Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo by Brett Williams.

Network members work through QUIC-Fire model runs at a workshop in Ft. Stewart, Georgia.

In the 2023 National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Addendum Update, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council recognized that “Science, data, and technology has not kept pace with the extent of wildland fire and postfire impacts, or been fully integrated into decision-making for fire, land and community managers.” 

The Council specifically noted that fire behavior modeling and other tools are not being effectively used and communicated to decision-makers and practitioners.

EILN will leverage successful examples of co-production through a formalized, interagency framework in which USDA Forest Service, Department of Defense (DoD), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) fire practitioners in the eastern U.S. are invited to engage with fire scientists throughout the innovation process.

Background Information and History

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo by Louise Loudermilk.

Fire biologist Derek Wallace operates a terrestrial laser scanner with simple push-button technology to characterize fuels in three dimensions.

Prescribed fire continues to be the most cost-efficient, effective tool for managing fire-dependent ecosystems and mitigating wildfire risk in the eastern U.S. However, prescribed fire managers and practitioners face a rapidly evolving, increasingly complex fire environment due to inadequate fuels management, urbanization, the spread of invasive species, climate change, and other novel ecosystem transformations. 

Fire behavior - and the resulting effects of fire on fuels and ecosystems - is becoming more challenging to anticipate using the suite of currently available models and tools. EILN will thoroughly evaluate and refine a given model or tool at the initial suite of innovation nodes, then expand its evaluation and use across a wider range of topographic and environmental conditions at additional sites in the eastern U.S. Ultimately, the Network seeks to transfer operational tools to the larger wildland fire community. 

EILN continues to seek opportunities to expand the concept to include other federal, state, private, and tribal partners.

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo by James Furman.

Sophie Bonner, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Tim Kolnik, Fire Management Officer on the Oconee National Forest, discuss QUIC-Fire and FastFuels model runs.

Fire managers need relevant fire science and technology but often lack pathways to communicate effectively with the research community or participate in the development process, slowing the rate of innovations that respond to management and operational needs. EILN is built on co-production, or intentional collaboration between the research community and fire planning and management decision-makers, with the following strategies and approach:

• Collaborative research burns hosted at Forest Service, DoD,  and USFWS Innovation Nodes
• Facilitated workshops to demonstrate and evaluate next generation fuels and fire behavior models
• Fire science research project coordination across multiple Innovation Nodes
• End-user focus groups to evaluate model and tool utility and ease of use
• Development of training materials and visualizations based on prescribed fire scenarios

Next generation fire behavior models incorporate physical properties and processes that improve understanding of fire behavior under dynamic, real-world conditions. Next generation models like QUIC-Fire, Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator (WFDS), and BurnPro3D account for local atmospheric conditions, feedback between fire and the atmosphere, changing ecosystem conditions, vegetation structure, and complex ignition patterns as improvements over currently available fire behavior models. 

Land managers can apply next generation models to assess safe burning conditions and evaluate ignition patterns that meet their goals. New LiDAR technology allows for 3D fuels characterization to further improve fire behavior model accuracy as well as to advance innovative fire effects monitoring tools for fire and land managers.

3D Fuels Characterization Tools: Aerial and terrestrial LiDAR paired with nationally available 3D fuels datasets such as FastFuels to more accurately represent the influence of vegetative structure on fire behavior.	Next Generation Fire Behavior Models: QUIC-Fire and BurnPro3D have unique capabilities to account for fire-atmospheric feedbacks and complex ignition patterns typical of prescribed fires.
Photo Credit USDA Forest Service and New Mexico Consortium image A scan collected from a mixed pine and hardwood stand on the Oconee National Forest with a Leica BLK360 terrestrial laser scanner (LiDAR) shows relative tree canopy heights in different colors.	Photo Credit USDA Forest Service image by Joe O'Brien. QUIC-Fire model run for an aerial ignition prescribed burn at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

EILN is exploring novel uses of these models and tools to predict fire effects, improve smoke dispersion models, inform species habitat response to fire, and better understand ecosystem processes.

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service image by Brett Williams.

Locations of the Eastern Innovation Landscape Network Innovation Nodes.

Researchers engage in fire science co-production with fire managers and practitioners at select Forest Service, DoD, and USFWS demonstration sites, known as Innovation Nodes. 

Innovation Nodes are testbeds for fire science innovation. Fire managers at these sites evaluate and provide feedback on next generation fuels and fire behavior tools in development and work in tandem with researchers to imagine new innovations as needs arise and evolve. 

The EILN, part of the larger National Innovation Landscapes Network (NILN), builds on the partnerships in place to develop and demonstrate prescribed fire research and technology.

Lead Partners

• Department of Defense
  • Office of Deputy Secretary of Defense for Energy Resilience and Optimization
  • Environmental Security Technology Certificate Program (ESTCP)
  • Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP)
  • Wildland Fire Science Initiative
• USDA Forest Service
  • Eastern Region, Fire & Aviation Management
  • Northern Research Station
  • Rocky Mountain Research Station
  • Southern Region, Fire & Aviation Management
  • Southern Research Station
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Southeast Region

Collaborating Partners

• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
• Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Joint Fire Science Program, Fire Science Exchange Network
• LANDFIRE
• National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
• New Mexico Consortium
• Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability (SERPPAS)
• The Nature Conservancy
• University of California-San Diego Supercomputer Center, WIFIRE Commons
• University of Georgia
• U.S. Geological Survey

USDA Forest Service Eastern Region (Region 9)

• James Furman, Fire Management Specialist

USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station

• Mike Gallagher, Research Ecologist
• Nick Skowronksi, Research Forester

USDA Forest Service Southern Region (Region 8)

• Brett Williams, Fire Management Specialist & Research Liaison

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station

• Scott Goodrick, Research Meteorologist & Center Director
• Louise Loudermilk, Research Ecologist
• Joe O'Brien, Research Ecologist & Project Leader

DoD SERDP/ESTCP

• Dana Fahey, NILN Tech Transfer Project Coordinator
• Kevin Hiers, Program Manager
• Tracy Mallard, NILN Tech Transfer Program Advisor