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For over a century, Forest Service Research and Development has built the foundation for what we know about forests and fires across the country.
What we do before fires—from mechanical thinning to community planning to prescribed burning—can alter how and where a fire moves and protect lives and communities. Agency scientists conduct research and create tools that aid managers in building fire adapted
forests, grasslands, and communities.
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USDA Forest Service/Preston Keres
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Areas where crews conducted fuels reduction treatments or that previously experienced wildfires
burned at 50 percent lower severity than untreated areas, showed agency research following a 2022 fire in New Mexico. Performing regular pre-fire maintenance—and managing wildfire for multiple goals—can improve fire outcomes, even in areas that will inevitably
burn.
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USDA Forest Service/Roger Ottmar
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Starting fires to stop fires: prescribed burns can reduce ground-level vegetation and slow the speed and growth of wildfires, giving crews the time and space they need to protect homes and lives. Agency
scientists partner with groups across the nation—including the Eastern
Innovation Landscape Network—to conduct prescribed burns that reduce fire risk. Fire models based on burn data also help managers better predict and plan for wildfire behavior.
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USDA Forest Service/Andrew Avitt
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Agency scientists
map population growth in wildland-urban interfaces, areas where houses and buildings mingle with fire fuels. In 2020, nearly one in three homes in the United States fell into these areas. These data can help community planners target fuels treatments to
best reduce fire risk and develop building codes and evacuation plans.
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USDA Forest Service/Dorothy Punderson
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Agency researchers are testing
fire-retardant coatings for wood products that may soon help harden homes against wildfires. These coatings protect lives and property, reducing building damage and giving people more time to evacuate. This study builds on decades of related research that
informs international building codes and standards.
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The
LANDFIRE project uses satellite and ground-based data to map wildland fuels. When combined with information about weather and population, its outputs can help managers map wildfire risk.
The Wildfire Research Center pairs agency
researchers with non-profits, local fire departments, and other agencies to assess wildfire risk on private lands and seek locally tailored pathways to fire-adapted communities.
The Interagency
Fuel Treatment Decision Support System outlines a step-by-step process for testing fuel treatment impacts.
BioSum helps managers conduct landscape
analyses using the Forest Vegetation Simulator and Forest Inventory and Analysis data.
Living Maps monitor habitat for at-risk
species. Application outputs showed how wildlife and forest management could be compatible in southwestern national forests, contributing to a lifted injunction on fuels management and timber harvest.
An agency-produced burn
prioritization model helps fire managers safely get more prescribed fires on the ground.
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Read
on to learn more about how agency scientists support land management before fires.
And stay tuned for the next edition of our Science for Wildfire and Safety series covering research and tools that aid managers during fires.
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This email was sent by: USDA Forest Service Research and Development
201 14th St SW Washington, DC, 20227, USA
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