New consortium to boost fire information coordination

May 28, 2010

UAF photo by Todd Paris. A controlled burn designed to allow researchers a better understanding of wildfire behavior works its way through a 250-acre plot in the Tanana Valley State Forest about 35 miles southwest of Fairbanks.

Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
5/28/10

A new $435,000 grant from the federal Joint Fire Science Program will create a University of Alaska Fairbanks program to help make fire science research more accessible to fire and land managers.

The two-year grant will establish the Alaska Fire Science Consortium, one of eight regional fire science consortiums recently created around the nation.

“This will be a hub for fire science information in Alaska,” said Sarah Trainor, project leader and stakeholder liaison for the UAF Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning. “It will enhance communications between fire science managers and make the research more applicable and useful to people on the ground.”

The consortium will help coordinate information between fire agencies and disseminate the results of northern latitude and boreal forest fire science to fire managers. Trainorʼs goals are to host on-site field workshops and an annual statewide workshop, which is set for this October in Anchorage. The consortium will also produce a newsletter and fact sheets, set up statewide fire science teleconferences and webinars, host a fire science help desk and develop innovative fire prediction tools.

Consortium partners include the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, the Bureau of Land Management-Alaska Fire Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and BLM Lands.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Sarah Trainor, SNAP stakeholder liaison, 907-474-7878,
sarah.trainor@alaska.edu. Scott Rupp, SNAP director, 907-474-7535, tsrupp@alaska.edu.

NT/5-28-10/242-10