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Project ID: 12-1-03-30

Year: 2012

Date Started: 09/01/2012

Ending Date:  09/30/2015

Title: STANDFIRE: An IFT-DSS Module for Spatially Explicit, 3D Fuel Treatment Analysis

Project Proposal Abstract: Accurate characterization of stand scale fuel treatment effectiveness is necessary before such treatments can be robustly considered at landscape scales. Fire behavior predictions are key components in evaluating fuel treatments, which may include a mixture of mechanical treatment and prescribed fire, and are also important for silvicultural and fire ecology analysis. However, model assumptions in current systems used to predict fire behavior, such as fuel homogeneity, fuel continuity and lack of spatial detail, greatly limit their application to fuels treatments, as well as to other related problems, such as changes in fire behavior associated with disturbance processes such as beetle outbreaks or windthrow events. In recent years, 3D dynamic, physics-based fire behavior models have emerged which have significant potential to more robustly capture effects of fuel treatments on fire behavior. Over the last several years, these models have played a key role in advancing our understanding of numerous aspects of fire behavior. However, these models have not yet been used in an operational context. Here, we propose to develop and test a prototype system , called STANDFIRE, which will use 3D physics-based models in core calculations in evaluating fuel treatment effectiveness at the scale of individual stands. The system is envisioned to read in a tree list from the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) forest growth model as well as weather, ignition patterns and other model inputs that will be used for fire simulations. The system will then distribute fuels spatially, write the input files for and run a three-dimensional, physically-based fire behavior model and post-process the simulation results to express resulting fire behavior and fire effects. As fuels can be manipulated in FVS, this process will facilitate comparison of untreated and treated fuel stands, or for a time sequence of fuels states derived from an FVS stand dynamics simulation. This effectively provides an alternative, more detailed, approach to evaluate fuel treatments than the existing Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) of FVS. While the prototype system will serve as a focal point for the project, the primary emphasis of the project will be on investigating key aspects of how this new science can be applied to the problem of fuel treatments. The objectives of this project are: 1) to develop and analyze a new approach for stand-scale fire behavior analysis, 2) to investigate metrics for evaluating fuel treatment effectiveness and 3) to provide a new platform for fire science development. By addressing interactions between fire and fuels not as point functional calculations but rather as dynamic, three-dimensional, processes that are sensitive to both fuel structure and composition, the project is expected to benefit the fire science and management communities by expanding the solution space for fuel treatment analysis. Our proposal is addressed to JFSP RFA FA-RFA012-0001, Task 3: Fuel Treatment Effectiveness, and directly addresses the following key topics identified in the RFA: " Treatment effectiveness  How effective are fuel treatments at meeting fire behavior objectives? How is treatment effectiveness influenced by treatment type, intensity, and season? " Treatment longevity How long are treatments effective at meeting specified fire behavior objectives? What are treatment effectiveness decay rates, and how do they vary by fire behavior objective? " Effectiveness metrics  What measures of fire behavior or ecosystem response are most useful as indicators of treatment effectiveness?

Principal Investigator: Russell A. Parsons

Agency/Organization: Forest Service

Branch or Dept: RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Budget Contact	Edith M. Cates	Forest Service	RMRS-Rocky Mountain Research Station
Co-Principal Investigator	Jean-luc L. Dupuy	INRA-French National Institute for Agricultural Research	EFPA-Dept Ecologie des Forets, Prairies et milieux Aquatiques
Co-Principal Investigator	William ’Matt’ M. Jolly	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Co-Principal Investigator	Rodman R. Linn	DOE-Department of Energy	LANL-Computational Earth Science
Co-Principal Investigator	William E. Mell	Forest Service	PNW-Seattle-Managing Natural Disturbances
Co-Principal Investigator	Francois S. Pimont	INRA-International Forestry & Global Issues	Forestry
Co-Principal Investigator	Eric F. Rigolot	INRA-French National Institute for Agricultural Research	EFPA-Dept Ecologie des Forets, Prairies et milieux Aquatiques
Co-Principal Investigator	Francois P. deColigny	INRA-French National Institute for Agricultural Research	EFPA-Dept Ecologie des Forets, Prairies et milieux Aquatiques
Collaborator/Contributor	Nicholas L. Crookston	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Moscow
Collaborator/Contributor	Chad M. Hoffman	Colorado State University	Department of Forest, Rangeland & Watershed Stewardship
Collaborator/Contributor	Carolyn H. Sieg	Forest Service	RMRS-Southwest Forest Science Complex
Funding Cooperator	Russell A. Parsons	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Grants and Agreements Contact	Cindy D. Gordon	Forest Service	RMRS-Rocky Mountain Research Station
Lead Reviewer	David R. Weise	Forest Service	PSW-Forest Fire Lab-Riverside

Project Locations

Consortium

Alaska

Appalachian

California

Great Basin

Great Plains

Lake States

Oak Woodlands

Northern Rockies

Northwest

Pacific

South

Southern Rockies

Southwest

Tallgrass

Level	State	Agency	Unit
NATIONAL		MULTIPLE

Project Deliverables

There is no final report available for this project.
There are no deliverables available for this project.

Supporting Documents

There are no supporting documents available for this project.

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