WFM RD&A Newsletter March 2023

Announcing 2023 Agency Administrator Refresher Webinar
Save the Date: March 29, 2023 12-2pm (Mountain Time)

Join us for our annual refresher on WFDSS and other fire management topics for agency administrators. This session serves as a WFDSS refresher for agency administrator certification/qualification requirements. Registration is required for this webinar. The link is provided below. For any questions about the session, registration, or accessibility accommodations, please email rick.mowery@usda.gov.

The WFM RD&A has experienced substantial changes over the past few months. We have lost several staff members to retirement and transfer. Caroline Noble and Ben Butler retired. Erin Noonan-Wright and Trevor Miller transferred to other jobs within the Forest Service.  While we miss the folks who left, we are excited about the new employees we’ve added to our staff.

We converted a vacant tech transfer specialist position into a Visual Information Specialist position and hired Alison Mims from NPS. We filled a long-vacant Data Manager position (hosted by NPS) with Data Scientist, Amanda Rumsey. Tessa Nicolet joined our staff (from her Fire Ecologist position in the SW) and Tederell "TJ" Boyer (from the Southern Area Coordination Center) were recently hired as Tech Transfer Specialists. Reggie Goolsby filled a promotion position to a Lead Fire Management Specialist. 

We continue to develop and manage three major software applications, Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS), Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS), and Fire Modeling Services Framework (FMSF).

The WFDSS application continues to provide real-time decision support to fire managers. The application is aging and we are working on a replacement (NextGen WFDSS) that will modernize the software architecture, improve the user interface and include new analytics that are currently being served up on the Risk Management Dashboard. We expect to have a beta version of NextGen available for testing (and to serve as a backup to current WFDSS if it crashes) by May of 2023. We expect to release the working version of NextGen (and decommission current WFDSS) in the spring of 2024.

We have made significant improvements in risk assessment in IFTDSS over the past year and will add new risk components this coming year. We also expect to respond to prescribed fire planning and implementation improvements identified in the USFS Chief’s Prescribed Fire Program Review. We have a tremendous training workload associated with the new features in IFTDSS and are working on ways to meet that demand.

The FMSF is a relatively new application that most field fire managers users will not work with directly, but will experience improvements in other applications that it services. The FMSF will deliver a range of services to the IFTDSS and WFDSS applications enabling those applications to be more streamlined and less prone to “bugs” and “crashes”. All of the fire behavior models, analytics, fuels layers, weather streams and other data will be delivered to the WFDSS and IFTDSS applications by FMSF. Fire models and analytics will be managed more effectively by housing them in one instance on FMSF rather than multiple instances in all applications that use them. In addition, FMSF will serve as a hosting site for new analytics and other large data sets that may be useful when making decisions on wildland fire.

We will continue our support to line officers (annual webinars, decision-making references and guides, etc.) and the Cohesive Strategy (conduit to science community and support for conferences and webinars).

There are big challenges ahead for the wildland fire community. Climate change is lengthening our fire seasons into fire years. We are experiencing increasingly severe fires, often in places that have not had large fires in their history. Many of these fire events are occurring under conditions well outside of our collective experiences. The decision support framework, data and modeling that WFDSS and IFTDSS provide are more important than ever in providing support to local managers to make the best decisions possible on how to respond to and manage unplanned and planned ignitions.

During the past several years most of the WFM RD&A staff has been assigned to development and management of our applications. We are working to reorganize our application efforts to streamline them so the staff is made available for other important components of our mission. This will allow us to increase efforts in technology transfer and innovations.

By evaluating new analytics, staff time will be focused on innovations that improve the ability of the wildland fire community to assess risk, communicate situations, and share analytics and decision rationale to our own agencies, partners, and the public. 

After more than 10 years as the Program Manager for the WFM RD&A, I am retiring on 12/31/2022. I am leaving the program in good hands. The staff is comprised of some of the “best and brightest” minds in wildland fire analytics and decision-making. 

I offer my best wishes… and will be watching from the sidelines cheering you on… and will continue to work on special projects in support of wildland fire.

Tim Sexton

WFDSS and WFDSS Next Generation (NextGen)

WFDSS

Use and reliance on WFDSS as a tool for line officers and fire managers is a testament to its value. In 2022 over 4,100 users logged into WFDSS. WFDSS was first required by the Forest Service in 2009 and by the DOI in 2010 for decision making on federal wildfires. Since that time the trend for use of fire modeling tools has increased. 

While 2021 was the record setting year for analysis use, 2022 was also above the previous 10-year average for use of FSPro and Short Term Fire Behavior modeling- and this while Incidents with published decisions were below the 10 year average. This is indicative of additional modeling and analytics as requested by decision makers to aid in making risk informed decisions.

Providing support to front end WFDSS users is at the forefront of our work. The WFM RD&A offers many avenues for users to learn the application and get help in a timely manner.

• We maintain thousands of Help topics to teach and guide users  from within the system.
• The WFDSS Training system is available for users to learn and practice anytime.
• WFDSS “101 lessons” are available on the Homepage for newbies.
• Having trouble with your account access? Or have a simple question? The IIA Helpdesk provides support 24/7.
• WFM RD&A staff provide year round On-Call coverage to aid users with complex issues/problems.
• The Business Team communicates monthly with interagency Geographic Area Editors (regional representatives and power users).

Looking Ahead to 2023 - The team is working to ensure WFDSS can remain functional until the Next Generation WFDSS is released. This work includes mandatory upgrades and to adopt 2 Factor Identification for access. If you are interested in what we’ve been up to check out our release notes available on the Homepage.  And finally, we are looking forward to supporting S-495 (Geospatial Fire Analysis, Interpretation, and Application) this coming spring and hope to contribute to a successful offering of this important course.

The WFMRD&A data team is responsible for maintaining an extensive collection of wildland fire data products and integrating these products into critical planning, management, and reporting applications such as WFDSS and IFTDSS. The team utilizes the latest advances in geospatial technology and cloud infrastructure to ensure that the data products serviced are accurate, provide optimal performance, and ultimately meet the wildland fire community’s needs.  

Heading into 2023, the group will focus their efforts on the annual geospatial data refresh for WFDSS Classic. Through this effort, existing spatial layers in WFDSS Classic are refreshed depending on when the authoritative data source provides an updated layer. Each layer has a different refresh schedule, which could occur on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.  

The team will also continue to support data needs for IFTDSS and for WFDSS NextGen as the application is developed. In support of WFDSS NextGen, the team is involved in the development of an innovative Spatial Fire Planning Service which Agency fire planning and geospatial personnel will use to manage fire planning language and data. This new service will simplify maintenance and improve the accuracy and governance of fire planning language and shapes. 

Nicole Vaillant from WFM RD&A is a coauthor on a published paper, along with others from USGS, University of Idaho, University of California - Merced, Utah State University, Colorado State University, and Boise State University. In this forum paper they briefly review current knowledge of common fuel treatment approaches, their intended benefits, potential risks, and limitations. They additionally discuss challenges for fuel treatment strategies in the context of changes in climate, invasive species, wildlife habitat, and human population, and explore how advances in geospatial technologies, monitoring, and fire behavior modeling, as well as accounting for social context, can improve the efficacy of fuels management in sagebrush ecosystems. Citation and link below:

Shinneman, D. J., Strand, E. K., Pellant, M., Abatzoglou, J. T., Brunson, M. W., Glenn, N. F., Heinrichs, J. A., Sadegh, M., Vaillant, N. M. 2023. Future Direction of Fuels Management in Sagebrush Rangelands. Rangeland Ecology & Management 86: 50-63.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2022.10.009

Nicole also coauthored another newly published paper, along with others from Oregon State University, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and Pyrologix. They examine how invasion of the annual grass ventenata (Ventenata dubia) alters simulated fire across forest-mosaic landscapes of the 7 million ha Blue Mountains Ecoregion using the Large Fire Simulator (FSim) with custom fuel landscapes: present-day invaded vs. historic uninvaded. Invasion increased simulated mean fire size, burn probability, and flame lengths throughout the ecoregion and the strength of these impacts varied by location and scale.  This study demonstrates how annual grass invasion can influence fire behavior and resilience across forest landscapes despite primarily invading non-forested areas, and highlights invasion as an important management issue in an expansive forest-mosaic ecosystem. Citation and link below:

Tortorelli, C.M., Kim, J. B., Vaillant, N. M., Riley, K., Dye, A., Nietupski, T. C., Vogler, K. C., Lemons, R., Day, M., Krawchuk, M. A., Kerns, B. K. 2023. Feeding the fire: annual grass invasion facilitates modeled fire spread across Inland Northwest forest-mosaic landscapes, Ecosphere 14(2): e4413. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4413

Researchers Publish Paper on WFDSS

Stephen Fillmore and Travis Paveglio recently published a paper in the International Journal of Wildland Fire entitled, "Use of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) for full suppression and managed fires within the Southwestern Region of the US Forest Service". Within the abstract, the researchers identify their key results as, "Users indicated that the program is viewed as efficient for sharing information about wildfires and documenting management decision rationale. They identified emerging gaps in technical proficiency and the need for specialised training that creates high-level users to help guide teams using the program." The authors provide suggestions for the continued use of WFDSS with modifications and training recommendations. Citation and link below:

Fillmore, S.D. and Paveglio T.B. (2023). Use of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) for full suppression and managed fires within the Southwestern Region of the US Forest Service. International Journal of Wildland Fire.
 https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF22206

The Line Officer “Certification” program is now the Line Officer Qualification program. Tami Parkinson has been a key member of this NLOT committee to develop and provide guidance to the program for Line Officers/Agency Administrators to meet specific competencies when managing fire – prescribed or wildfire.  This program started with a word document table called the Line Officer Learning Action Plan. It grew to a taskbook with AADM qualifications in IQCS and then to a qualification system of 6 positions total, (WFA 1, 2, 3; and RXA1,2,3) along with the taskbook.  The intent of the program is to leverage the existing ordering processes (qualified or trainee), training opportunities, taskbook reviews, and qualification standards that already exist for fire resources, thus extending this management to the AA’s who are providing oversight and direction for these program areas.  More information can be found at:  https://wfmrda.nwcg.gov/agency-administrator-toolbox/agency-administrator-resources

If you have feedback to the taskbook or the program, there is a form link at the bottom of the webpage to solicit feedback or recommendations to the program.    

The WFM RD&A supported several Decision Support Centers in 2022. Fire season began early with Wes Hall and Mark Hale working remotely with the Southern Geographic Area in January through March, providing assistance with seasonal assessment, fire behavior modeling, and decision support.  On March 26,^th Mark traveled to the Southern Area Coordination Center in Atlanta for 14 days to set up and manage a Decision Support Center (DSC) for the region. WFM RD&A provided decision support, managed pods of Strategic Operational Planners (SOPL) and Long Term Fire Analysts (LTAN) in the region, assisted with Fuels Advisories, and updated seasonal assessments and AGOL products. The DSC also worked with remote analysts, including Jon Rieck from Region 1, to provide time sensitive fire behavior modeling products that helped state and local officials plan evacuations for fires near Gatlinburg, TN.

As the Southeast received moderating conditions, the Southwest, which had seen a mild dry winter, saw wildfire activity begin to increase in March/April. Wes Hall worked remotely to support Region 3 and incidents with fire modeling and decision support.  In May, as activity continued and numerous large fires were burning, Erin Noonan traveled to NM to provide LTAN support for Cerro Peldo and Hemits Peak wildfires. On May 26^th, Mark Hale traveled to Albuquerque, NM to the Southwest Area Coordination Center to set up and manage a DSC. Other WFM RD&A personnel, including Jim Riddering, supported the DSC with decision support products until conditions moderated in early July. 

In June, as Alaska began to see an increase wildfire activity, Tami Parkinson traveled to Fairbanks for 14 days to provide decision support for the region. Mark Hale followed behind Tami for 21 days, helping lead decision support for the DSC and coordinating decisions updates until rain and lower temps moderated conditions in  late July. Mark managed pods of SOPLs in Alaska as well as several remote SOPLS and Technical Specialists.  Several WFM RD&A LTANs including Sam Amato, Wes Hall, and Rick Mowery provided remote fire behavior modeling and decision support for incidents or fire zones for several weeks in July. 

Activity picked up in the Northern Rockies in September, and again, WFM RD&A helped assist with DSC support. Erin Noonan assisted with fire behavior support from Missoula and Mark Hale worked remotely from WY providing decision support for incidents. All in all, WFM RD&A staff helped setup and/or support four Decision Support Centers in the Southern Area, Southwest, Alaska and Northern Rockies during the 2022 fire season.

Alison Mims, Visual Information Specialist, released a storymap on the Moose Fire in Idaho. Working in collaboration with the Salmon-Challis National Forest and Moose Fire Incident Management Teams, the storymap filled a communication need to provide a broader-scale view of the months-long fire by describing how it occurred, clear up some publicly-spread misinformation, tackle apparent fire literacy gaps, and enroll public support for future fuels treatment. This media-rich storymap contains material specific to the fire, but also includes some elements that could be helpful for increasing understanding of fire behavior and tactics in general. Storymap link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/620cbb2df3344b74a9686de5bb174053

Tami Parkinson was one of four chairs who provided leadership and guidance to the 5^th National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop in Ashville, NC this past fall. This workshop was hosted differently in that the topics were gleaned from past workshops, conversations with wildfire managers and practitioners, and national directives or emphasis areas. Nicole Valliant, Alison Mims, and Alicia Thomas, all representing the WFM RD&A participated, either presented or assisted with some of the logistical support needs. The 6^th annual CS workshop will be hosted in Santa Fe New Mexico: http://cohesivestrategyworkshop.org/

Mentoring

In 2022 the WFM RD&A participated in the USDA FS National Mentoring program. Wes Hall and Mark Hale participated as mentors in 2022, both mentoring employees. Mentors worked with mentees, meeting over a six-month period to share career information, discuss topics, and develop innovative ideas. Both Wes and Mark met with their mentees to help develop tasks and support networking with other leaders in field.  

Wes mentored Yercenia Gutierres, a contract GIS specialist on the Angeles NF. Wes worked with Yercenia on a few Forest level GIS projects including reconstruction of past wildfire perimeters that had inaccuracies with the national dataset. Wes also worked on getting her a permanent position with the government after she completed her degree before her contract expired. Yercenia accepted a permanent position with the Marine Corps in Camp Pendleton in October of 2022.

Mark mentored Ian Rodgers, a new HR employee in Atlanta, Georgia. Mark worked with Ian to increase career networks and to receive greater exposure to HR and civil rights leaders through one-on-one Teams meetings.  Mark also mentored Joel Torres from the Klamath NF. He is a 20-year firefighter and assistant helicopter manager. Mark helped Joel with career development and exposure to forest leadership through involvement on the Forest Leadership Team.