The Science Synthesis Toolkit offers a suite of resources relevant to planning and
evaluating consequences of fuels treatments on our communities (social and economic), fire behavior,
and the environment (air, water, soils, plants, weeds, wildlife habitat, and the likelihood of Armillaria disease).
These resources were developed by Forest Service researchers as part of a national effort funded by
Fire and Aviation Management to provide the best available science to fuel treatment planners.
The scope of the work was confined to areas of highest risk of severe fire, where fuel treatments are a high priority
-- dry, interior, western forests dominated by ponderosa pine, interior Douglas-fir, and dry-type lodgepole pine
.
However, most of the resources provided here have broader applicability.
All of the tools presented here have been or are being peer reviewed.
Documentation on each tool should clearly outline these.
[Statement of the Fuel Synthesis projects Quality Assurance Plan]
Economics and Utilization Team
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My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP)
My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP) is an MS Excel-based tool for calculating costs and benefits of fuel treatments.
Designed for ease of use and integration with other available planning tools,
MyFTP assists fuel planners in evaluating the economic costs of fuel treatments and other management activities.
It also provides direction on how to think through economic analyses and a discussion of the environmental, social.
MyFTP has been review by both a group of experts in the field and a panel of users.
Environmental Consequences Team
WEPP FuME estimates background erosion rates and compares sediment loads and erosion from
wildfire, thinning, prescribed fire, and low and
high use road networks for a given topography. Soil and water databases are the
same as those used for WEPP.
WEPP FuME has gone through blind Scientific Review.
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URM predicts qualitative changes in shrub, forb, and grass biomass at 1, 5, and 10 year
intervals caused by fuels treatment activities, based on species-specific life
history traits (life form, shade tolerance, etc.) and site-specific effects
(soil heating, bare mineral soil, etc.).
URM is in Scientific Peer Review.
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WHRM predicts qualitative changes in the suitability of habitats for a
given species in response to fuels treatment activities. It uses
species-habitat relationships from the scientific literature to predict
how changes in habitat elements from fuel treatment activities may affect
the life history requirements of a species in terms of reproduction, food
resources, predators and hazards.
WHRM is in Scientific Peer Review.
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ART models qualitative risk of Armillaria root disease due to selected
fuels treatments, determining whether a given habitat supports the disease, and if
so, estimating degree of risk.
ART is in Scientific Peer Review.
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SIS calculates 1- and 24-hour particulate matter (PM) emissions and concentrations
downwind of fire (wildland, broadcast, pile burns).
The SIS model is a screening-level modeling system for calculating PM2.5 emissions and airborne concentrations
downwind of natural or managed wildland fires.
SIS has gone through blind Scientific Review.
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Wildland Fire Behavior & Forest Structure Team
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Fire Behavior Guide Book
The Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests of the Western United States: Assessing Forest Structure and Fire Hazard
uses the Fire and Fuels Extension of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS) to
analyze a range of fuel treatments for representative dry forest stands in the western United States.
Calculations for the immediate and long-term (50 years) effects of silvicultural treatments (6),
prescribed fire and surface fuel treatments (3) on each stand's surface fuels,
fire hazard, potential fire behavior, and forest structure are presented.
Scenarios can be used to examine alternatives for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents
and other applications that require scientifically based information to quantify the effects of modifying
forest structure and surface fuels.
Johnson, Morris C.; Peterson, David L.; Raymond, Crystal L. 2007.
Guide to fuel treatments in dry forests of the Western United States: assessing forest structure and fire hazard.
Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-686.
Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 322 p.
Online at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/pnw_gtr686/
Social Science Team
Monroe, Martha C.; Pennisi, Lisa; McCaffrey, Sarah; Mileti, Dennis.
2006.
Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research relevant to communicating with homeowners about fuels management.
Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-GTR-267.
St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station.
42 p.
Online at http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc267.pdf.
Ryan, Robert L.
2005.
Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on aesthetics and fuels management.
Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-GTR-261.
St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station.
58 p.
Online at http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc261.pdf.
Daniel, Terry C.; Barro, Susan; Jakes, Pamela.
2005.
Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on assessing social acceptability of fuels treatments.
Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-GTR-259.
St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station.
52 p.
Online at http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc259.pdf.
Sturtevant, Victoria; Moote, Margaret Ann; Jakes, Pamela; Cheng, Anthony S.
2005.
Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on collaboration.
Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-GTR-257.
St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station.
84 p.
Online at http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc257.pdf.
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Applied Wildland Fire Research in Support of Project Level Hazardous Fuels Planning -- Toolkit
