Landscape fire planning and performance metrics

The USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Missoula Fire Laboratory will work closely with Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) to develop the ability to rapidly plan land management activities, evaluate wildfire risk to a wide variety of ecological and community values, and determine changes to these risks resulting from the program of land management activities including fuel treatment. The Forest Service has been developing methods, data, and models for quantitative wildfire risk analysis and for fuel treatment planning for many years. The variety of field-applications of these models
will be greatly improved by integrating them with landscape planning tools under development by Spatial Informatics Group. Funds for this project will support technical development of these functions for broad field application. This project will enable the Forest Service and partners to implement existing models and tools for expanded application to forest planning associated with the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The Fire Lab science staff will be able to more rapidly assist in developing and evaluating performance metrics for large-scale plans for forest fuel treatments in terms of the effects on wildfires and other management values.