Photo Credit

Forest Service photo

Members of the USFS Roosevelt Hotshot Crew taking a look, Roosevelt NF, 2013.

Human Dimensions Research at RMRS

The Human Dimensions program consists of research scientists, professionals, and specialists with a range of disciplinary expertise, including social sciences, economics, ecology, forestry, and data and decision sciences. We collaborate with researchers from other RMRS science programs, Forest Service research stations, and universities nationwide; we work closely with partners in the National Forest System and State, Private, and Tribal Deputy Areas; and we work with NGOs, Tribal Nations, and local communities to co-develop research, tools, and products that support safe and resilient land and resource management. 

Our researchers and staff are stationed primarily in Colorado and Montana. While our program focuses on pressing issues in the Intermountain West, much of our research and many of our tools and products serve land managers across the nation and internationally.

Human Dimensions science at RMRS includes research in the following topic areas. 

Fire Management and Risk Mitigation

• Management strategies to convert forested landscapes back to a fire resilient condition while protecting workforce and community safety.
• Incorporation of data, risk, and decision science into natural resource planning and management.
• Development and application of risk analytics, decision support tools, and collaborative processes for fuels management, wildfire planning, and wildfire incident response.

Related topics:

 Fire Safe and Effective Response Fuels  Prescribed Fire Managing the Land

Social Impacts of Wildfire and Wildfire Mitigation

• Effectiveness of the wildland fire management system, including safety during operations, job satisfaction and workforce well-being, and organizational learning.
• Measurement of non-market economic aspects of wildfire, for example, the costs associated with exposure to wildfire smoke.
• Community wildfire risk, including private landholder perceptions, parcel- and community-level risk assessment, wildfire mitigation education, and preparedness.
• Wildfire communication.

Related topics:

Environment and People  Fire Safe and Effective Response

Forest Products, Ecosystem Services, and Nature-Based Solutions

• Forest product use and development; for example, social and economic aspects of biomass utilization and biochar production.
• Valuation of ecosystem services and their role in economic and community development and forest planning; for example, understanding the role forests and grasslands play in providing safe clean water as an ecosystem service, and the effects of climate change on water supply and demand.
• Urban access to heat-protective infrastructure and public lands; for example, research about geographic distribution of urban heat islands and recreation research about trends across race and ethnicity and programs that connect urban youth to wilderness areas.
• Rangeland management: Use of models, remote sensing, and GIS to understand how issues like climate change affect rangelands, and development of decision support tools for rangeland managers.

Related topics:

 Forest Products Biochar Range Management and Grazing Forest Management Environment and People Climate Change