Research Summaries and Science Delivery Resources
The Rocky Mountain Research Station regularly publishes a variety of science delivery products and research summaries on topics especially relevant to land and fire managers. The following resources feature research from the Fire, Fuel, and Smoke science program and/or Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory.
Explore the full collection of Rocky Mountain Research Station Science You Can Use publications here.
Fact Sheets
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Fact Sheet
https://research.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/understory/science-supports-fire-management-two-pager -
Fact Sheet
https://research.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/understory/science-supporting-fire-management -
Fact Sheet
https://research.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/understory/forsys-planning-system-glance -
Fact Sheet
https://research.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/understory/treemap-glance -
Fact Sheet
https://research.fs.usda.gov/rmrs/understory/riskmonitor-glance -
Fact Sheet
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/understory/fire-effects-information-system-glance
Fire Behavior Science You Can Use
- 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
- Patrick Freeborn, W. Matt Jolly. 2022. Nighttime fire activity is on the rise in the United States: Posing greater risks to firefighters and communities
Fire Effects Science You Can Use
- Jay Thomas, Alina Cansler, Sharon M. Hood. 2025. Trees in distress: Prefire drought increases postfire mortality
- Heather Leach, Robin J. Innes. 2025. Birds of a feather benefit from fire together: How prescribed burning can benefit ground-nesting birds
- Kristin L. Zouhar, Ilana Abrahamson. 2025. A panoramic picture of fires in ponderosa pine ecosystems
- Heather Leach, Robin J. Innes. 2024. When more blackberries is a bad thing: Invasive plant management support
- Heather Leach, Mary Lata, Kristin L. Zouhar, Heather Leach. 2024. Prickly questions: What is fire’s place in the Sonoran desert scrub community?
- Sylvia Kantor, Kimberley T. Davis, Jose Iniguez, Sean A. Parks, Kyle Rodman. 2024. Fire refugia: Predicting locations of forest resistance and recruitment in a fire prone world
Fire Management Science You Can Use
- Rebecca Jones, Jason M. Forthofer, Natalie S. Wagenbrenner. 2024. Fire Weather Alert System Mobile App (FWAS): Realtime data could save lives on the fireline
- Dan M. Jimenez. 2023. The Safe Separation Distance Evaluator: Is my safety zone big enough?
- Karin Riley, Christopher D. O'Connor. 2023. Heads up in a dead forest: Using the Snag Hazard map to support safety and strategic planning for fire responders
- Natalie S. Wagenbrenner. 2021. Microscale wind modeling: WindNinja for fire management
- W. Matt Jolly. 2020. The Wildfire SAFE app: Delivering real-time data to improve wildfire management
Fire Risk Science You Can Use
- 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
- Greg Dillon. 2020. A new community-based tool to assess wildfire risk
Forest Management and Fuels Science You Can Use
- Sylvia Kantor, Michael A. Battaglia, Wade Tinkham, Kimberley T. Davis, Russell A. Parsons, James Menakis, Chad M. Hoffman, Justin Ziegler. 2026. Restore ponderosa forests - and reduce fire risk? Study shows the path forward
- Sharon M. Hood. 2025. Fuel treatments in whitebark pine forests: Limiting whitebark pine mortality during burning
- Adrienne Bernhard, Sharon M. Hood, Charlotte Reed. 2024. Trees dying, dangers rising: Major tree mortality events rapidly increase forest fuels and snag hazards
- Annabelle Moore, Inga La Puma, Greg Dillon, Tobin Smail, Karen G. Schleeweis, Chris Toney, Jim Menakis, Henry Bastian, Josh Picotte, Daryn Dockter, Brian Tolk. 2024. Twenty years of science and management with LANDFIRE
- Sharon M. Hood. 2023. Radial thinning: It may not be as beneficial as hoped
- Josh McDaniel, Anna W. Schoettle, Barbara J. Bentz, Sara A. Goeking, Robert E. Keane, Melissa Jenkins, Diana Tomback. 2023. Not on our watch: Scientists and managers rush to save high-elevation, five-needle pines
- Chris M. Stalling, Robert E. Keane. 2021. Simple, fast, and cheap: A new photoload sequence building technique for fuel load estimates
- Karin Riley. 2021. Seeing the forest AND the trees: TreeMap provides a tree-level forest model
- Andrea Watts, Sharon M. Hood, Sheri Smith, Renate Bush, Maurice Huynh. 2019. Is that tree dead? Quantifying fire-killed trees to inform salvage and forest management
Post-fire Recovery Science You Can Use
- Paul Meznarich, Kim Davis, Zack Holden. 2026. Map in a snap: Regenmapper quickly identifies, prioritizes replanting locations
- Hannah Farrell, Paula J. Fornwalt, Kyle Rodman, Laura Marshall, Kimberley T. Davis, Zachary Holden. 2025. Survive and thrive: Identifying factors that enhance the growth and survival of tree seedlings planted after wildfire
Prescribed Fire and Fuel Treatments Science You Can Use
- Sylvia Kantor, Jeanne C. Chambers, Duncan Leao, Jessica L. Brown, Brice Hanberry, Matt C. Reeves, Karen C. Short, Claire Tortorelli, Alexandra K. Urza. 2025. Right fuel treatment, right place: Managing wildfire in sagebrush country
- Nehalem C. Clark, Signe Leirfallom, Hannah Farrell, Michael A. Battaglia, Brandon M. Collins, Justin S. Crotteau, Kimberley T. Davis, Paula J. Fornwalt, Paul F. Hessburg, Sharon M. Hood, Eric E. Knapp, W. Keith Moser, Jose Negron. 2024. What do we know about forest treatments and fire? Photos and long-term studies help us understand
- Lou Dzierzak, Sharon M. Hood, Justin S. Crotteau, Cory Cleveland. 2024. The alchemy of addition: Cutting and burning together most effective in reducing fuels and improving forest resilience
- Annabelle Moore, Kimberley T. Davis, Jamie Peeler, Joseph Fargione. 2024. Burning questions answered: New review examines 30 years of fuel treatment effects on wildfire severity
- Sharon M. Hood. 2023. How effective are landscape scale fuel treatments?
- Terrie B. Jain, Sharon M. Hood, Shawn McKinney, Jeffrey E. Ott, Alexandra K. Urza, Morgan Varner, Ilana Abrahamson, Nathaniel Anderson, Michael A. Battaglia, Jeanne C. Chambers, Brice Hanberry, Francis F. Kilkenny, Joseph O’Brien. 2023. Can fuel treatments change how a wildfire burns across a landscape?
- 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
- Sharon M. Hood. 2021. Seeing the big picture: Long term studies at Lick Creek demonstrate how fuel treatments impact a changing forest
Smoke Science You Can Use
- Signe Leirfallom, Shawn P. Urbanski. 2025. Clearing the air: The truth about smoldering duff
- Nehalem C. Clark, Shawn P. Urbanski, Scott Goodrick. 2024. Smoke 101 and differences between wildfire and prescribed fire smoke in the western U.S.
- Shawn P. Urbanski, Emily N. Lincoln. 2023. Smoke: How new emissions data could enable more prescribed fire
- Josh McDaniel, Shawn P. Urbanski, Duncan C. Lutes, Leland Tarnay, Scott Williams. 2020. Know your smoke: Updated smoke modeling tool estimates higher particulate emissions from wildfire than previously predicted
Last updated July 20, 2026