Fire Effects Portal

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 USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station (PNW) invites applications for a permanent full-time Research Meteorologist (series 1401) / Research Air Quality Engineer (series 0819) positionat the rank of GS-12, GS-13, or GS-14. The position is located at the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory in Seattle, Washington and is part of the AirFire Team of the Threat Characterization and Management Program. Applications can be submitted via the USAJOBS website:https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/544454700
 
The PNW Research Station is one of seven research units in the USDA Forest Service. The Forest Service conducts the most extensive and productive program of integrated forestry research in the world. Scientific information produced by the USDA Forest Service AirFire Team focuses on understanding fire-atmosphere interactions, air quality, and climate with respect to wildland fire. AirFire’s research has application the across United States and in other parts of the world. The Station’s programs reflect the changing character of the questions that science is being asked to help answer.
 
The scientist will provide expertise to generate knowledge about fire, atmosphere, and chemistry interactions that can lead to better modeling of wildland fire emissions, plumes, and smoke. The knowledge is used to develop and deliver innovative and effective strategies, methods, and tools so people can plan, manage, or mitigate the changes, causes, and consequences associated with fire emissions and smoke.
 
Personal research assignment: The scientist serves as a fire/meteorology/air quality modeler and as one of four permanent, principal staff scientists with the AirFire Team. The AirFire team works closely together and the scientist is expected to collaborate on team projects within their area of expertise. The scientist is further expected to become the AirFire lead for one or more of the following critical areas of knowledge and research for the team, and participate in advancing the others: fire smoke modeling frameworks and real-time tools; coupled fire/atmosphere/smoke modeling; field work; and remote sensing. In this role the scientist is expected to serve both leadership roles within the team and also to be a national and international resource for the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, and broader air quality community.
 
The scientist has roles across all three of AirFire’s problem areas: air quality, meteorology, and climate. Air Quality: The scientist helps lead advancements in atmospheric/air quality modeling, including acquisition and implementation of remotely-sensed data into models. The scientist has a primary role in assessing new satellite products for their utility towards the smoke modeling frameworks. The scientist is expected to participate in and potentially lead field campaigns focused on wildland fire smoke. Meteorology: The scientist works to understand the coupled dynamics of fire-atmosphere and fire-atmosphere-smoke interactions including how these dynamics affect fire behavior and consumption and lead to the development of fire plumes that loft emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally, the scientist works to understand how advances in meteorological ensemble modeling can be applied to fire and smoke and how to codify this knowledge within numeric models and tools. Climate: The scientist, as one of the lead modelers, will assist with development of improved modeling strategies to quantify the above issues and the uncertainty surrounding them in future climate projections.
 
The scientist is expected to work nationally and to collaborate with the broader scientific community to create specific projects that can advance these goals. The scientist is also expected to engage directly with the management community including land managers, fire managers, and air quality regulators, and to support training of managers in areas related to their individual areas of expertise.
 
Location: Seattle and its surrounding areas are the major population center for Washington State. It is home to a number of research institutions and universities including the University of Washington, and numerous technical and environmental companies and non-profits. It is an innovative, highly-educated city featuring outstanding schools, diverse cultural centers, many outdoor activities, a thriving arts community, acclaimed restaurants, and a temperate climate. Seattle is served by both the SeaTac International Airport and the Paine Field Regional Airport as well as by train, bus, and ferry services.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have:

A formal education or experience in forestry or a related natural resource profession with an emphasis in forest entomology or pathology is preferred. Experience may be substituted for education and experience if that experience has prepared the candidate to successfully carry out the duties of this position.

Knowledge of:

• dendrology;
• arboriculture;
• biology;
• biometrics and botany;
• forest ecology, mensuration;
• forest entomology and forest pathology;
• geographic information systems (ArcGIS);
• horticulture, hydrology, plant physiology, and silviculture;
• range and timber management;
• state and federal laws regulating the use of pesticides;
• forest fire management, forest insects and diseases, tree biology, forest economics, forest planning;
• project design and management, urban forestry, agroforestry, and forest certification programs.

The Xi Lab at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, is recruiting 2 highly motivated M.S. student to join the lab as Research Assistants (RAs) starting spring or summer in 2020. Those positions are provided 2 years graduate research assistantships supported by USDA Forest Service Grants.

The Xi lab’s research has been focusing on the impact of forest disturbance (drought, fires and climate change), landscape modeling, geo-spatial analysis, and forest sustainable management. The students will be expected to conduct his/her thesis research broadly addressing forest biomass/carbon dynamics, fire and drought impacts and sustainable management of forests under climate change in east Texas and north California. The students will be expected to make use of forest landscape models, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data and related geo-spatial climate and soil data for his/her project and the results of the research could support the sustainable management of the forests ecosystems in the regions. Research topics identified as particularly relevant include (1) forest productivity and biomass/carbon dynamics, (2) wildfire effects, (3) insect pest outbreaks, (4) drought impacts (5) climate change, and (6) forest resilience and sustainability.

We seek a sincere, motivated, and creative individual to apply for an exciting PhD assistantship in Forest Ecosystem Dynamics at Washington State University. The successful candidate will work with Dr. Arjan Meddens to examine the spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystem dynamics across the western United States. You will work on highly relevant research which aims to improve ecosystem resilience to future disturbances across the larger landscape under rapidly changing climate conditions. Research topics of interest include: (1) the dynamics of fire refugia and utilization of fire refugia by plant or animal species, (2) spatial and temporal patterns of bark beetle outbreaks, and/or (3) the utilization of high-resolution (UAV) lidar applications for forest measurements. A genuine interest in teaching is required and an interest in natural resource management applications is highly desired. Two-year RA funding is available with more funding possible in year 3 and 4 of the Ph.D. The successful candidate will be housed in the School of the Environment at Washington State University, which has great collaborative faculty with expertise in both the social and biophysical sciences.

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.

The purpose of this position  is to carry out technical forestry tasks associated with unit goals, goals which contribute to the mission of the Oregon Department of Forestry, as assigned by the Reforestation Unit Forester. Because the Department's highest priority work is a forest fire emergency, this position may be utilized during those emergencies to provide assistance in a variety of ways.

We are seeking a motivated and independent postdoc to advance the state of the art in remote sensing and geospatial data integration in the field of ecosystem ecology. The successful candidate will work with the Landsat and Sentinel archive in conjunction with very high resolution drone acquired imagery to investigate how vegetation and topography govern microclimatic variability in post-wildfire landscapes. The objective of this project is to quantify influences on post-disturbance microclimatic variability and its effects on tree seedling survival.  The Earth Systems Ecology Lab (www.hurteaulab.org) is an interdisciplinary group of ecosystem ecologists in the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico.  We work collaboratively to tackle a range of question related to global change and forest ecosystems.

The goal of the Peace Corps Senegal Agroforestry Project is to help individuals and communities to improve the management of natural resources and the environment, ensuring food security in a healthier environment.

To this effect, Volunteers will work to:

• Increase the knowledge and appreciation of environmental issues in youth and adults.
• Increase the capacity of communities to plant and care for trees in order to increase access to nutritious foods, generate income, and restore and protect land.
• Increase the capacity of communities to manage natural resources and the environment in sustainable, healthy, and productive ways.

Two positions are available:

Forestry and Environment Change Agent

Forestry and Environment Specialist

In August the Environmental Protection Agency released guidance on documenting particulate matter or ozone events influenced by prescribed fire or wildland fire. 

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.

If you manage prescribed burns on Longleaf Pine units, we would appreciate your insights into the factors that influence burning practices.

We, myself and colleagues at the University of South Carolina, will use your responses to better understand the combinations of decision-making criteria and constraints to the use of prescribed burning in LLP management and concerns about future pressures on the use of fire across the LLP range. We will share the report with the Southern Fire Exchange, Tall Timbers Research Center, SERPASS and others interested in forest management. This survey is less than 10 minutes long and all responses are anonymous.