Events and News

This position is with the National Park Service, organizationally located in the Washington Support Office (WASO), Fire Management  Program Center (FPMC), Division of Fire and Aviation, Branch of Wildland Fire.

This position may be filled in Boise, ID or in Tucson, AZ.

The primary purpose of this position is to provide senior level professional wildland fire management expertise to, and management of, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center (LLC) program functions. This entails providing strategic and operational direction, fire management advice, and leadership for the LLC as well as developing, requesting, and managing the LLC budget. All activities are conducted in an interagency environment. The incumbent provides direction and maintains effective processes for gathering, verifying, and analyzing observations and information from a variety of sources to produce accurate knowledge products containing lessons learned and effective practices. The LLC Manager provides technical oversight to interagency employees and the full range of supervisory responsibilities to other NPS staff at the LLC. The incumbent oversees the management of contracts in cooperation with federal land management agency contracting officers. The LLC Center Manager participates in workshops, seminars, conferences, fire meetings, and other venues to transfer applicable lessons and effective practices. The incumbent may participate in wildland fire and all hazard response activities based on qualifications and availability.

WHRC seek a post-doctoral researcher to develop and apply remote sensing techniques related to carbon cycling in arctic and boreal environments. The research is focused on detecting landscape changes, mapping burned area, and developing statistical models of related carbon fluxes across the circumpolar zone. The successful candidate will work closely with a team of scientists and researchers at the Woods Hole Research Center as well as collaborators at other institutions to integrate field observations, develop remote sensing-based products, assimilate observations into a mechanistic ecosystem model, help build a web-based visualization platform, and engage the scientific community and other stakeholders at workshops and other venues.

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 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

The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Health and Resiliency Division is hiring a Fire Scientist position. This Fire Scientist position will serve as the agency’s fire science lead responsible for conducting scientific analysis and research in support of the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan, 10-Year Wildland Fire Protection Strategic Plan, the Forest Action Plan,  and other related plans and initiatives. This position will lead and integrate fire risk analysis and community wildfire risk reduction with landscape restoration planning. This position will serve as the agency expert in fire science independently performing original scientific research and analysis with publication of research findings in refereed publications. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with DNR scientists, US Forest Service researchers, university researchers and other partners.

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.

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.

If you are planning to burn units at least 20 acres in size during the late growing season, your smoke could help contribute to science.

Currently, a NASA DC-8 is stationed in Salina, Kansas, for the FIREX-AQ project. "Our science goals are to understand the large diversity of fires, including those that are often underrepresented -- prescribed and cropland fires (rangelands, grasslands, etc.). We want to understand and characterize the differences in emissions between large wildland and smaller fires," explained Dr. Amber J. Soja in a recent email update about the project. Soja is an Associate Research Fellow at the National Institute of Aerospace. "FIREX-AQ goals require sampling a diverse array of fires in order to best inform the science," she said.
 
That may still beg the question - won't a grassland growing season burn in the Midwest be too small? Dr. Jessica McCarty, a co-investigator at Miami University, clarified the scale of interest. "We want to fly small fires (several 20-80 acre fires) to as large as 8,000 acres (lit as 500-600 blocks)." A flight on August 21 sampled eight 40 acre cropped fields in Louisiana and Arkansas, she said. If weather conditions lead to several burns occurring nearby on the same day, the mission may may be able to pick up burns in the Corn Belt region.

NASA's Joe Atkinson posted a story about that flight on the NASA Earth Expeditions blog. Atkinson's story noted that researchers on that flight spotted and sampled a fire in northern Texas that hadn't been picked up by satellites. “This goes back to the question of, are we seeing these small fires?” asked Jim Crawford, FIREX-AQ mission scientist from NASA’s Langley Research Center.

If you are planning a burn and would like to get involved, please contact one of the regional team members:

croplands, ag lands
Jessica McCarty, Miami University - mccartjl@miamioh.edu (502) 415-1628
prescribed wildland burns:
Carol Baldwin, Kansas State University - carolbaldwin@ksu.edu (785) 532 - 0416

Air Resources Specialist (Physical Scientist)
GS-1301 -13
Bureau of Land Management
Alaska State Office
Anchorage, Alaska
 
A new air resource specialist position with the BLM in Alaska is now advertised and posted to USAjobs.gov for three weeks, August 27 to September 18.

This position will be located in the Alaska State Office, Division of Resources, in Anchorage Alaska. The employee serves in a professional capacity as a senior staff expert for air resource activities, providing advice and support to the State Directorate, Deputy State Directors and District and Field Managers. The employee is responsible for the technical adequacy of air resources program development and management, primarily for Bureau Land Use Plans and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) related impact assessments, and serves as an expert consultant in coordinating activities between other agencies, universities, and research institutions.
 
The air resources specialist supports BLM’s multiple use mission by developing and implementing air resource projects to fulfill the full suite of the BLM activities and use authorizations. In Alaska, these actions and authorizations could include, but are not limited to, energy development, subsistence, recreation, forest management, noise impacts, and smoke management. Additionally, as the only US Arctic state, air quality issues in Alaska are different from the Lower 48 and offer unique challenges.
 
BLM Alaska is looking for someone with strong experience in conducting and reviewing air dispersion modeling, as well as thorough understanding and experience of technical 'state-of-the-art' advances in air resource and noise impact management. This position will present both challenging and rewarding opportunities in the great state of Alaska!
 
Since this is the first Air Resource Specialist for BLM Alaska, the incumbent has the opportunity to develop this position and demonstrate its importance and usefulness. The demand for air expertise has been growing steadily in recent years all across the country as well as Alaska, both due to increased workloads and the diversity of air resources related issues.