Hazard and Risk 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.

USGS Core Science Systems and Office of Enterprise Information leadership is excited to announce the FY20 USGS Community for Data Integration (CDI) Request for Proposals.

All interested scientists and staff are urged to consider participating in this opportunity to engage with a dynamic team that spans all mission areas and regions. With more than 1300 members, a major program goal is to support the advancement of USGS science through technical innovation and data integration. This year, CDI is encouraging proposals that produce building blocks for an Integrated Predictive Science Capacity with the following themes:

1. Projects that address one of the major components of the USGS Director’s vision to:
   a. Integrate USGS data into a comprehensive data lake;
   b. Develop, test, and apply an integrated predictive science capability (EarthMAP) that incorporates data, interpretations, and knowledge spanning discipline boundaries, geographies, and sectors;
   c. Provide actionable intelligence that can be used via dashboards and applications to enhance situational awareness, provide new operational capabilities, and inform decision making, using technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high performance computing.
2. Tools and methods supporting wildland fire and water prediction, aligned with the EarthMAP (Earth Monitoring, Analyses, and Projections) vision (Jenni et al., 2018).
3. Producing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data and tools for Integrated Predictive Science Capacity (see the Enabling FAIR Data site).
4. Reusing or repurposing modular tools such as those that were developed by previous CDI projects, including the CDI Risk Map

One-page statements of interest are invited for submission and are due by Friday, October 11, 2019 at 5 pm ET.

Refer to the Related Event link to the right (or below) regarding a webinar that will provide more information about the proposal process.
 

The Forest Steward's Guild is looking to survey organizations that either currently practice prescribed fire or would like to in the future. This will help better understand the insurance market across the country and work with brokers and underwriters to produce a better product. They would like as broad of a sample as possible, spanning all types of fire practitioner backgrounds in order to best understand what is needed!

How you can help: take the survey and forward it to practitioners who might want insurance to implement prescribed burns or better prescribed fire insurance coverage than they currently have.

Prescribed fire is vital to ecosystems and is becoming widely regarded as a cost-effective management tool with major benefit. However, even the most carefully planned burn comes with some risk. This is an incredibly large barrier to implementation due to the lack of high-quality liability insurance available. This problem continues to grow as more agencies pull their prescribed fire insurance plans from the market.

The Forest Steward’s Guild has struggled with this exact barrier and has uncovered some currently available options and potential long-term solutions. For more information on the background of this project and FAQs, please visit https://foreststewardsguild.org/prescribed-fire-insurance

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.