The conference program includes both 2-hour and 4-hour workshops. Workshops are free for conference attendees. Pre-registration is required, as each workshop can accomodate 25 attendees.
4-Hour Workshops
Christopher J. Dunn, College of Forestry, Oregon State University
Andy McEvoy, College of Forestry, Oregon State University
There is increasing consensus that human communities, land managers, and fire managers need to adapt to the changing fire environment. A myriad of human and ecological factors constrain opportunities to adapt, and existing science-based management strategies are not sufficient to address fire as both a problem and solution. This workshop focuses on a novel risk-science approach that aligns wildfire response decisions, mitigation opportunities, and land management objectives. Together we will explore how three complimentary risk-based analytic tools – quantitative wildfire risk assessment, mapping of suppression difficulty, and atlases of potential control locations- can form the foundation for adaptive governance in fire management. This process represents state-of-the-art wildfire planning in the western United States, and the workshop will leverage recent and ongoing experience integrating local experiential knowledge and community interests with these tools. We will work through an interactive exercise using large, printed maps in multi-jurisdictional landscapes to demonstrate how these tools support collaborative, cross-boundary spatial fire planning from communities to landscapes. By integrating quantitative risk science, expert judgement, local knowledge and adaptive co-management, this process provides a much-needed pathway to transform fire-prone social ecological systems to the increasingly complex and hazardous fire environment.
Celia Conde and Xènia Juan, Pau Costa Foundation, Spain
Over the last century, social changes such as rural abandonment, suppression practices and the lack of forest management practices has led to fuel loading in the landscape. This situation combined with the upcoming climate change predictions (higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, heatwaves, among others), requires a rapid adaption to new types of wildfires events. Based on this scenario, it is essential to prepare population through education to raise awareness, strengthen fire mitigation practices and the understanding of fire ecology in their local and regional context.
There are many on-going European and international educational projects for primary and secondary school based on wildfires and landscape knowledge, but the outcomes and impacts of these initiatives are not usually evaluated. As this might result into ineffective and counterproductive practices, there is the need to define a set of potential indicators to be used as a common tool to evaluate the social impact of the performed project and educational practices. The aim of this workshop is to carry out a dynamic session by developing an interactive exercise to define the indicators that could be implemented to measure the outcomes and impacts derived from the different phases (short, mid, and long-term) of an educational project.
Collaborators/Presenters: Helena Ballart, Pau Costa Foundation; Núria Prat, Pau Costa Foundation; Finian Joyce, Leitrim County Concil; Míriam Arenas, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya; Israel Rodríguez, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya; Conceição Colaço, Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), University of Lisboa
Chris (Fern) Ferner, Esri Wildfire GIS Specialist
Anthony Schultz, Esri Director of Wildland Fire Solutions
Digital field data collection aids in rapid analysis and data driven decisions. This workshop will provide an introduction to using ArcGIS mobile applications in the field for data collection followed by hands-on exercises. Once exercises are completed, attendees will gain insight on how to access and leverage their newly collected data.
2-Hour Workshops
Chiara Bruni, Forest Research Centre (CEF), ULisboa, Portugal and Etifor, Italy
Cristiano Foderi, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) – University of Florence
Collecting field data on fuel characteristics (e.g. load) and parameterizing fuel models is a key factor in supporting wildfire suppression and prevention. During this workshop, we are going to dig into the main issues in collecting fuel data in Mediterranean countries, comparing different approaches. Two tools will be introduced. FUEL-COLLECT is an online form to identify fuel models, developed by the Forest Research Centre – University of Lisbon and the civil protection. Based on a decision tree, it allows the collection of georeferenced data, resulting in an on-line database, synergistically populated by a wide range of practitioners. FuelGeoData is a web-app based on Photoload sampling technique, to collect field fuel load data, developed by the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) – University of Florence. FuelGeoData was designed to allow an easy survey, to involve people without specific training in data collection through a citizen science approach. The participants will explore these tools, through practical exercises. The following discussion will tackle the issues of translating vegetation data into fuel models, deepening the spatial resolution related to fuel load dynamics, and the future challenges of moving to a larger spatial scale (EU, Mediterranean, etc.) towards proposals of common approaches.
Collaborators: Akli Benali, Forest Research Centre, University of Lisbon; Ana Sá, Forest Research Centre, University of Lisbon; Enrico Marchi, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) – University of Florence; Davide Ascoli, Department of Agriculture, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino; Carlos Mota, Portuguese Civil Protection
Chris (Fern) Ferner, Esri Wildfire GIS Specialist
Anthony Schultz, Esri Director of Wildland Fire Solutions
ArcGIS Online houses Esri’s StoryMaps and Instant Applications and is the go-to place for fire professionals to share their work. These tools serve as an authoring web-based application that allows you to share your spatial data in the context of narrative text and other multimedia content. Attendees will learn how to use these tools with provided content to engage a variety of stakeholders.
Ellen Whitman, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service
Sean A. Parks, USDA Forest Service
Multispectral satellite imagery and thermal anomalies (‘hotspots’) are now available across the globe. These data sources provide massive opportunities for researchers and managers to map and understand fire behavior and fire effects. In this 2-hour workshop, participants will learn to map fire progression and fire severity using open-source data and tools including MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat, Sentinel, Google Earth Engine, and R. Workshop attendees will arrive prepared with one or more polygon fire perimeters of personal interest for mapping and applying the workshop methods, as well as a computer with R installed, and a Google Earth Engine user account. Participants will learn multispectral imagery differencing to measure fire severity (fire effects) using the differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and other severity metrics for fires that burned since 1985. Participants will apply the method in Google Earth Engine using publicly available code to produce fire severity maps for their own fire(s). The instructors will also help participants download VIIRS and MODIS hotspots and interpolate daily fire progression for fires that burned since 2002. Workshop participants will gain new skillsets that will build capacity for mapping fire behavior and effects across ecosystems and around the globe.