wildland fire and weather, as well as how climate change is associated with these patterns. Our global fire management community needs to leverage its credibility to share its experiences about how climate change and its role in extreme weather is playing out in their day to day work environments. Connecting extreme weather events to real on-the-ground consequences can help more people understand how climate impacts are affecting us all.

The Lake States Fire Science Consortium (LSFSC) is committed to ensuring that the ‘best available science’ is available for planning and managing northern fire-dependent ecosystems of the Lake States. Where there are current gaps in the science, the goal of the LSFSC is to assist in filling those gaps so that science informs practice and vice-versa. Unfortunately, for many local fire management issues, there are few resources available to bring managers and scientists together to solve these important issues.

In an effort to enhance the opportunities for managers and scientists to work together, and to expose future professionals to opportunities of management and research collaborations, the LSFSC requests proposals to fund research internships that address relevant fire science and management issues associated with northern fire-dependent ecosystems of the Lake States region (See our Ecosystems page for a description of fire-dependent ecosystems that are the focus of the Lake States Fire Science Consortium). Proposals must be developed by joint manager-scientist teams (i.e. both must be listed as co-PIs and equally contribute to proposal development) and outline how the research internship will address a critical need that will help improve management of fire-dependent ecosystems locally. Preference will be given to partnerships that have not yet received funding from the program.

The LSFSC anticipates awarding several $4,000 research internship awards. It is expected that 100% of the funds should go to support the undergraduate internship experience (preferably for salary, though a limited amount of funds may be used to purchase materials and supplies needed to complete the project - funds should not be used as a supplement or summer salary for graduate students). All proposals must be submitted by 5:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Central on Monday, December 9, 2019 by email to Jack McGowan-Stinski. There will be no exceptions to this closing date and time.

Project: The University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources is seeking a PhD-level graduate student to participate in research examining the effectiveness of restoration, adaptation, and transition management techniques at fostering forest health and productivity in the face of novel climate, insect, and disease threats. This research will assess silvicultural experiments co-developed with stakeholder input with application to both urban and rural forest settings. The student will join a team of collaborators from the University of Vermont, U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, and Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center in developing management options to promote diverse and productive rural and urban forests despite the stress of climate change and other disturbance agents. The position is available for Summer/Fall 2020 and includes four guaranteed years of funding (stipend, tuition waiver, and health insurance).

Qualifications: M.S. in forest ecology, forestry, silviculture, biology or a closely related field.  Applicants should be able to work independently, but also cooperatively with other researchers and managers on the larger project. Applicants should also have a strong work ethic, demonstrated writing and quantitative capabilities, and a record of leadership.

Application: Interested applicants should supply all application materials to the UVM Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (RSENR) Program (PhD in Natural Resources) by February 1, 2020 – when applying, please state your interest in this position in the “Statement of Purpose.”

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP) seeks a post-doctoral research fellow to explore the social and economic impacts of climate change in Alaska from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Possible sectors of analysis include but are not limited to:

• fisheries (including ocean acidification),
• transportation (and trans-Arctic shipping),
• infrastructure, mineral,
• oil & gas resource development,
• mixed-subsistence economies, and
• the provision of related climate services.
• We are also interested in an analysis of the economic impacts of ACCAP’s work.

This post-doctoral fellowship includes opportunities to directly engage ACCAP’s partners and stakeholders in use-inspired basic research and knowledge co-production. The person in this position will work closely in an interdisciplinary team environment that includes a spectrum of senior scientists, junior scientists, graduate students, and research professionals. Collaborating organizations include the Center for Arctic Policy Studies (CAPS) at UAF, the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and other ACCAP partner organizations.

• Desired state date: Negotiable. As soon as possible.
• Duration: 2 year, term funded
• Location: International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• Open until filled.  

How to apply: please submit CV, contact information for three references, and a cover letter to Sarah Trainor, ACCAP Director with “Econ Post-Doc Application” in the subject line.  The cover letter should include:

• A description of the candidate’s PhD research,
• A statement of interest outlining potential research project, including sectors of interest, and research approach, and
• A description of past experience with research in Alaska and/or the Arctic.

We are looking for a capable student to join our Forest Ecology research team at the Masters or PhD level.  The student will use radio-labeling methods to explore seed dispersal and the spatial ecology of herbaceous species across a range of scales.  Demographic models will be paired with micro-environmental heterogeneity to compare the roles of disturbance history, animal behavior, physical gradients, and plant life history in shaping species distributions at the population and landscape scale.  In addition to research commitments, students take courses and serve as teaching assistants in the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology.  The position is fully funded including tuition waivers.

Applicants should have a GPA of at least 3.2 and an average GRE score above the 60th percentile.  A strong work ethic, quantitative skills, and the ability work independently are essential.  Applicants should be physically fit and capable of field work under less-than-ideal conditions.  Previous field experience is desirable.

The Western Forest Initiative at Utah State University (http://westernforestinitiative.org) seeks to fill a PhD position funded by the T. W. Daniel endowment. The selected student will work in the Lutz lab on research in the three largest annually-surveyed, spatially-explicit forest plots in western North America, located in Yosemite, California (http://yfdp.org), Wind River, Washington (http://wfdp.org), and Cedar Breaks, Utah (http://ufdp.org). Experimental work can be conducted in the T. W. Daniel Experimental Forest near Logan, Utah.

The successful student can conduct research on a variety of topics, for example; spatial relationships among woody plants, forest community resistance and resilience, forest canopy-snow interactions, fuel dynamics, climate-mediated forest change, plant-soil interactions, carbon sequestration, seedling dynamics, understory-overstory interactions, or mechanisms and consequences of tree mortality. The existing dataset is particularly rich in demographic data, including annual tree mortality by cause. There will be considerable opportunity to interact with students, scientists, and academics affiliated with the Smithsonian Forest Global Earth Observatory (https://forestgeo.si.edu).

The Tingley Lab in Global Change Ecology is joining the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles and seeking creative and motivated PhD students to join the lab in the Fall of 2020. Our research utilizes field and biodiversity data to explore how large-scale anthropogenic drivers of change (e.g., climate change, land-use change, fire regimes) affect geographic distributions and community interactions over short to long timespans, from years to centuries. Most of our research explores these topics using birds as the primary study organism.

Potential research areas include: 1) the impact of climate change on birds through shifts in distributions or phenology; 2) the mechanisms that define range limits; 3) the role of wildfire in structuring biodiversity; 4) statistical modeling of distributions and assemblages; and/or 5) using historical data to understand processes of change. Research projects will have opportunities to draw from extensive existing databases as well as collect new field data at current field sites in temperate mountain systems. Enthusiasm, excellent written and oral communication abilities, and strong quantitative skills are necessary. Backgrounds in ornithology, modeling, and statistics are desired.