Collaborative Postfire Research and Monitoring: Supporting Oregon’s Natural and Cultural Resources Recovery Task Force

A member of a Burned Area Emergency Response Team examines duff layers in an area burned by the 2020 Lionshead Fire, Oregon. USDA Forest Service photo.

Our Vision

To be recognized as a valuable resource across Oregon for shared stewardship of fire-impacted landscapes, through expanded connections, shared learning, and increased awareness of research and monitoring information and tools.

In September 2020, five megafires (larger than 100,000 acres) in western Oregon burned more than 1.2 million acres of land, destroyed upwards of 5,000 homes and businesses, and resulted in the loss of human life. These fires are now known as the 2020 Labor Day Fires. After these wildfires, and at the behest of Oregon’s governor, several state and federal agencies, along with universities, Tribes, and other organizations, formed the Oregon Post-fire Research and Monitoring Collaborative to foster awareness of each other's activities and to coordinate post-fire research and monitoring efforts.

This collaborative seeks to increase awareness among entities conducting post-fire research and monitoring in Oregon. This will facilitate efficient investment of resources and promote collaboration among various organizations responsible for fire prevention, mitigation, restoration, research, and monitoring.

Since 2021, the collaborative has developed resources, such as a geospatial catalog of postfire research and monitoring, and hosted a symposium to increase post-fire research and monitoring collaboration across the state.

The collaborative facilitates shared stewardship by increasing awareness of post-fire research and monitoring efforts by various state and federal natural resource agencies, Tribes, and organizations. It also promotes shared learning from the 2020 and subsequent fires in Oregon.

This timeline is an excerpt from a poster that provides an overview of the Oregon Postfire Research and Monitoring Collaborative, from its origins to future goals. Click on the timeline to see the full poster.

Keywords: Burned area emergency response, collaboration, erosion, fire severity, governor, hazard tree removal, Labor Day fires, mass wasting, megafire, monitoring, reforestation, restoration, salvage, sedimentation, task force, westside Cascades, westside fire, wildfire

The Postfire Research and Monitoring Team seeks to increase awareness among those conducting postfire research and monitoring in Oregon. The team has the following goals: 

• Expand networks. We are building and maintaining relationships with those who have interest and investments in stewardship and resiliency of land and water, throughout the wildland fire cycle .
• Enhance collective knowledge. We strive to share our knowledge more widely, and learn from others, including Tribal members and communities, in respectful ways. We will explore how knowledge contributed by different groups can be woven together and how it can lead to improved understanding and outcomes.
• Broaden science communication and delivery. We will support practitioners by co-developing and delivering products in digestible and accessible formats to meet practitioners' current needs.
• Facilitate efficient investment of resources. We will explore options for aligning available resources to reach research and monitoring goals. Oregon’s governor originally convened the team to address the aftermath of the fires in 2020, but we are creating resources and networks for organizations to use after future fires.

Project Deliverables

Postfire Research and Monitoring Catalog

The Postfire Catalog of Research and Monitoring Projects After the 2020 Labor Day Fires.

We are developing a dynamic catalog of postfire research and monitoring activities in Oregon since the historic Labor Day fires of 2020. The catalog includes research and monitoring activities across all relevant disciplines and will increase understanding of resource conditions, fire impacts, and recovery efforts. The catalog allows practitioners to easily determine:

• Where scientific information is being collected.
• Who is collecting it.
• The indicators being measured.

The catalog will be updated each year to reflect current postfire-related work for future fire seasons.

Other resources related to the catalog include:

• A user’s guide (PDF, 1.7 Mb)
• Downloadable data and interactive map 

Postfire Research and Monitoring Playbook 

The Oregon Postfire Research and Monitoring Playbook provides guidance for collaboration. It identifies people within each organization who are doing postfire research and monitoring work. It outlines current postfire research, the monitoring capacity of each organization, and identifies resources within each organization that other groups could leverage.

By compiling this information, we can identify critical knowledge and resource gaps in current postfire research and monitoring efforts and can create partnerships to address the limitations of individual organizations.

Postfire Research and Monitoring Symposium

We hosted a symposium at Oregon State University on February 7th and 8th, 2023. The symposium focused on the work scientists have done following the 2020 fires in western Oregon and provided an opportunity for natural resource professionals, science providers, policymakers, and others interested in this topic to make connections with one another.

The agenda provided opportunities for scientists to share what they are learning or hoping to learn from recent westside fires in Oregon. It also provided an opportunity for practitioners and policymakers to discuss how new discoveries can inform future decision making. The event was a step toward promoting collaboration among institutions involved in postfire research and monitoring.

To learn more, view presentation recordings and slides.

The symposium summary report is also available.