Developing an Analysis and Planning Framework for District-Level Fuels Treatment Projects, 2003. Final Project Report.

摘要

Widespread fuel reduction programs have been initiated in many parts of the USA in response to a growing threat of wildland fire. Urban encroachment, fuels buildup from fire suppression, and drought all have been linked to increasing wildfire frequency and severity. Developing effective mitigation strategies is a challenging problem, especially on vast tracts of federally-managed wildlands in the western U.S. Fuel reduction activities on Federal lands are generally difficult to plan and implement due to cost, public expectations, and land management regulations. State of the art wildfire modeling is frequently required to demonstrate the benefits of fuels reduction treatments and defend fuel management projects. Designing and testing fuel treatment scenarios is complex, and many metrics, including fire spread, intensity, expected loss, and other ecological risks must be analyzed. The problem is compounded by poor data integration among fire behavior models, desktop GIS, and Forest Service corporate data. In 2004 we proposed a 3-year project to the Joint Fire Science Program to streamline wildfire modeling for fuel management projects.