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Mark A. Finney, PhD

Mark A. Finney, PhD

Research Forester

Rocky Mountain Research Station

mark.finney@usda.gov

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Treesearch Publications

Mark A. Finney, Ethan J. Levin, Nathan P. Kahla, Ian J. Grob, Isaac C. Grenfell. 2026. Flame spread along horizontal fuel particles in the wind
Megan R. Dolman, Karen C. Short, Jodi S. Brandt, Mark A. Finney, T. Trevor Caughlin, Megan E. Cattau. 2026. Recreation and firearms use as an emerging wildfire risk on western United States National Conservation Lands
Xingyu Ren, Evan T. Sluder, Michael V Heck, Torben Grumstrup, Mark A. Finney, Simo A. Makiharju, Michael J. Gollner. 2025. Surface flow characterization of fires under the combined effect of slope and wind
Mark A. Finney, Scott Zimmer, Karin Riley, Isaac C. Grenfell. 2025. A generalized wildfire containment algorithm
Mohamed Mohsen Ahmed, Hazem M. Al-Bulqini, Arnaud Trouve, Jason M. Forthofer, Mark A. Finney. 2024. Simulation of complete or incomplete biomass degradation under parameterized wildland fire spread conditions
Sara H. Brown, Dave E. Calkin, Nehalem C. Clark, Natalie A. Cooper, Greg Dillon, Mark A. Finney, Signe Leirfallom, Christopher D. O'Connor, Tonja Opperman. 2024. Wildfire risk 101
Luca Carmignani, Mohammadhadi Hajilou, Jeanette Cobian-Iniguez, Mark A. Finney, Scott L. Stephens. 2024. Smoldering of wood: Effects of wind and fuel geometry
Kimiko Barrett, Dave E. Calkin, Jack D. Cohen, Mark A. Finney, Stephen Pyne, Stephen Quarles. 2024. Redefining the urban wildfire problem in the West
Mohamed Mohsen Ahmed, Arnaud Trouvé, Jason M. Forthofer, Mark A. Finney. 2024. Simulations of flaming combustion and flaming-to-smoldering transition in wildland fire spread at flame scale
Mark A. Finney, Torben Grumstrup. 2023. Effect of flame zone depth on the correlation of flame length with fireline intensity
Dave E. Calkin, Kimiko Barrett, Jack D. Cohen, Mark A. Finney, Stephen J. Pyne, Stephen L. Quarles. 2023. Wildland-urban fire disasters aren’t actually a wildfire problem
Sylvia Kantor, Mark A. Finney, Sara S. McAllister, Torben Grumstrup, Jason M. Forthofer, Susan Prichard, Alistair Smith. 2023. Understanding wildfire as a dynamic system: A new comprehensive book on wildland fire behavior
Josh McDaniel, Dave E. Calkin, Justin S. Crotteau, Mark A. Finney, Sam Larkin, Michael Johnston, Serra J. Hoagland, Dylan Johnson, Sarah McCaffrey, John R. Squires, Shawn P. Urbanski. 2022. Getting more fire on the ground: Landscape-scale prescribed burning supported by science
Karin Riley, Isaac C. Grenfell, John D. Shaw, Mark A. Finney. 2022. TreeMap 2016 dataset generates CONUS-wide maps of forest characteristics including live basal area, aboveground carbon, and number of trees per acre
Scott L. Stephens, Alexis A. Bernal, Brandon M. Collins, Mark A. Finney, Chris Lautenberger, David Saah. 2022. Mass fire behavior created by extensive tree mortality and high tree density not predicted by operational fire behavior models in the southern Sierra Nevada
Gavin M. Jones, Emily K. Vraga, Paul F. Hessburg, Matthew D. Hurteau, Craig D. Allen, Robert E. Keane, Thomas Spies, Malcolm P. North, Brandon M. Collins, Mark A. Finney, Jamie Lydersen, A. Leroy. Westerling. 2022. Counteracting wildfire misinformation
Jeanette Cobian-Iniguez, Franz Richter, Luca Camignani, Christina Liveretou, Hanyu Xiong, Scott Stephens, Mark A. Finney, Michael Gollner, Carlos Fernandez-Pello. 2022. Wind effects on smoldering behavior of simulated wildland fuels
Karen C. Short, Mark A. Finney. 2022. Agency records of wildfires caused by firearms use in the United States
Mark A. Finney. 2021. The wildland fire system and challenges for engineering
Adnan Darwish Ahmad, Ahmad M. Abubaker, Ahmad Salaimeh, Nelson K. Akafuah, Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Forthofer, Kozo Saito. 2021. Ignition and burning mechanisms of live spruce needles
Karin Riley, Isaac C. Grenfell, Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Wiener. 2021. TreeMap, a tree-level model of conterminous US forests circa 2014 produced by imputation of FIA plot data
Mark A. Finney, Torben Grumstrup, Isaac C. Grenfell. 2020. Flame characteristics adjacent to a stationary line fire
Marc-Andre Parisien, Alan Ager, Ana M. Barros, Denyse Dawe, Sandy Erni, Mark A. Finney, Charles W. McHugh, Carol L. Miller, Sean A. Parks, Karin Riley, Karen C. Short, Christopher A. Stockdale, Xianli Wang, Ellen Whitman. 2020. Commentary on the article “Burn probability simulation and subsequent wildland fire activity in Alberta, Canada - Implications for risk assessment and strategic planning” by J. L. Beverly and N. McLoughlin
Mark A. Finney, C. Todd Smith, Trevor B. Maynard. 2019. Experiments on wildfire ignition by exploding targets
Colin H. Miller, Wei Tang, Evan Sluder, Mark A. Finney, Sara S. McAllister, Jason M. Forthofer, Michael J. Gollner. 2018. Boundary layer instabilities in mixed convection and diffusion flames with an unheated starting length
Nikolay Gustenyov, Nelson K. Akafuah, Ahmad Salaimeh, Mark A. Finney, Sara S. McAllister, Kozo Saito. 2018. Scaling nonreactive cross flow over a heated plate to simulate forest fires
Scott L Stephens, Brandon M. Collins, Christopher J. Fettig, Mark A. Finney, Chad M Hoffman, Eric E. Knapp, Malcolm P. North, Hugh Safford, Rebecca B Wayman. 2018. Drought, tree mortality, and wildfire in forests adapted to frequent fire
Torben Grumstrup, Sara S. McAllister, Mark A. Finney. 2017. Qualitative flow visualization of flame attachment on slopes
William J. Massman, Jason M. Forthofer, Mark A. Finney. 2017. An improved canopy wind model for predicting wind adjustment factors and wildland fire behavior
Olga M. Lozano, Michele Salis, Alan Ager, Bachisio Arca, Fermin J. Alcasena, Antonio T. Monteiro, Mark A. Finney, Liliana Del Giudice, Enrico Scoccimarro, Donatella Spano. 2016. Assessing climate change impacts on wildfire exposure in Mediterranean areas
Brian Cooke, William J. Elliot, Mary Ellen Miller, Mark A. Finney, Matthew P. Thompson. 2016. Protecting the source: Tools to evaluate fuel treatment cost vs. water quality protection
Karin Riley, Isaac C. Grenfell, Mark A. Finney. 2016. Mapping forest vegetation for the western United States using modified random forests imputation of FIA forest plots
Kostas Kalabokidis, Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney, Nikos Athanasis, Palaiologos Palaiologou, Christos Vasilakos. 2016. AEGIS: a wildfire prevention and management information system
Sara S. McAllister, Mark A. Finney. 2016. The effect of wind on burning rate of wood cribs
Sara S. McAllister, Mark A. Finney. 2016. Burning rates of wood cribs with implications for wildland fires
Paul A. Werth, Brian Potter, Martin E. Alexander, Craig B. Clements, Miguel G. Cruz, Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Forthofer, Scott Goodrick, Chad Hoffman, W. Matt Jolly, Sara S. McAllister, Roger D. Ottmar, Russell A. Parsons. 2016. Synthesis of knowledge of extreme fire behavior: volume 2 for fire behavior specialists, researchers, and meteorologists
Matthew P. Thompson, Jessica R. Haas, Mark A. Finney, Dave E. Calkin, Michael Hand, Mark J. Browne, Martin Halek, Karen C. Short, Isaac C. Grenfell. 2015. Development and application of a probabilistic method for wildfire suppression cost modeling
Karin Riley, Isaac C. Grenfell, Mark A. Finney. 2015. Seeing the forest for the trees: utilizing modified random forests imputation of forest plot data for landscape-level analyses
Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen, Jason M. Forthofer, Sara S. McAllister, Michael J. Gollner, Daniel J. Gorham, Kozo Saito, Nelson K. Akafuah, Brittany A. Adam, Justin D. English. 2015. Role of buoyant flame dynamics in wildfire spread
Michele Salis, Alan Ager, Fermin J. Alcasena, Bachisio Arca, Mark A. Finney, Grazia Pellizzaro, Donatella Spano. 2015. Analyzing seasonal patterns of wildfire exposure factors in Sardinia, Italy
Dave E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson, Mark A. Finney. 2015. Negative consequences of positive feedbacks in US wildfire management
Jason M. Forthofer, Bret W. Butler, Charles W. McHugh, Mark A. Finney, Larry S. Bradshaw, Richard D. Stratton, Kyle S. Shannon, Natalie S. Wagenbrenner. 2014. A comparison of three approaches for simulating fine-scale surface winds in support of wildland fire management. Part II. An exploratory study of the effect of simulated winds on fire growth simulations
Karin Riley, Isaac C. Grenfell, Mark A. Finney, Nicholas L. Crookston. 2014. Utilizing random forests imputation of forest plot data for landscape-level wildfire analyses
Alan Ager, Michelle A. Day, Mark A. Finney, Ken Vance-Borland, Nicole M. Vaillant. 2014. Analyzing the transmission of wildfire exposure on a fire-prone landscape in Oregon, USA
Kostas Kalabokidis, Palaiologos Palaiologou, Mark A. Finney. 2014. Fire behavior simulation in Mediterranean forests using the minimum travel time algorithm
J. M. Canfield, R. R. Linn, J. A. Sauer, Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Forthofer. 2014. A numerical investigation of the interplay between fireline length, geometry, and rate of spread
Alan Ager, Michelle A. Day, Charles W. McHugh, Karen C. Short, Julie Gilbertson-Day, Mark A. Finney, Dave E. Calkin. 2014. Wildfire exposure and fuel management on western US national forests
Dave E. Calkin, Jack D. Cohen, Mark A. Finney, Matthew P. Thompson. 2014. How risk management can prevent future wildfire disasters in the wildland-urban interface
Alan Ager, Michelle Buonopane, Allison Reger, Mark A. Finney. 2013. Wildfire exposure analysis on the National Forests in the Pacific Northwest, USA
Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Forthofer, Isaac C. Grenfell, Brittany A. Adam, Nelson K. Akafuah, Kozo Saito. 2013. A study of flame spread in engineered cardboard fuelbeds: Part I: Correlations and observations
Brittany A. Adam, Nelson K. Akafuah, Mark A. Finney, Jason M. Forthofer, Kozo Saito. 2013. A study of flame spread in engineered cardboard fuelbeds: Part II: Scaling law approach
Trevor Maynard, Mark A. Finney, Sara S. McAllister, Ian Grob. 2013. Ignition potential of rifle bullets
S. McAllister, Mark A. Finney. 2013. Effect of crib dimensions on burning rate
Mark A. Finney, Trevor B. Maynard, Sara S. McAllister, Ian J. Grob. 2013. A study of ignition by rifle bullets
Matthew P. Thompson, Dave E. Calkin, Mark A. Finney, Krista Gebert, Michael Hand. 2013. A risk-based approach to wildland fire budgetary planning
Alan Ager, Michelle Buonopane, Allison Reger, Mark A. Finney. 2012. Wildfire exposure to analysis on the national forests in the Pacific Northwest, USA
Karl Malcolm, Matthew P. Thompson, Dave E. Calkin, Mark A. Finney, Alan Ager. 2012. Wildfire triage: Targeting mitigation based on social, economic, and ecological values
Michele Salis, Alan Ager, Bachisio Arca, Mark A. Finney, Valentina Bacciu, Pierpaolo Duce, Donatella Spano. 2012. Assessing exposure of human and ecological values to wildfire in Sardinia, Italy
Matthew P. Thompson, Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney, Dave E. Calkin, Nicole M. Vaillant. 2012. The science and opportunity of wildfire risk assessment (Chapter 6)
M. A. Cochrane, C. J. Moran, M. C. Wimberly, A. D. Baer, Mark A. Finney, K. L. Beckendorf, J. Eidenshink, Z. Zhu. 2012. Estimation of wildfire size and risk changes due to fuels treatments
Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen, Sara S. McAllister, W. Matt Jolly. 2012. On the need for a theory of wildland fire spread
Alan Ager, Nicole M. Vaillant, Mark A. Finney, Haiganoush K. Preisler. 2012. Analyzing wildfire exposure and source–sink relationships on a fire prone forest landscape
Sara S. McAllister, Isaac C. Grenfell, A. Hadlow, W. Matt Jolly, Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen. 2012. Piloted ignition of live forest fuels
Russell T. Graham, Mark A. Finney, Chuck McHugh, Jack D. Cohen, Dave E. Calkin, Rick Stratton, Larry S. Bradshaw, Ned Nikolov. 2012. Fourmile Canyon Fire Findings
Dave E. Calkin, Mark A. Finney, Alan Ager, Matthew P. Thompson, Krista Gebert. 2011. Progress towards and barriers to implementation of a risk framework for US federal wildland fire policy and decision making
Alan Ager, Nicole M. Vaillant, Mark A. Finney. 2011. Integrating fire behavior models and geospatial analysis for wildland fire risk assessment and fuel management planning
Dave E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson, Mark A. Finney, Kevin D. Hyde. 2011. A real-time risk assessment tool supporting wildland fire decisionmaking
Sara S. McAllister, Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen. 2011. Critical mass flux for flaming ignition of wood as a function of external radiant heat flux and moisture content
Paul A. Werth, Brian Potter, Craig B. Clements, Mark A. Finney, Scott Goodrick, Martin E. Alexander, Miguel G. Cruz, Jason M. Forthofer, Sara S. McAllister. 2011. Synthesis of knowledge of extreme fire behavior: volume I for fire managers
Mark A. Finney, Isaac C. Grenfell, Charles W. McHugh, Robert C. Seli, Diane L. Trethewey, Richard D. Stratton, Stuart Brittain. 2011. A method for ensemble wildland fire simulation
Mark A. Finney, Charles W. McHugh, Isaac C. Grenfell, Karin Riley, Karen C. Short. 2011. A simulation of probabilistic wildfire risk components for the continental United States
Mark A. Finney, Sara S. McAllister. 2011. A review of fire interactions and mass fires
Erin Noonan-Wright, Tonja S. Opperman, Mark A. Finney, Tom Zimmerman, Robert C. Seli, Lisa M. Elenz, Dave E. Calkin, John R. Fiedler. 2011. Developing the U.S. Wildland Fire Decision Support System
David E. Calkin, Alan Ager, Matthew P. Thompson, Mark A. Finney, Danny C. Lee, Thomas M. Quigley, Charles W. McHugh, Karin Riley, Julie Gilbertson-Day. 2011. A comparative risk assessment framework for wildland fire management: the 2010 cohesive strategy science report
Matthew P. Thompson, Dave E. Calkin, Mark A. Finney, Alan Ager, Julie Gilbertson-Day. 2011. Integrated national-scale assessment of wildfire risk to human and ecological values
Charles W. McHugh, Mark A. Finney, Larry S. Bradshaw. 2010. An assessment of climate and fire danger rating in the Northern Rockies during the 1910 fire season
Mark A. Finney, Dan M. Jimenez, Jack D. Cohen, Isaac C. Grenfell, Cyle E. Wold. 2010. Structure of diffusion flames from a vertical burner
Isaac C. Grenfell, Mark A. Finney, W. Matt Jolly. 2010. Simulating spatial and temporally related fire weather
Dan M. Jimenez, Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen. 2010. Design and construction of gas-fed burners for laboratory studies of flame structure
W. Matt Jolly, Sara McAllister, Mark A. Finney, Ann Hadlow. 2010. Time to ignition is influenced by both moisture content and soluble carbohydrates in live Douglas fir and Lodgepole pine needles
David O. Lignell, Elizabeth I. Monson, Mark A. Finney. 2010. Modeling flame structure in wildland fires using the one-dimensional turbulence model
Sara McAllister, Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen. 2010. Critical mass flux for flaming ignition of dead, dry wood as a function of external radiant heat flux and oxidizer flow velocity
Bachisio Arca, Grazia Pellizzaro, Pierpaolo Duce, Michele Salis, Valentina Bacciu, Donatella Spano, Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney. 2010. Climate change impact on fire probability and severity in Mediterranean areas
Dave E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson, Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney. 2010. Barriers to implementation of risk management for federal wildland fire management agencies in the United States
Jack D. Cohen, Mark A. Finney. 2010. An examination of fuel particle heating during fire spread
Mark A. Finney, Charles W. McHugh, Isaac Grenfell, Karin Riley. 2010. Continental-scale simulation of burn probabilities, flame lengths, and fire size distribution for the United States
Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney, A. McMahan, J. Carthcart. 2010. Measuring the effect of fuel treatments on forest carbon using landscape risk analysis
Jim Cathcart, Alan Ager, Andrew McMahan, Mark A. Finney, Brian Watt. 2010. Carbon benefits from fuel treatments
Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen, Isaac C. Grenfell, Kara Yedinak. 2010. An examination of fire spread thresholds in discontinuous fuel beds
Sara McAllister, Mark A. Finney, Jack D. Cohen. 2010. Critical mass flux for flaming ignition of dead, dry wood as a function of exernal radiant heat flux
Marc-Andre Parisien, Carol L. Miller, Alan A. Ager, Mark A. Finney. 2010. Use of artificial landscapes to isolate controls on burn probability
Kara Yedinak, Jack D. Cohen, Jason M. Forthofer, Mark A. Finney. 2010. An examination of flame shape related to convection heat transfer in deep-fuel beds
Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney. 2009. Application of wildfire simulation models for risk analysis
Young-Hwan Kim, Pete Bettinger, Mark A. Finney. 2009. Spatial optimization of the pattern of fuel management activities and subsequent effects on simulated wildfires
Mark A. Finney, Isaac C. Grenfell, Charles W. McHugh. 2009. Modeling containment of large wildfires using generalized linear mixed-model analysis
David V. Haston, Mark A. Finney, Andy Horcher, Philip A. Yates, Kahlil Detrich. 2009. Ignition potential of muzzle-loading firearms: An exploratory investigation
Maureen C. Kennedy, E. David Ford, Peter Singleton, Mark A. Finney, James K. Agee. 2008. Informed multi-objective decision-making in environmental management using Pareto optimality
Mark A. Finney, Rob C. Seli, Charles W. McHugh, Alan A. Ager, Bernhard Bahro, James K. Agee. 2008. Simulation of long-term landscape-level fuel treatment effects on large wildfires
Robert C. Seli, Alan A. Ager, Nicholas L. Crookston, Mark A. Finney, Berni Bahro, James K. Agee, Charles W. McHugh. 2008. Incorporating landscape fuel treatment modeling into the Forest Vegetation Simulator
Pat L. Andrews, Mark A. Finney, Mark Fischetti. 2007. Predicting wildfires
Bret W. Butler, Mark A. Finney, Larry S. Bradshaw, Jason M. Forthofer, Chuck McHugh, Rick Stratton, Dan M. Jimenez. 2006. WindWizard: A New Tool for Fire Management Decision Support
Mark A. Finney. 2006. An Overview of FlamMap Fire Modeling Capabilities
Mark A. Finney, Rob C. Seli, Charles W. McHugh, Alan A. Ager, Berni Bahro, James K. Agee. 2006. Simulation of Long-Term Landscape-Level Fuel Treatment Effects on Large Wildfires
Alan Ager, Mark A. Finney, Andrew McMahan. 2006. A wildfire risk modeling system for evaluating landscape fuel treatment strategies
Tonja Opperman, Jim Gould, Mark A. Finney, Cordy Tymstra. 2006. Applying fire spread simulators in New Zealand and Australia: Results from an international seminar
Mark A. Finney. 2006. A computational method for optimizing fuel treatment locations
Mark A. Finney. 2005. The challenge of quantitative risk analysis for wildland fire
Charles W. McHugh, Mark A. Finney. 2003. Fire behavior, fuel treatments, and fire suppression on the Hayman Fire - Part 4: Relation of roads to burn severity
Mark A. Finney, Charles W. McHugh, Roberta Bartlette, Kelly Close, Paul Langowski. 2003. Fire behavior, fuel treatments, and fire suppression on the Hayman Fire - Part 2: Description and interpretations of fire behavior
Mark A. Finney, Roberta Bartlette, Larry S. Bradshaw, Kelly Close, Brandon M. Collins, Paul Gleason, Wei Min Hao, Paul Langowski, John McGinely, Charles W. McHugh, Erik Martinson, Phillip N. Omi, Wayne Shepperd, Karl Zeller. 2003. Fire behavior, fuel treatments, and fire suppression on the Hayman Fire
James K. Agee, Bernie Bahro, Mark A. Finney, Philip N. Omi, David B. Sapsis, Carl N. Skinner, Jan W. van Wagtendonk, C. Phillip Weatherspoon. 2000. The use of shaded fuelbreaks in landscape fire management
Robert E. Keane, Janice L. Garner, Kirsten Schmidt, Donald G. Long, James Menakis, Mark A. Finney. 1998. Development of input data layers for the FARSITE fire growth model for the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Complex, USA
Mark A. Finney. 1998. FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator-model development and evaluation
Mark A. Finney. 1995. FARSITE: a fire area simulator for fire managers
Robert E. Martin, Mark A. Finney, Domingo M. Molina, David B. Sapsis, Scott L. Stephens, Joe H. Scott, David R. Weise. 1991. Dimensional analysis of flame angles versus wind speed

Data and Tools

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, B.S., Forest Management, Fire Science, 1984
University of Washington, Seattle, M.S., Fire Ecology, 1986
University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., Wildland Fire Science, 1991

Last updated March 10, 2026

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