Reference Library

Teams, tools, terms & technology

April 2020

ISSUED BY
Salo Sciences
Vibrant Planet

REPRESENTATIVES
Allison Wolff
David Marvin
Christopher Anderson
Kevin Farnham
Introduction
The California Forest Observatory is a new platform designed to dynamically map
forest structure and fuel loads—at the tree level, statewide—using LIDAR, satellite
imagery and artificial intelligence. This high resolution, regularly updated forest map
will be combined with real-time weather, climate, population, and infrastructure
data—the key drivers of wildfire behavior—to better understand wildfire hazards and
exposure.

The CFO was designed to support forest restoration and emergency response,
enabling federal and state agencies to improve community resilience to wildfire,
improve emergency wildfire operations, prioritize, plan, and execute treatments of
hazardous fuels, and monitor the short-term impacts and long-term benefits of
improving forest resilience to wildfire, disease, and climate change.

In an effort to better understand opportunities for immediate integration, we

conducted interviews with advisers and independent stakeholders from a wide
range of disciplines. We spoke with experts in land management, emergency
services, forest ecology, wildfire, meteorology, hydrology, wildlife biology, user
experience & cartography, recording their workflows, pain points & hopes for the CFO.

One key lesson from this process was that it must be developed to work ​with​ the
broad array of available tools and datasets—it shouldn’t ​replace​ them. This required
a broad survey of the resources utilized by the wildfire community. In this process of
discovery we learned of a vast array of tools, technology platforms, models, and
organizations. We’ve collected these resources into the following reference library.
For the most part, descriptions have been copied and pasted from the source
websites to allow the original source material to speak for itself.

The CFO Reference Library is a living document that will grow over time.

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Table of contents
Organization, agencies & programs

3DEP FFS NWCG

BLM FIA OGC

CalEPA FMTF ONCC

CALFIRE FRAP OPR

CARB NCAR + UCAR RCRC

CCI GTAC RSAC

CEC MRLC RSL

CTC NASF SGC

CWCG NCALM TCSI

CWSF NEON USFS

DOC NICC WFLC

DOI NMAC WFM RD&A

FAM-IT NOAA

Tools, technologies & resources

AFM (FSAPPS) D3 FlamMap

ArcFuels Data Basin FORSEE

ArcGIS DATIM FVS

BAER EcObject Google Earth Engine

BehavePlus eDaRT IFTDSS

Bluesky EMDS HIGRAD/FIRETEC

CAWFE FF+ LANDFIRE

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LANDIS OpenNRM Simtable

Landsat OpenStreetMap Topofire

LiDAR PFIRS WFA

LUCAS Planet Labs WFAS

Mapbox QGIS WFDS

MATLAB R WFDSS

MTBS RAVG WIFIRE

NAIP RMLands WIMS

NSLRSDA Sentinel-2 Vega

Open Foris Sierra Water Work

Group

Programs, governance & standards

CEQA NEPA OGC Standards

CWHR NFDRS

National NWCG
Preparedness Level

Definitions, glossaries & appendix materials

Condition Class Online Maps Market

Opportunities
FBAN Web Resources
Example Datasets
Fire Regime Competitive and
Adjacent Markets Example API’s
Fire Return Interval
Education / R&D Labs Example API
Wildfire Risk Documentation
Grants
Fire and Forest
Glossaries Land Management
Plan Factors
Studies & Papers

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Organizations, agencies
& programs

3DEP
3D Elevation Program

https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/3dep
To respond to growing needs for high-quality elevation data, the goal of 3DEP
is to complete acquisition of nationwide lidar by 2023 to provide the first-ever
national baseline of consistent high-resolution elevation data – both bare
earth and 3D point clouds – collected in a timeframe of less than a decade.

BLM
Bureau of Land Management

https://www.blm.gov/
In California, the Bureau of Land Management oversees:
● 15 million acres of public lands in California – about 15% of the Golden
State’s total land mass
● 47 million acres of subsurface mineral estate
● 1.6 million surface acres in northwestern Nevada

These public lands extend across rangelands, forests, high mountains, and
deserts, making California one of the most diverse states in the nation. The

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abundance of natural resources on public lands managed for multiple use by
the BLM throughout California continues to support generations of families
and local communities, while providing important economic benefits to
Californians and the nation.

While the BLM authorizes renewable energy production, mining, grazing, and
timber harvesting, its conservation efforts ensure our natural, recreational,
historical, and cultural resources will be available for future generations.

CalEPA
California Environmental Protection Agency

https://calepa.ca.gov
Our mission is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure
public health, environmental quality and economic vitality.

We fulfill our mission by developing, implementing and enforcing

environmental laws that regulate air, water and soil quality, pesticide use and
waste recycling and reduction. Our departments are at the forefront of
environmental science, using the most recent research to shape the state’s
environmental laws.

The Office of the Secretary heads CalEPA overseeing and coordinating the
activities of one office, two boards, and three departments dedicated to
improving California’s environment.

CALFIRE
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

https://fire.ca.gov

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The men and women of the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CAL FIRE) are dedicated to the fire protection and stewardship of
over 31 million acres of California's privately-owned wildlands. In addition, the
Department provides varied emergency services in 36 of the State's 58
counties via contracts with local governments.
While Californians are learning more and more about the good as well as the
bad of fire, the prevention of large, damaging fires remains a priority for CAL
FIRE. From Captain Cal and Smokey Bear, to the thousands of CAL FIRE
Volunteers in Prevention (VIPs), to new alliances with communities, private
industry, and government agencies, aggressive action in fire prevention and
fire safety is occurring throughout the State.

Beyond its wildland fire fighting role, CAL FIRE is an "all-risk" department. It may
very well be a CAL FIRE engine and crew that is dispatched to the scene of an
auto accident, or to a home where a child has become the victim of a
drowning incident. The Department is always ready to respond - medical
aids; hazardous material spills; swiftwater rescues; search and rescue
missions; civil disturbances; train wrecks; floods, earthquakes and more.

Because of the Department's size and major incident management

experience, it is often asked to assist or take the lead in disasters, including
the Northern and Central California floods of 1997, 1998, and 2006; the 1991
Cantara train derailment and toxic spill; 1994 Northridge earthquake; 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake; the 1991 Tunnel Fire in the Oakland/Berkeley Hills; and
the 2003 Southern California Fire Siege.

As part of the CAL FIRE team since 1995, the Office of the State Fire Marshal
(OSFM) supports the CAL FIRE mission to protect life and property through fire
prevention engineering programs, law and code enforcement and education.
The OSFM provides for fire prevention by enforcing fire-related laws in
state-owned or operated buildings, investigating arson fires in California,
licensing those who inspect and service fire protection systems, approving
fireworks as safe and sane for use in California, regulating the use of chemical
flame retardants, evaluating building materials against fire safety standards,

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regulating hazardous liquid pipelines, and tracking incident statistics for local
and state government emergency response agencies.

The OSFM, State Fire Training, and CAL FIRE Academy programs provide
training education and certification programs for the California Fire Service.
Through practical training exercises and classroom courses, every California
firefighter is exposed to training standards that have been approved by CAL
FIRE and OSFM, each among the best institutions in the nation for fire training
education.

CAL FIRE's mission emphasizes the management and protection of California's

natural resources; a goal that is accomplished through ongoing assessment
and study of the State's natural resources and an extensive CAL FIRE Resource
Management Program. CAL FIRE oversees enforcement of California's forest
practice regulations, which guide timber harvesting on private lands. Reviews
and inspections ensure protection of watershed and wildlife, as well as
renewal of timber resources. Department foresters and fire personnel work
closely to encourage and implement fuels management projects to reduce
the threat of uncontrolled wildfires. CAL FIRE Foresters promote conservation
and the importance of our trees and forests to Californians of all ages.

CAL FIRE manages eight Demonstration State Forests that provide for
commercial timber production, public recreation, and research and
demonstration of good forest management practices. Additional forestry
programs include urban forestry, archaeology, pest management, etc.

CARB
California Air Resources Board

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is charged with protecting the
public from the harmful effects of air pollution and developing programs and

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actions to fight climate change. From requirements for clean cars and fuels to
adopting innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, California
has pioneered a range of effective approaches that have set the standard for
effective air and climate programs for the nation, and the world.

CCI
California Climate Investments

http://www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov
California Climate Investments is a statewide initiative that puts billions of
Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
strengthening the economy and improving public health and the
environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities.

The Cap-and-Trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries

to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce
pollution.

California Climate Investments projects include affordable housing,

renewable energy, public transportation, zero-emission vehicles,
environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling and much
more. At least 35 percent of these investments are made in disadvantaged
communities and low-income communities and households.

https://webmaps.arb.ca.gov/ccimap/
This map shows project level information on California Climate Investments
using Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds. These projects are a subset of a
larger and coordinated effort to make climate and energy investments
throughout California that further the State’s climate goals.

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CEC
California Energy Commission

https://www.energy.ca.gov/
The California Energy Commission is leading the state to a 100 percent clean
energy future. As the state's primary energy policy and planning agency, the
Energy Commission is committed to reducing energy costs and
environmental impacts of energy use while ensuring a safe, resilient, and
reliable supply of energy.

(also see Appendix: Grants)

CTC
California Tahoe Conservancy

https://tahoe.ca.gov/
The California Tahoe Conservancy (Conservancy) is a State agency,
established in 1985, with a mission to lead California’s efforts to restore and
enhance the extraordinary natural and recreational resources of the Lake
Tahoe Basin.
California’s ten State conservancies play an integral role in conserving,
protecting, and restoring natural resources and providing public recreational
opportunities. Together, the conservancies comprise a coordinated effort,
bringing government resources to designated regions of State and national
significance.
The Conservancy owns and manages nearly 4,700 parcels of land, totaling
around 6,500 acres, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment
and promoting public recreation and access to Lake Tahoe.
The Conservancy has also provided over 170 grants to local governments and
nonprofit organizations for projects under the Lake Tahoe Environmental

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Improvement Program to restore the Lake Tahoe watershed, provide public
recreation and access, protect ecologically important lands, improve forest
health and reduce the threat of wildfire.
The Conservancy’s Tahoe Livable Communities Program helps reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, restore sensitive lands, and revitalize the Basin’s
town centers through the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands, the
transfer of development rights, and the sale, lease, or exchange of the
Conservancy’s developable parcels in town centers.
The Conservancy collaboratively leads large-scale watershed and landscape
restoration initiatives with over 50 public agencies to reduce wildfire threat,
and plays a lead role in enhancing the Basin’s resilience and ability to adapt
to climate change.
In all, the Conservancy has funded hundreds of environmental improvement
projects, and has played a major role in the restoration of the Basin’s most
environmentally sensitive areas, addressing the threat of climate change,
and the reduction of wildfire risk within the Basin. In its first thirty years, these
activities totaled over $450 million.

CWCG
California Wildland Fire Coordinating Group

https://gacc.nifc.gov/oscc/cwcg/
The California Wildland Fire Coordinating Group is established to provide an
interagency approach to wildland fire management and all-risk support on
all land ownerships within the State of California. The purpose of CWCG is to
further interagency cooperation, communications, coordination, and to
provide interagency fire management direction and all-risk support for the
Northern and Southern California Geographical Areas.

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CWSF
Council of Western State Foresters

https://www.westernforesters.org
The Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit
membership organization comprised of state, territorial and commonwealth
foresters whose role is to protect, conserve and enhance Western and Pacific
Island forests.

CWSF’s membership​ is comprised of 17 Western U.S. State Foresters and six

U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Island foresters.

Unlike other organizations focused on just one aspect of forestry, CWSF takes
a broad and comprehensive approach to forest management and provides
expertise on the many complex and interrelated factors at play in Western
forestry.

Click here​ to learn more about our key strategies to ensure healthy trees and
forests today and in the future.

Though there is great diversity across Western and Pacific Island forests, there
are key forest management issues shared across forests types and
jurisdictions. Addressing these pressing issues in forest management and
conservation is the focus of CWSF’s work.
Click here​ to learn more about key issues in Western forestry.

An important part of CWSF’s work is fulfilled through our relationship with the
western leadership of the USDA Forest Service. This relationship is realized
through the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC). The CWSF
members comprise half of the WFLC members and CWSF staff are tasked with
delivering the important work of this coalition. For more information on the
WFLC, please visit ​https://www.thewflc.org/​.

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DOC
Department of Conservation

https://www.conservation.ca.gov
The Department of Conservation balances t​​oday's needs with tomorrow's
challenges and fosters intelligent, sustainable, and efficient use of California's
energy, land, and mineral resources.

DOI - Office of Wildland Fire

Department of the Interior

https://www.doi.gov/wildlandfire
https://www.doi.gov/wildlandfire/technology
The Office of Wildland Fire makes sure that nearly one billion dollars is
strategically invested to reduce wildfire risk, rehabilitate burned landscapes,
promote a better understanding of wildfire, and support firefighters by
providing the tools and training they need to work safely and effectively.

FAM-IT
Fire and Aviation Management Information Technology

https://famit.nwcg.gov
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) United States Forest Service (USFS) Fire
and Aviation Management (FAM) Information Technology (IT) Branch, located
in Boise, Idaho, manages the FAM applications. The applications and their
products are designed for use by the interagency fire community, which
includes USFS, Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), US Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS), Department of Homeland Security – Federal

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Emergency Management Administration (DHS-FEMA), State Forestry Agencies
(in all 50 states), and Municipal Agencies. The USFS is the managing agency
for the FAMIT applications. The number of organizations across, federal, state,
and local boundaries using the FAMIT applications adds complexity for USFS
and its contractor in management, design, access, and communications
regarding the applications.

FAM applications are used to collect, maintain, and disseminate fire, weather
and all-hazard data (current and historical) in support of fire operations,
budgeting, fire resource planning, firefighter safety, public affairs information
dissemination, and public and private research and development. FAMIT
applications directly support the USFS mission by collecting, maintaining, and
providing access to current and historical fire and weather data.

FFS
Fire, Fuel, and Smoke​ Science Program and the Missoula Fire Sciences
Laboratory

https://www.firelab.org/
The Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program (FFS) of the Rocky Mountain
Research Station is located primarily at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory
in Missoula, Montana. The Program’s scientists, technicians, and support staff
conduct national and international, cutting-edge work in wildland fire
research. They conduct research and develop management tools and
applications designed to improve understanding of wildland fire and increase
the safety and effectiveness of fire, fuel, and smoke management. Specific
research activities are focused on physical fire processes, fuel dynamics,
smoke emissions and dispersion, fire ecology, fire and fuel management
strategies, and science synthesis and delivery.

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FIA
Forest Inventory and Analysis ​Program of the U.S. Forest Service

https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/
The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Forest Service
provides the information needed to assess America's forests.

FIA reports on status and trends in forest area and location; in the species,
size, and health of trees; in total tree growth, mortality, and removals by
harvest; in wood production and utilization rates by various products; and in
forest land ownership.

FIA is managed by the Research and Development organization within the

USDA Forest Service in cooperation with State and Private Forestry and
National Forest Systems.

FIA traces its origin back to the McSweeney - McNary Forest Research Act of
1928 (P.L. 70-466). This law initiated the first inventories starting in 1930.

FIA Data and Tools

https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/tools-data/

FMTF
Forest Management Task Force

https://fmtf.fire.ca.gov/
California's Forest Management Task Force was organized to protect the
environmental quality, public health, and economic benefits that healthy
forests provide to California. The Task Force aims to increase the rate of forest
treatments and expand state wood product markets through innovation,
assistance, and investment. Advancing forest health project capacity,
readiness, and completion statewide aligns with the California Forest Carbon

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Plan, the goal of which is to establish healthy and resilient forests that can
withstand and adapt to wildfire, drought, and a changing climate.

FRAP
CALFIRE ​Fire and Resource Assessment Program

https://frap.fire.ca.gov/
FRAP assesses the amount and extent of California's forests and rangelands,
analyzes their conditions and identifies alternative management and policy
guidelines.

NCAR & UCAR

National​ ​Center for Atmospheric Research ​&​ University Corporation for
Atmospheric Research

https://ncar.ucar.edu
https://www.ucar.edu

UCAR is a nonprofit consortium of more than 115 North American colleges and
universities focused on research and training in the Earth system sciences.
We are the experienced managers of the National Center for Atmospheric
Research on behalf of the National Science Foundation. Founded in 1960 to
fulfill this role, we are trusted administrators of the financial, human resources,
facilities, and information technology functions that are essential to NCAR's
success.

UCAR's community programs — from encouraging diverse students to pursue

science careers, to providing online professional training, data delivery, and
other valued services — extend and enhance the world-class research done
at the national center. Our work promotes and accelerates access to these
and other resources needed to push the boundaries of Earth system science.

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We bring together the Earth system science community to exchange ideas,
discuss challenges, and share what we've learned. By connecting researchers
and educators with each other, with cutting-edge resources, and with the
private sector, we take research out of the lab into the real world for the
benefit of society.

UCAR members constitute a self-governing body representing nearly all the

academic programs in Earth system science in North America. We provide a
clear voice for our membership, in collaboration with the broader community,
to convey the value of our research, education, and partnerships to
policymakers and decision makers.

GTAC
Geospatial Technology and Applications Center

https://www.fs.fed.us/gstc/
The Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC) provides
leadership to geospatial science implementation in the USDA Forest Service
by exploring and developing emerging technologies, working with partners to
demonstrate their application in land and resource management, providing
solutions to inform decision making, and building capacity to support the
Agency Mission.
GTAC advances the Forest Service mission through the application of new
geospatial science, technology, and methods to meet business requirements.
Our efforts result in:
● Better land management decisions,
● More effective work processes, and
● Improved communication with our publics, interests, and partners.

Forest Service National Remote Sensing Program and Geospatial Technology

and Applications Center Update (2017 PPT) - ​includes organizational structure

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MRLC
Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium

https://www.mrlc.gov/
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium is a group of
federal agencies who coordinate and generate consistent and relevant land
cover information at the national scale for a wide variety of environmental,
land management, and modeling applications. The creation of this
consortium has resulted in the mapping of the lower 48 United States, Hawaii,
Alaska and Puerto Rico into a comprehensive land cover product—the
National Land Cover Database (NLCD)—from decadal Landsat satellite
imagery and other supplementary datasets.

NASF
National Association of State Foresters

https://www.stateforesters.org
Established in 1920, the National Association of State Foresters is a non-profit
organization composed of the directors of forestry agencies in the states, U.S.
territories, and the District of Columbia.

State foresters manage and protect state and private forests, which
encompass nearly two-thirds of the nation’s forests. Our members are valued
for their leadership, expertise, and public-trust commitment to managing and
conserving non-federal trees and forests. ​Learn more about NASF’s
membership in the latest state forestry agency statistics survey​.
NASF is a leading authority on forest policy. We advocate for federal
legislation and national policies that promote the health, resilience, and
productivity of forests across the country, as well as for the professionals that

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conserve, enhance, and protect our forest resources.​ ​Learn more about NASF’s
policies​.

NCALM
National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping

http://ncalm.cive.uh.edu
The National Science Foundation created a research center to support the
use of airborne laser mapping technology for the scientific community. The
NSF supported National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) is
operated jointly by the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, and the Department of
Earth & Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley. NCALM uses an
Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (ALSM) system based at the UH Geosensing
Imaging & Mapping Laboratory. The state-of-the-art laser surveying
instrumentation and GPS systems collect data in areas selected through the
competitive NSF grant review process.

The ALSM observations are analyzed at both Houston and UC Berkeley and
then made available to the Principal Investigator through an archiving and
distribution center at UCB – building upon the Berkeley Seismological
Laboratory's Northern California Earthquake Data Center system. Both the UH
and UC Berkeley groups contribute to software development that increase the
processing speed and data accuracy. NSF supported researchers must
contact NCALM during proposal preparation to obtain guidance on cost
estimates, scheduling, and related issues. Once funded, PIs and their students
will be able to participate in all phases of the work.

Research-grade ALSM data can be used to produce highly accurate,

three-dimensional, digital topographic maps of large areas of land surface.
The major component of a mapping system is a laser that emits tens of

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thousands of short pulses of light per second. The laser is mounted in a
twin-engine aircraft, and the laser pulses are directed toward the ground by a
scanning mirror. Each pulse illuminates an area, or footprint, of about one foot
in diameter, and the light is scattered back to a sensor in the aircraft. The
round-trip travel time of the laser light allows researchers to compute the
precise three-dimensional locations of points on the ground. The resulting set
of latitudes, longitudes, and heights of many millions of points is then
transformed into a highly accurate map.
Airborne Laser Swath Mapping has proven to be a powerful tool for accurately
and densely mapping large areas of land. Researchers have used ALSM data
to explore geological and geomorphological processes such as faulting and
channelization. The power of laser mapping lies not only in quantifying what is
immediately visible, but in revealing the landforms that lie below natural and
man-made obstructions. Researchers can now gain a clear glimpse of terrain
features more rapidly than before.
Continuous advances are being made in improving the quality of the data to
meet the needs of scientific research. Researchers are exploiting the use of
high-resolution and accurate ALSM data not available before. Height
accuracy of less than 10 cm is providing researchers new opportunities and
means to make scientific discoveries never realized in the past.

NEON
National Science Foundation's ​National Ecological Observatory Network

https://www.neonscience.org
https://data.neonscience.org/home
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNodgIxpGyEjhV3XXMxFO5g
NEON is a continental-scale ecological observation facility, fully funded by NSF
and operated by Battelle. NEON collects and provides open data from 81 field
sites across the United States that characterize and quantify how our nation's
ecosystems are changing. The comprehensive data, spatial extent and
remote sensing technology provided by the NEON project will contribute to a

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better understanding and more accurate forecasting of how human activities
impact ecology and how our society can more effectively address critical
ecological questions and issues.

NICC
National Interagency Coordination Center

https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/
The National Interagency Coordination Center is the focal point for overseeing
all interagency coordination activities throughout the United States.
Wildfire suppression is built on a three-tiered system of support - the local
area, one of the 10 geographic areas, and finally, the national level. When a
fire is reported, the local agency and its firefighting partners respond. If the
fire continues to grow, the agency can ask for help from its geographic area.
When a geographic area has exhausted all its resources, it can turn to NICC
at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) for help in locating what is
needed, from air tankers to radios to firefighting crews to incident
management teams.

NMAC
National Multi-Agency Coordination Group

NMAC is comprised of representatives from the Bureau of Land Management,

Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, Forest Service, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Federal Emergency Management Administration, and the
National Association of State Foresters (​charter​).

The NMAC group at NIFC prioritizes and allocates resources When there are
critical shortages of national resources such as smokejumpers, airtankers, or
Type 1 Incident Management Teams (IMTs).

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NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

https://www.noaa.gov
NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from
the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the
public informed of the changing environment around them.

From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring
to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine
commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and
affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s
dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech
instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and
other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it.

NWCG
National Wildfire Coordinating Group

https://www.nwcg.gov
https://fam.nwcg.gov/fam-web/
The National Wildfire Coordinating Group provides national leadership to
enable interoperable wildland fire operations among federal, state, local,
tribal, and territorial partners. Primary objectives include:
● Establish national interagency wildland fire operations standards.
Recognize that the decision to adopt standards is made independently
by the NWCG members and communicated through their respective
directives systems.
● Establish wildland fire position standards, qualification requirements,
and performance support capabilities (e.g. training courses, job aids)
that enable implementation of NWCG standards.

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 ● Support the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
goals: to restore and maintain resilient landscapes; create fire adapted
communities; and respond to wildfires safely and effectively.
● Establish information technology (IT) capability requirements for
wildland fire.
● Ensure that all NWCG activities contribute to safe, effective, and
coordinated national interagency wildland fire operations.

OGC
Open Geospatial Consortium

https://www.opengeospatial.org/
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international consortium of
more than 530 businesses, government agencies, research organizations,
and universities driven to make geospatial (location) information and
services FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

OGC’s member-driven consensus process creates ​royalty free, publicly

available, open geospatial standards​. Existing at the cutting edge, OGC
actively analyzes and anticipates emerging ​tech trends​, and runs an agile,
collaborative Research and Development (R&D) lab - the ​OGC Innovation
Program​ - that builds and tests innovative prototype solutions to members'
use cases.

ONCC
Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center

https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/index.php
The Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center (ONCC) is the
focal point for coordinating the mobilization of resources for wildland fire and

22
other incidents throughout the Geographic Area. Located in Redding, CA, the
Center also provides Intelligence and Predictive Services related-products
designed to be use by the internal wildland fire community for purposes of
wildland fire and incident management decision-making.

The ONCC is a fully functional cooperative organization that includes agency

representation from the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management,
the National Park Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection.

OPR
Office of Planning and Research

http://opr.ca.gov/
http://opr.ca.gov/wildfire/

The Office of Planning and Research (OPR), created by statute in 1970, is part
of the Office of the Governor. OPR serves the Governor and his Cabinet as staff
for long-range planning and research, and constitutes the comprehensive
state planning agency. (Government Code §65040). In addition, the
Government and Public Resources Codes set forth multiple functions for OPR,
including:

● Formulation of long-range land use goals and policies

● Conflict resolution among state agencies
● Coordination of federal grants for environmental goals
● Coordination of statewide environmental monitoring
● Coordination of research on growth and development
● Management of state planning grants, and encouragement of local
and regional planning
● Creation and adoption of General Plan Guidelines

23
 ● Drafting of CEQA Guidelines (for adoption by the Secretary of Natural
Resources)
● Creation of a State Environmental Goals and Policy Report, every four
years
● Operation of the State Clearinghouse for distribution and review of
CEQA documents
● Operation of the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program
● Coordination of environmental justice activities
● Coordination with US military for land use and other issues in the state

RCRC
Rural County Representatives of California

https://www.rcrcnet.org/
The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) is a thirty-seven
member county strong service organization that champions policies on
behalf of California’s rural counties.

The term "rural" may be defined in various ways: population density,

population size, demographics or economic data. However you define it, rural
counties face unique challenges when putting federal and state policies into
effect. The greater distances, lower population densities, and geographic
diversity of RCRC's thirty-seven member counties create obstacles not faced
by their more urban or suburban counterparts. For those reasons,
"one-size-fits-all" policies don't work, especially when the "size" typically is a
more metropolitan model.

Founded in 1972, RCRC works with its membership to advocate on behalf of

rural issues at the state and federal levels. RCRC provides the rural county
perspective on a myriad of issues during the legislative and regulatory
process, including land use, water and natural resources, housing,

24
transportation, wildfire protection policies, and health and human services.
The core of RCRC’s mission is to improve the ability of small, rural California
county government to provide services by reducing the burden of state and
federal mandates, and promoting a greater understanding among policy
makers about the unique challenges that face California's small population
counties.

The RCRC Board of Directors is comprised of a member of the Board of

Supervisors from each of its thirty-seven member counties. RCRC staff work in
partnership with the Board of Directors to deliver a rural perspective when
legislation and regulations are being formulated in Sacramento, and
Washington, D.C. Our efforts help enhance and protect the quality of life in
California’s small and rural counties.

RSAC
Remote Sensing Applications Center

The Geospatial Service and Technology Center (GSTC) and the Remote
Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) have joined as one Center! Geospatial
Technology and Applications Center (GTAC)

Previously:
The Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) is located in Salt Lake City,
Utah as a detached technical center of the Washington Office (WO)
Engineering. RSAC is collocated with the Geospatial Service and Technology
Center (GSTC), also a detached technical center.

RSAC is organized into five program areas:

● Integration of Remote Sensing
● Liaison & Special Projects
● Training & Technology Awareness
● Inventory-Analysis-Accuracy Assessment

25
 ● Operations

These programs provide technology evaluation and development and

training support in the use of remote sensing, GIS, image processing, and GPS
for all resource applications with primary emphasis on ecosystem
management.

RSL
Remote Sensing Lab ​US Forest Service Region 5

The Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service (Region 5) manages 20

million acres of National Forest land in California and assists the State and
Private forest landowners in California, Hawaii and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific
Islands. Eighteen national forests are located in this region. RSL generates,
curates and manages remote sensing and geospatial data for Region 5.

SGC
Strategic Growth Council

http://sgc.ca.gov/
The Strategic Growth Council (SGC) was established in 2008 to coordinate
state agency activities in supporting the planning and development of
sustainable communities. The SGC also administers a suite of grant programs
funded through the California Climate Investments - a statewide initiative
that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas
emissions while providing a variety of other impactful benefits - particularly in
disadvantaged communities. To date, the SGC has invested over $775 million
in projects that strengthen the economy, ensure social equity, and enhance
environmental stewardship across the state.

26
TCSI
Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative

https://tahoe.ca.gov/tahoe-central-sierra-initiative/
Building upon several large-scale regional efforts and best available science,
a partnership of state, federal, environmental, industry, and research
representatives have established the Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative to
accelerate regional scale forest and watershed restoration through
ecologically based management actions while creating the opportunities to
support a forest restoration economy and explore innovative process,
investment, and governance tools

USFS
US Forest Service

https://www.fs.fed.us
To sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and
grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.

At the heart of our agency’s mission is our purpose—the ultimate answer to

why we do what we do. Everything we do—across our broad and diverse
agency—is intended to help sustain forests and grasslands for present and
future generations. Why? Because our stewardship work supports nature in
sustaining life. This is the purpose that drives our agency’s mission and
motivates our work across the agency. It’s been there from our agency’s very
beginning, and it still drives us.

To advance our mission and serve our purpose, we balance the short and
long-term needs of people and nature by—
● Working in collaboration with communities and our partners;
● Providing access to resources and experiences that promote economic,
ecological, and social vitality; and

27
 ● Connecting people to the land and one another.
● Delivering world-class science, technology and land management.

WFLC
Wildland Fire Leadership Council

https://www.thewflc.org
The Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) was originally established in April
2002 by the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to provide an
intergovernmental committee to support the implementation and
coordination of Federal Fire Management Policy. An updated ​Memorandum of
Understanding​ (PDF, 1 MB) was signed in 2016 by the Secretary of the Interior,
Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of Homeland
Security to authorize the continuation of the WFLC. The Council meets
regularly to provide oversight and coordination of Federal Wildland Fire
Management Policy.

The Wildland Fire Leadership Council is an intergovernmental committee of

Federal, state, tribal, county, and municipal government officials convened by
the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense, and Homeland Security
dedicated to consistent implementation of wildland fire policies, goals, and
management activities. The Council provides strategic recommendations to
help ensure policy coordination, accountability and effective implementation
of Federal wildland fire management policy and related long-term strategies
through a collaborative environment to help ensure effective and efficient
wildfire management, promote fire-adapted communities and create
resilient landscapes to achieve long-range benefits for society and nature.

In addition to supporting the mission of the WFLC, Forests and Rangelands

provides a portal to information for other interdepartmental and interagency
land management efforts including the ​National Cohesive Wildland Fire
Management Strategy​ process; ​Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and

28
Restoration​; ​Quadrennial Fire Review (QFR)​; ​Wildland Fire Information and
Technology (WFIT)​; the ​Woody Biomass Utilization Strategic Plan​; ​stewardship
contracting​; and ​land management tools​.

WFM RD&A
Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Application

The Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Application

(WFM RD&A) program was created to promote application of wildland fire
scientific knowledge; develop decision support tools; and provide science
application services to the interagency wildland fire community. The WFM
RD&A serves as a primary point of contact for communication between
scientists and participating field fire managers, as a liaison between research,
wildland fire planning and operations, interagency wildland fire IT groups, and
as an advisor to program administrators at local, regional, and national
levels.

The WFM RD&A was initially chartered in 2006 and re-chartered in 2011 for a
five year period. The charter is recommended by the Directors of the Rocky
Mountain Research Station, Forest Management Sciences, and Fire and
Aviation Management and signed by the Deputy Chief of Research and
Development, the Deputy Chief of State & Private Forestry as well and the
Chief of the US Forest Service. The charter defines the areas the WFM RD&A will
work and focus their attention. The focus areas are:
● Coordinate relevant and timely fire science applications.
● Develop and support a Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS).
● Coordinate technology and development efforts for hazardous fuels
and vegetation management and support interagency training in this
area.
● Develop applications, disseminate information and conduct training for
existing and emergent research priorities.

29
 ● Participate in and manage the National Fire Decision Support Center
(NFDSC).

Tools, technologies &

resources

AFM (FSAPPS)
Active Fire Mapping Program

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/afm/index.php
The Active Fire Mapping Program is an operational, satellite-based fire
detection and monitoring program managed by the USDA Forest Service
Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (RSAC) located in Salt Lake
City, Utah. The Active Fire Mapping program provides near real-time
detection and characterization of wildland fire conditions in a geospatial
context for the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Canada.
Detectable fire activity across all administrative ownerships in the United
States and Canada are mapped and characterized by the program.

High temporal image data collected by the NASA's Moderate Resolution

Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are currently the primary remote
sensing data source of this program. MODIS provides multiple daily
observations of the United States and Canada, which is ideal for continuous
operational monitoring and characterization of wildland fire activity. To
minimize product latency and deliver fire geospatial products as quickly as
possible to the user community, the program leverages state of the art
technologies to acquire image data directly from orbiting spacecraft. The

30
program leverages these technologies and partnerships with other collectors
of MODIS satellite data to facilitate near real-time data coverage for the
entire United States and Canada.

Satellite image data are continually relayed to RSAC, integrated, and

processed to produce imagery and science data products. These products
are processed and analyzed with current fire intelligence information and
other key geographic strata provided by U.S. and Canadian fire management
agencies. The results are a suite of "value-added" geospatial products that
provide an accurate and current assessment of current fire activity, fire
intensity, burned area extent and smoke conditions throughout the U.S. and
Canada. Products provided by the program include fire mapping and
visualization products, fire detection GIS datasets and live data services,
multi-spectral image subsets, and analytical products/summaries.

The near real-time fire products provided by the Active Fire Mapping program
provide critical, timely and comprehensive fire data and information, are
highly integrated into the daily fire management business of the interagency
fire community, and support several interagency fire management objectives
and decision support applications. Additionally, the program also generates
and distributes several additional MODIS land and atmosphere products to
support multi-disciplinary uses.

ArcFuels

https://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/tools/arcfuels/
Vegetation and fuel management planning is a complex problem that
requires advanced vegetation and fire behavior modeling and intensive
spatial data analyses. Both the benefits and potential impacts of proposed
treatments must be clearly demonstrated in the context of land
management goals and public expectations. Potential fire behavior metrics,
including fire spread, intensity, likelihood, and ecological risk need to be

31
analyzed for proposed treatment alternatives. ArcFuels was built to
streamline the fuel management planning process, and provide tools for
quantitative wildfire risk assessment. ArcFuels is a toolbar implemented in
ArcMap which creates a trans-scale (stand to large landscape) interface to
apply pre-existing forest growth (e.g., Forest Vegetation Simulator) and fire
behavior models (e.g., FlamMap) to aid in vegetation management, fuel
treatment planning, wildfire behavior modeling, and wildfire risk assessments.
The ArcMap framework helps users incorporate data from a variety of sources
to address project-specific issues that typify many fuel treatment projects.
ArcFuels was built to accommodate ArcGIS raster data (such as LANDFIRE
data) and/or forest inventory data. ArcFuels provides a logical flow from
stand to landscape analyses of vegetation, fuel, and fire behavior, using a
number of different models in a simple user interface within ArcMap.

ArcGIS

http://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html
Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS)
software, location intelligence, and mapping, offers the most powerful
geospatial cloud available, to help customers unlock the full potential of data
to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969, Esri software is
deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including 90 of the Fortune 100
companies, all 50 state governments, more than half of all counties (large
and small), and 87 of the Forbes Top 100 Colleges in the U.S., as well as all 15
Executive Departments of the U.S. Government and dozens of independent
agencies. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information
technology, Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital
transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics.

ArcGIS Online
Part of the Esri Geospatial Cloud, ArcGIS Online enables you to connect
people, locations, and data using interactive maps. Work with smart,

32
data-driven styles and intuitive analysis tools that deliver location
intelligence. Share your insights with the world or specific groups.

ESRI Collector
Part of the ESRI Geospatial Cloud, Collector for ArcGIS, a mobile data
collection app, makes it easy to capture accurate data and return it to the
office. Fieldworkers use web maps on mobile devices to capture and edit
data. Collector for ArcGIS works even when disconnected from the internet
and integrates seamlessly into ArcGIS. (Note: there is a USFS mandate to use
collector)

BAER
Burned Area Emergency Response

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/baer/
The Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program assesses damage to
both infrastructure and the environment. Forest lands often provide
ecosystem services such as providing clean drinking water for municipal
watersheds. BAER teams, assisted by burn severity datasets, identify areas
where clean water supplies might be threatened and prescribe treatments to
ensure that large volumes of soil and debris do not contaminate the water
supply.

Within 7 days of fire containment, the BAER Imagery Support Program

provides satellite images, burn area severity classifications, and other critical
data to BAER teams. One of the team's first tasks in the field is to create a soil
burn severity map using BARC data provided by the BAER Imagery Support
Program.

BehavePlus

33
https://www.frames.gov/behaveplus/home
The BehavePlus fire modeling system is a Windows® based computer
program that can be used for any fire management application that involves
modeling fire behavior and some fire effects. The system is composed of a
collection of mathematical models that describe fire behavior and the fire
environment. The program simulates rate of fire spread, spotting distance,
scorch height, tree mortality, fuel moisture, wind adjustment factor, as well as
other variables; so it is used to predict fire behavior in multiple situations.

Some applications include:

● Predicting the behavior of an ongoing fire. Historically, this was the
original use for Behave as described by Rothermel (1983) in "​How to
Predict the Spread and Intensity of Forest and Range Fires​." Today, the
modern version of Behave, BehavePlus Version 6.0.0 Beta, is even more
powerful for predicting fire behavior during wildfires and prescribed
fires in the United States and other countries because of its expanded
features and capabilities.
● Planning fire treatments. Contingency planning depends on a number
of fire variables, such as spotting distance, probability of ignition, spot
fire growth, and probability of containment. All of these are modeled
within BehavePlus to facilitate planning of prescribed fires for ecological
restoration or fuel reduction programs.
● Assessing fuel hazard. BehavePlus allows for easy manipulation of fuel
moistures and wind conditions. Variations in these factors affect fire
behavior in surface and crown fuels so understanding the sensitivity of
fuels to moisture and wind is essential to assessing whether fuel has the
potential to burn or whether planned treatments may be dangerous to
fire fighters or the public.
● Understanding fire behavior. Modeling systems are excellent sources for
educating and training personnel on the subtleties of fire behavior. The
complex interactions among fire, fuel, moisture, and wind can be easily
explored in BehavePlus by changing input variables and fuel conditions
for each model run. This makes BehavePlus well suited to learning
about fire behavior, while preparing personnel to better understand and

34
 apply outputs from spatial fire behavior modeling systems based on
similar equations.

BehavePlus development history:

The DOS BEHAVE fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system was first
available to the field in 1984. Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) funded a
much-needed redesign and update to the BehavePlus fire modeling system
version 1.0 in 2002. Each version update has offered additional features and
fire modeling capabilities. Version 2 was released in 2003, Version 3 in 2005,
Version 4 in 2008, Version 5 in 2009, and Version 6 in 2018. The Fire
Characteristics Chart was released in 2011 and updated in 2013. A description
of changes from the old BEHAVE system through each version of BehavePlus is
available as a ​PDF​.

Fire modeling capabilities:

Many fire models are available, organized according to modules. Following is
a summary of some of the fire modeling capabilities in BehavePlus, by
module.
● SURFACE module
o Surface fire behavior, including rate of spread and flame length
o Includes the standard fuel models (13 + 40)
o Allows for custom fuel model development and use
o Special case fuel models including palmetto-gallberry, western
aspen, and chaparral
● CROWN module
o Crown fire behavior, including rate of spread and flame length
o Transition from surface to crown fire
o Fire type - surface, torching, conditional crown, crowning
o Flame length and intensity
● SIZE module
o Assumes a point source fire with steady-state spread
o Perimeter
o Shape (length-to-width ratio)
o Area

35
 ● CONTAIN module
o Fire containment of a point source fire
o Containment success based on available resources (single or
multiple)
o Final size, fireline constructed
● SPOT module
o Maximum spotting distance
o Torching trees
o Active crown fire
o Burning pile
o Wind-driven surface fire
● SCORCH module
o Crown scorch height from surface fire flame length and flame tilt
● MORTALITY module
o Tree mortality
o Probability of mortality from crown scorch
● IGNITE module
o Probability of ignition from a firebrand
o Probability of ignition from lightning
● Fire Characteristics Chart
o Graphical representation of modeled or observed fire behavior for
- Surface Fire Behavior
- Crown Fire Behavior
- Fire Danger Rating

Bluesky

https://sites.google.com/firenet.gov/wfaqrp-airfire/data/bluesky?authuser=0
BlueSky is a modeling framework. BlueSky modularly links a variety of
independent models of fire information, fuel loading, fire consumption, fire
emissions, and smoke dispersion. At each modeling step, BlueSky has several
different specific models from which to choose. BlueSky is not a model per se

36
because many different modeling pathways are possible within BlueSky.
BlueSky wraps models into modular software objects and provides a structure
that connects these objects together and enables information to be passed
between objects. The wrapper code is written in Python, but many of the
models themselves are in other languages with the Python code simply
creating the necessary input files and then running the model code.

BlueSky connects models together and makes them easy to run in

combination. Therefore BlueSky can enable:
● the lookup of fuels information from fuel maps
● the calculation of total and hourly fire consumption based on fuel
loadings and weather information
● the calculation of speciated emissions (such as CO2 or PM2.5) from a
fire
● the calculation of vertical plume profiles produced by a fire
● the calculation of likely trajectories of smoke parcels given off by a fire
● the calculation of downstream smoke concentrations.

CAWFE
Coupled Atmospheric Wildland Fire Environment

http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/people/coen/files/newpage_c.html
The CAWFE modeling system combines a numerical weather prediction
(NWP) model that predicts how weather varies in time and space even in
complex terrain with wildland fire behavior modules. These components are
connected in two directions such that the evolving wind, along with fuel
properties and terrain slope, directs where the fire grows and how fast, while
heat released by the fire modifies its atmospheric environment thereby
creating its own weather (e.g., fire-induced winds). CAWFE was developed
recognizing that fires interact with the atmosphere surrounding them and
that this produces many fundamental fire behaviors. Research applying
CAWFE showed that fire-atmosphere interactions produce numerous

37
wildland fire phenomena, including the commonly-observed bowed shape;
the heading, flanks, and backing regions; fire whirls; horizontal roll vortices.

CAWFE has been applied to many landscape-scale wildland fire events in

varying fuel, terrain, and weather conditions. Provided that a coupled model
can reproduce fine-scale (100s of meters) circulations and include fire
feedbacks on atmospheric motions, models such as CAWFE can simulate
overall rate and direction of spread, distinguishing characteristics of fire
events, and transitions in fire behavior. CAWFE has reproduced other fire
phenomena and illuminated the conditions in which they form, such as
distinctive shapes of the fire perimeter, pyrocumulus, firenadoes, horizontal
roll vortices, flank runs, rotating plumes, and the splitting or merging of fire
lines.

D3

https://d3js.org/
D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3
helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS. D3’s emphasis on web
standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying
yourself to a proprietary framework, combining powerful visualization
components and a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation.

Data Basin
https://databasin.org

As environmental conservation problems become more serious and the

demand to solve them grows more urgent, it is critical that science, practice,
policy, and people are integrated in stronger ways. A team of scientists,
software engineers, and educators at the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI)
built Data Basin with the strong conviction that we can expand our individual

38
and collective ability to develop sustainable solutions by empowering more
people through access to spatial data, non-technical tools, and collaborative
networks.

The core of Data Basin is free and provides open access to thousands of
scientifically-grounded, biological, physical, and socio-economic datasets​.
This user-friendly platform enables people with varying levels of technical
expertise to:
● Explore and organize data & information
● Create custom visualizations, drawings, & analyses
● Utilize collaborative tools in groups
● Publish datasets, maps, & galleries
● Develop decision-support and custom tools

Data Basin supports researchers, natural resource managers, advocates,

teachers, students, and members of the engaged public. Members create
and participate in working groups where they can visualize, draw, comment,
and discuss relevant topics or geographies. Data Basin breaks down barriers
to ​collaboration​ and negotiation for users affiliated with universities,
non-profits, tribes, companies, and local, state, federal, and national
governments.

Example Data Basin Mapping Tool

http://ceipa.databasin.org/

DATIM
Design and Analysis Toolkit for Inventory and Monitoring

https://www.fs.fed.us/emc/rig/DATIM/index.shtml
The Design and Analysis Toolkit for Inventory and Monitoring (DATIM) project is
a collaborative effort between the National Forest System (NFS) and Forest
Service (FS) Research and Development (R&D), Forest Inventory and Analysis

39
(FIA), and Ecosystem Management Coordination (EMC) staff. The DATIM core
team comprises both R&D and NFS staff from resource inventory and forest
planning programs. The DATIM project has four modules:
● Design Tool for Inventory and Monitoring (DTIM) assists national forests
and grasslands and other users in determining objectives, questions,
and metrics for monitoring plans.
● Analysis Tool for Inventory and Monitoring (ATIM) enables users to
analyze vegetation data to derive estimates of current conditions and
trends on the Forest and surrounding landscapes.
● Spatial Intersection Tool (SIT) enables users to add spatial attributes to
DATIM datasets for use in ATIM.
● DATIM Compilation System (DCS) enables users to add supplemental
Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) attributes to DATIM datasets for use
in ATIM.

EcObject
Ecological Object Based Vegetation Mapping

Derived from aerial-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data,

EcObject is created from LiDAR-derived tree approximate objects and then
aggregated by stand and tree-level ecological relationships. The resulting
segments are then populated with a collection of traditional and
contemporary metrics at scales that benefit both project-level planning and
large-landscape analysis.

eDaRT

http://www.cstarsd3s.ucdavis.edu/systems#a-sys-drt
http://www.cstarsd3s.ucdavis.edu/portfolio/edart-sosierra-mortality16/
eDaRT is an automated system for satellite image processing, including a suite of
advanced algorithms and a software toolbox that detects and categorizes changes in

40
forested, shrubland, and herbaceous ecosystems. Currently, the primary input data
source for eDaRT is Landsat imagery. All available Landsat images can be processed,
providing frequent and robust monitoring.

EMDS
Ecosystem Management Decision Support

https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/tools/ecosystem-management-decision-supp
ort-system
EMDS is a state-of-the-art modeling framework for decision support of
environmental analysis and planning at multiple geographic scales. The
system integrates geographic information system data, logic-based
reasoning, and a variety of decision-modeling technologies to provide
explicit, practical decision support for strategic and tactical planning as well
as adaptive management. Because the EMDS is a generic solution framework,
it can be applied to an extremely broad array of problems at all spatial
scales.

Typical applications include landscape restoration, watershed analysis, and

fish and wildlife management. All inputs are user defined and based on the
data requirements of the various modeling systems employed in the EMDS
analyses. Each of the EMDS analytical tools (see description) output maps
that display the evaluated state of the landscape units.

FF+
FireFamilyPlus

https://www.firelab.org/project/firefamilyplus
FireFamily+ (FF+) is a software package used to calculate fuel moistures and
indices from the US National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) using hourly
or daily fire weather observations primarily from Remote Automated Weather

41
Stations (RAWS). NFDRS use is mandated for fire preparedness and response
decisions by all Federal and most State agencies and is operationally run with
USFS FAM Weather Information Management System (WIMS).

FF+ has several subsystems. First, it provides all the necessary model
calculations to produce fuel moistures and fire danger indices for the NFDRS
1978, 1988 and the newly added NFDRS2016 and well as the Canadian Forest
Fire Danger Rating System and the Fosberg Fire Weather Index. When using
appropriate hourly fire weather data, usually provided in an FW13 text format,
the system can calculate hourly Nelson dead fuel moistures, daily Growing
Season Index-based live fuel moistures and all associated fire danger indices
such as the Energy Release Component, Burning Index, Spread Component
and Ignition Component as part of the new NFDRS2016. Second, the system
includes the ability to compare fire danger indices to agency fire reports and
use this information to establish breakpoints for decision making on local
units. Finally, FF+ includes a suite of climatological tools to explore and display
seasonal variations in fire danger to better assess and communicate
conditions as they change throughout a fire season or from year-to-year.

FlamMap

https://www.firelab.org/project/flammap
FlamMap is a fire analysis desktop application that runs in a 64-bit Windows
Operating System environment. It can simulate potential fire behavior
characteristics (spread rate, flame length, fireline intensity, etc.), fire growth
and spread and conditional burn probabilities under constant environmental
conditions (weather and fuel moisture). With the inclusion of FARSITE it can
now compute wildfire growth and behavior for longer time periods under
heterogeneous conditions of terrain, fuels, fuel moistures and weather.)

42
FORSEE
Forest and Stand Evaluation Environment

http://forsee.iefc.net/
http://courses.washington.edu/fe341/projects/settings_98/report/forsee/forse
e.html

FVS
Forest Vegetation Simulator

https://www.fs.fed.us/fvs/
The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a forest growth simulation model. It
simulates forest vegetation change in response to natural succession,
disturbances, and management. It recognizes all major tree species and can
simulate nearly any type of management or disturbance at any time during
the simulation. Outputs include tree volumes, biomass, density, canopy cover,
harvest yields, fire effects, and much, much more.

Google Earth Engine

https://earthengine.google.com/
Google Earth Engine combines a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery
and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysis capabilities and
makes it available for scientists, researchers, and developers to ​detect
changes, map trends, and quantify differences​ on the Earth's surface.

Google Earth Engine is a computing platform that allows users to run

geospatial analysis on Google's infrastructure. There are several ways to
interact with the platform. The Code Editor is a web-based IDE for writing and
running scripts. The Explorer is a lightweight web app for exploring our data
catalog and running simple analyses. The client libraries provide Python and
JavaScript wrappers around our web API.

43
IFTDSS
Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System

https://iftdss.firenet.gov/landing_page
The Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) is a
web-based application designed to make fuels treatment planning and
analysis more efficient and effective. IFTDSS provides access to data and
models through one simple user interface. It is available to all interested
users, regardless of agency or organizational affiliation.

IFTDSS is designed to address the planning needs of users with a variety of

skills, backgrounds, and needs. A simple and intuitive interface provides the
ability to model fire behavior across an area of interest under a variety of
weather conditions and easily generate downloadable maps, graphs, and
tables of model results. Additionally, the application provides a step by step
process for testing a variety of fuels treatment impacts (thin, clear cut,
prescribed burn) on fire behavior and comparing results to determine which
modeled treatment best achieves desired results in terms of reduced fire
behavior potential. It can be used at a variety of scales from local to
landscape level.

IFTDSS hosts a complete set of reference data available for the entire US
including LANDFIRE fuels information, SILVIS Wildland Urban Interface, Agency
Ownership, as well as a modern map interface allowing users to create or
upload their own data.

44
HIGRAD/FIRETEC

https://www.frames.gov/firetec/home
https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/forest-woodland/higrad-firetec/
HIGRAD/FIRETEC is a physics-based, 3-D computer code designed to simulate
the constantly changing, interactive relationship between fire and its
environment. It does so by representing the coupled interaction between fire,
fuels, atmosphere, and topography on a landscape scale (100s or 1000s of
meters).

HIGRAD is a computational fluid-dynamics model that represents airflow and

its adjustments to terrain, different types of fuel (vegetation), and the fire
itself.
FIRETEC combines physics models that represent combustion, heat transfer,
aerodynamic drag and turbulence.

How is HIGRAD/FIRETEC used?

45
Unlike the empirically based models currently used in the field, FIRETEC
simulates the dynamic processes that occur within a fire and the way those
processes feed off and alter each other. FIRETEC takes the huge
computational resources at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to run, so it is
currently a research tool only.

APPLICATIONS
FIRETEC provides a sophisticated analytical tool for fire, fuel, and land
managers
● Predicting wildfire behavior in rugged terrain under different
atmospheric conditions.
● Optimizing fuel-management strategies (thinning, controlled burns,
etc.)
● Investigating how fire interacts with various fuels
● Determining the causes of dangerous changes in a wildfire's behavior
● Providing realistic simulations for training inexperienced fire fighters,
and
● Complementing and enhancing existing empirical fire models to make
them more reliable.

LANDFIRE

https://landfire.gov
The LF Program provides 20+ national geo-spatial layers (e.g. vegetation, fuel,
disturbance, etc.), databases, and ecological models that are available to the
public for the US and insular areas.

LANDIS
Landscape Disturbance and Succession

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/tools/landis/

46
http://www.landis-ii.org/home
LANDIS is a forest landscape model designed to simulate forest growth,
competition, seed dispersal succession, and disturbances (including fire,
wind, harvesting, insects, global change), across large (>1 million ha)
landscapes. LANDIS represents landscapes as a grid of cells and tracks age
cohorts of each species (presence/absence or biomass) rather than
individual trees. LANDIS simulates distinct ecological processes, allowing
complex interactions to play out as emergent properties of the simulation.

Landsat

https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Landsat 8 is an American Earth observation satellite launched on February 11,
2013. It is the eighth satellite in the Landsat program; the seventh to reach
orbit successfully. Originally called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission
(LDCM), it is a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological
Survey (USGS). NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,
provided development, mission systems engineering, and acquisition of the
launch vehicle while the USGS provided for development of the ground
systems and will conduct on-going mission operations.

The satellite was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, who served as prime
contractor for the mission. The spacecraft's instruments were constructed by
Ball Aerospace and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and its launch was
contracted to United Launch Alliance. During the first 108 days in orbit, LDCM
underwent checkout and verification by NASA and on 30 May 2013 operations
were transferred from NASA to the USGS when LDCM was officially renamed to
Landsat 8. It is collecting valuable data and imagery used in agriculture,
education, business, science, and government.

47
The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution
multispectral data of the Earth’s surface on a global basis. The data from
Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record of the Earth’s continental
surfaces as seen from space. It is a record unmatched in quality, detail,
coverage, and value.

LiDAR
Light Detection and Ranging

LiDAR is a ​surveying​ method that measures distance to a target by illuminating the

target with ​laser​ light and measuring the reflected light with a sensor. Differences in laser
return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital ​3-D representations​ of
the target. The name ​lidar​, now used as an acronym of ​light detection and ranging[1]
​
(sometimes, ​light imaging, detection, and ranging)​ , was originally a ​portmanteau​ of ​light
and ​radar.​ [2]​
​ [3]​ Lidar sometimes is called ​3D laser scanning​, a special combination of a
3D scanning​ and ​laser scanning​. It has terrestrial, airborne, and mobile applications.

LUCAS
Land Use and Carbon Scenario Simulator

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/wgsc/science/lucas-model?qt-science_cent
er_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

The Land Use and Carbon Scenario Simulator (LUCAS) tracks changes in land
use, land cover, land management, and disturbance, and their impacts on
ecosystem carbon storage and flux.
The LUCAS model combines:
● State-and-Transition Simulation Model to simulate changes in
land-use across a range of geographic scales.

48
 ● Stock and Flow Model to track the movement of carbon between
different “pools” including interactions between land and atmosphere.
● Linkage to the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) dynamic global
vegetation model.

State-and-Transition Simulation Models (STSM)

The STSM model is used to simulate changes in land use and land cover
classes resulting from changes due to:
● Urbanization
● Agricultural expansion and contraction
● Forest harvest, wildfire
● Wildfire and other processes.

We use Monte Carlo methods to capture and reflect model and data
uncertainties. We use an ecological framework known as ​ecoregions ​to
stratify the United States into discrete units.

A diagram of the state and transition model for LUCAS (Public domain)

49
The LUCAS model was developed within ​ST-Sim ​, a free software tool built by
ApexRMS, for developing and running STSMs. ​The SyncroSim wiki page
provides more information on STSMs and getting started with ST-Sim. Also,
check out this video on ​incorporating uncertainty into land-change
projections ​with STSMs.

Stock and Flow Model

LUCAS carbon modeling is done using a simple stock-flow approach. Carbon
pools are defined as a set of stocks, and flows are used to move carbon
between stocks over time. We define two primary types of flows; automatic
flows occur every year and include transfers of carbon from growth, mortality,
and emission. Event-based flows are used to move carbon between stocks
when a change in the land system occurs, such as removal of biomass from
logging or urbanization. To parameterize the stock-flow model we use
biogeochemical models, such as the ​Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS)​ to
derive regional carbon flux rates.

50
A diagram of stock and flux for IBIS carbon pools (Public domain)

Mapbox

https://www.mapbox.com
We craft beautiful maps and developer-friendly location data, APIs, and SDKs
so that you’re free to focus on designing, building, and developing your
application. Our open-source tools let analytics companies understand big
geo data, drone companies publish flyovers, real estate sites visualize
properties, satellite companies process cloud-free imagery, and insurance
companies track assets.

MATLAB

https://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab.html
MATLAB® combines a desktop environment tuned for iterative analysis and
design processes with a programming language that expresses matrix and
array mathematics directly. It includes the ​Live Editor​ for creating scripts that
combine code, output, and formatted text in an executable notebook.

MTBS
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity

https://www.mtbs.gov/
https://www.mtbs.gov/viewer/index.html
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) is an interagency program whose
goal is to consistently map the burn severity and extent of large fires across
all lands of the United States from 1984 to present. This includes all fires 1000
acres or greater in the western United States and 500 acres or greater in the

51
eastern United States. The extent of coverage includes the continental U.S.,
Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

The program is conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey Center for Earth
Resources Observation and Science (EROS) and the USDA Forest Service
Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC). MTBS was first
enacted in 2005, primarily to meet the information needs of the Wildland Fire
Leadership Council (WFLC). The primary objective at that time was to provide
data to the WFLC for monitoring the effectiveness of the ten-year National Fire
Plan. The scope of the program has grown since inception and provides data
to a wide range of users. These include national policy-makers such as WFLC
and others who are focused on implementing and monitoring national fire
management strategies; field management units such as national forests,
parks and other federal and tribal lands that benefit from the availability of
GIS-ready maps and data; other federal land cover mapping programs such
as LANDFIRE which utilizes burn severity data in their own efforts; and
academic and agency research entities interested in fire severity data over
significant geographic and temporal extents.

NAIP
National Agriculture Imagery Program

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/aerial-photography/imag
ery-programs/naip-imagery/
The National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) acquires aerial imagery
during the agricultural growing seasons in the continental U.S. A primary goal
of the NAIP program is to make digital ortho photography available to
governmental agencies and the public within a year of acquisition.

NAIP is administered by the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) through the
Aerial Photography Field Office in Salt Lake City. This "leaf-on" imagery is used

52
as a base layer for GIS programs in FSA's County Service Centers, and is used
to maintain the Common Land Unit (CLU) boundaries.

NSLRSDA
National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/national-satellite-land-remote-
sensing-data-archive?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_o
bjects
The National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA) resides at
the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science
(EROS) Center. Through the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, the U.S.
Congress directed the Department of the Interior (DOI) to establish a
permanent Government archive containing satellite remote sensing data of
the Earth's land surface and to make this data easily accessible and readily
available. This unique DOI/USGS archive provides a comprehensive,
permanent, and impartial observational record of the planet's land surface
obtained throughout more than five decades of satellite remote sensing.
Satellite-derived data and information products are primary sources used to
detect and understand changes such as deforestation, desertification,
agricultural crop vigor, water quality, invasive plant species, and certain
natural hazards such as flood extent and wildfire scars.

Open Foris

http://www.openforis.org
What is Open Foris?
Open Foris is a set of free and open-source software tools that facilitates
flexible and efficient data collection, analysis and reporting.

53
Government, research institutions and NGOs use these tools for a wide range
of monitoring purposes such as:
● Forest Inventories
● Climate Change reporting
● Socio-economic surveys
● Biodiversity assessment
● Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry measurement
● Deforestation monitoring with remote sensing
● Detecting desertification and trees outside of forest

The initiative is a collaborative effort of numerous public and private

institutions and it is hosted by the Forestry Department of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Collect
Easy and flexible survey design and data management

Collect Mobile
Intuitive data collection and validation in the field

Calc
Efficient and collaborative data analysis and results dissemination

Collect Earth
Innovative land assessment through freely available satellite imagery

Collect Earth Online

Online Land Monitoring tool for crowd-sourcing of augmented visually
interpreted data

SEPAL
System for earth observation, data access, processing, analysis for land
monitoring

54
OpenNRM

http://www.34north.com/opennrm/overview/
OpenNRM is a collaborative resource management platform for data and
information collection, analysis, reporting, and visualization. Since 1999, 34
North has been an innovator in collaborative natural resource management
technologies and data solutions. Our unique software platform, OpenNRM ,
and data service offerings help our clients to turn data into valuable real time
information.

OpenNRM applications include:

Collaborative Natural Resource Management and Planning
Ecosystem Restoration Project Management
Collaborative Data Management and Access, Open Data
Collaborative Science
Water Operations
Monitoring Programs
Watershed and Estuary Management
Regulatory Compliance and Reporting
Fisheries Management
Inter-agency Collaboration
Climate Adaptation
Conservation
Policy and Public Outreach

OpenStreetMap

https://www.openstreetmap.org/
OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and
maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all
over the world.

55
OpenStreetMap emphasizes local knowledge. Contributors use aerial
imagery, GPS devices, and low-tech field maps to verify that OSM is accurate
and up to date.

OpenStreetMap's community is diverse, passionate, and growing every day.

Our contributors include enthusiast mappers, GIS professionals, engineers
running the OSM servers, humanitarians mapping disaster-affected areas,
and many more.

OpenStreetMap is open data: you are free to use it for any purpose as long as
you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. If you alter or build upon the
data in certain ways, you may distribute the result only under the same
licence.

PFIRS
Prescribed Fire Information Reporting System

https://ssl.arb.ca.gov/pfirs/
PFIRS ("P-furs") serves as an interface between air quality managers, land
management agencies, and individuals that conduct prescribed burning in
California. It is intended to facilitate communications on planned burns and
approvals. PFIRS enables individuals involved in prescribed burning the ability
to view this information on a statewide level.

PFIRS is a joint project of the California Air Resources Board, federal land
management agencies, local air districts, and various fire agencies.

Planet Labs

https://planet.com

56
Planet Labs, Inc. (formerly Cosmogia, Inc.) is an American private Earth
imaging company based in San Francisco, CA. Their goal is to image the
entirety of the planet daily to monitor changes and pinpoint trends. The
company designs and manufactures Triple-CubeSat miniature satellites
called Doves that are then delivered into orbit as secondary payloads on
other rocket launch missions. Each Dove is equipped with a high-powered
telescope and camera programmed to capture different swaths of Earth.
Each Dove Earth observation satellite continuously scans Earth, sending data
once it passes over a ground station. Together, Doves form the largest
satellite constellation in the world that provides a complete image of Earth
once per day at 3–5 m optical resolution. This is accomplished through a
technique called a line scan, which allows for continuous, high resolution
imagery due to the fact that this type of camera is not restricted to specific
vertical resolution.

The images gathered by Doves, which can be accessed online and some of
which is available under an open data access policy, provide up-to-date
information relevant to climate monitoring, crop yield prediction, urban
planning, and disaster response. With acquisition of BlackBridge in July 2015,
Planet Labs had 87 Dove and 5 RapidEye satellites launched into orbit. In 2017,
Planet launched an additional 88 Dove satellites, and Google sold its
subsidiary Terra Bella and its SkySat satellite constellation to Planet Labs. The
combined batches of Doves form the largest constellation ever put into orbit.
By September 2018 the company had launched nearly 300 satellites, 150 of
which are active.

QGIS
Quantum Geographic Information System

https://qgis.org
A Free and Open Source Geographic Information System

57
QGIS is a professional GIS application that is built on top of and proud to be
itself Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

Create, edit, visualise, analyse and publish geospatial information on

Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD (Android coming soon)

https://www.r-project.org
R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is
a ​GNU project​ which is similar to the S language and environment which was
developed at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T, now Lucent Technologies) by
John Chambers and colleagues. R can be considered as a different
implementation of S. There are some important differences, but much code
written for S runs unaltered under R.

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling,

classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, …) and
graphical techniques, and is highly extensible. The S language is often the
vehicle of choice for research in statistical methodology, and R provides an
Open Source route to participation in that activity.

One of R’s strengths is the ease with which well-designed publication-quality

plots can be produced, including mathematical symbols and formulae where
needed. Great care has been taken over the defaults for the minor design
choices in graphics, but the user retains full control.

RAVG
Rapid Assessment of Vegetation Characteristics after Wildfire

​https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/ravg/

58
The RAVG program, managed by the USDA Forest Service Geospatial
Technology and Applications Center (GTAC), provides a rapid initial
assessment of post-fire vegetation condition following large wildfires on
National Forests. This website provides general information about RAVG, as
well as access to RAVG data for individual fires, data summaries based on
user-defined queries, and annual data compilations.

RMLands
Rocky Mountain Landscape Simulator

https://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/rmlands/rmlands.html
During the past several years, a small team of scientists at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) and Colorado State University (CSU) has
developed RMLands: Rocky Mountain Landscape Simulator. RMLands is a
computer software program designed to simulate natural (e.g., fire) and
anthropogenic (e.g., logging) disturbances and succession processes in the
Rocky Mountains. The software is being developed to aid Forest Service
planners evaluate the historic range of variation in landscape structure and
wildlife habitat, and to evaluate the potential consequences of alternative
future land management scenarios.

Sentinel-2

https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/home
Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission from the Copernicus Programme
that systematically acquires optical imagery at high spatial resolution (10 m
to 60 m) over land and coastal waters. The mission is a constellation with two
twin satellites, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B.

The mission supports a broad range of services and applications such as

agricultural monitoring, emergency management, land cover classification or
water quality.

59
Sierra Water Work Group - localized GIS apps

Sierra Water Workgroup has launched a series of watershed management

GIS apps with and for Sierra Nevada IRWM regions and their stakeholders.
Tahoe-Sierra IRWM App
Yosemite-Mariposa IRWM App
CABY IRWM App
Upper Sacramento River IRWM App
The Inyo-Mono IRWM App & Lahontan Basin IRWM App coming soon!

Simtable

https://www.simtable.com/
Simtable provides digital sandtables and customized agent-based models to
the wildland fire, emergency management, defense and urban security
communities and colleges and universities. Based in Santa Fe, NM, Simtable is
a world leader in agent-based modeling, data visualization and human
computer interaction.

Combining existing GIS data with next generation agent-based modeling and
ambient computing, Simtable provides a straightforward easy to use
approach in incident response and training. Customized models of
communities and populations provide a truly interactive experience in
all-hazards simulations.

Topofire

https://topofire.dbs.umt.edu/topofire_v3/index.php

60
A topographically resolved drought and wildfire danger monitoring system for
the conterminous US

WFA
Wildfire Analyst

61
https://www.wildfireanalyst.com/
Real-time wildfire modeling that provides stakeholders the information they
need to make more informed decisions.

62
Wildfire Analyst is software that provides real-time analysis of wildfire
behavior and simulates the spread of wildfires. Behavior analysis and
simulations are completed in seconds, providing results that afford timely
decision making.

For wildland fire, time is of the essence, and Wildfire Analyst was specifically
architected to support initial attack situations, giving the Fire Chief and
Incident Commander the critical intelligence needed to support suppression
and resource allocation.

Wildfire Analyst provides a range of analytical outputs, available as GIS maps,

charts, and reports, that empower more accurate and timely decision
making. Whether through the desktop platform, or web and mobile enabled
applications, capabilities and results are deployed to those who need it, when
they need it, without delay.

63
WFAS
Wildland Fire Assessment System

http://www.wfas.net/
The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS)​ ​is an integrated, web-based
resource to support fire management decisions. It serves as the primary
distribution platform for spatial fire danger data to a nationwide user base of
federal, state, and local land managers. This web-based platform saw over
41,100 users with nearly 200,000 page views during 2014. The system provides
multi-temporal and multi-spatial views of fire weather and fire potential,
including fuel moistures and fire danger classes from the NFDRS, as well as
Keetch-Byram and Palmer drought indices, lower atmospheric stability
indicators, and satellite-derived vegetation conditions. It also provides fire
potential forecasts from 24 hours to 30 days.

WFDS
Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator

https://sites.google.com/site/wuifiresfiremodels/
https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/wfds/#4b
The Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator (WFDS) is an extension
of ​NIST​'s structural ​Fire Dynamics Simulator​ (FDS) to fuels that include
vegetation. WFDS uses computational fluid dynamics methods to solve the
governing equations for buoyant flow, heat transfer, combustion, and the
thermal degradation of vegetative fuels. The solution method makes use of
large eddy simulation techniques to solve the gas-phase equations on
computational grids that are too coarse to directly resolve the detailed
physical phenomena.

64
This model suite is developed under a U.S. Forest Service and National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) partnership with past funding from the
Joint Fire Science Program.

The WFDS model suite currently consists of two models:

WFDS-PB is a physics based model that explicitly accounts for the interactions
between wind, fuel, terrain, and fire using the methods of computational fluid
mechanics and numerical combustion.

WFDS-LS is a level set based fire front propagation model that requires user
specified spread rates for the head, back, and flank fire. This model is
commensurate with the U.S. Forest Service model FARSITE.

The results of both WFDS models can be viewed with the visualization
Smokeview, developed by NIST. Input files for both models are similar.

Interra: Enterprise Geospatial Portal

https://egp.nwcg.gov/egp/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fegp%2f

Intterra is used to protect our nation’s forests. Over 6,000 firefighters access
Intterra to monitor, cooperate, support, and protect the lands governed by the
United States Forest Service.

WFDSS
Wildland Fire Decision Support System

https://wfdss.usgs.gov/wfdss/WFDSS_Home.shtml
This system assists fire managers and analysts in making strategic and
tactical decisions for fire incidents. It has replaced the WFSA (Wildland Fire
Situation Analysis), Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP), and Long-Term
Implementation Plan (LTIP) processes with a single process that is easier to

65
use, more intuitive, linear, scalable, and progressively responsive to changing
fire complexity.

WFDSS integrates the various applications used to manage incidents into a

single system, which streamlines the analysis and reporting processes.

WFDSS provides the following advantages over previous systems:

● Combines desktop applications for fire modeling into a web-based
system for easier ​data​ acquisition.
● Provides an easy way for fire managers and analysts to accurately
document their decision-making process by allowing results of
analyses to be attached to the decision ​point​ and included in the final
incident report.
● Provides one decision process and documentation system for all types
of wildland fires.
● Is a web-based application for easier sharing of analyses and reports
across all levels of the federal wildland fire organization.
● Introduces economic principles into the fire decision process.

WIFIRE

https://wifire.ucsd.edu/
The WIFIRE Lab develops integrated systems for natural hazards monitoring,
simulation, and response. Our mission is to conduct research and
development towards infrastructure, services and tools for artificial
intelligence integrated fire science.

WIFIRE Lab grew out of an NSF-funded project called WIFIRE, where we grew
our passion for integrated wildfire modeling and response.

Although, the WIFIRE Cyberinfrastructure is built with a primary goal of

enhancing fire science, it has been impactful in operational fire response and

66
public situational awareness settings. As an example for the system’s public
impact, through word-of-mouth and social media the Firemap tool was
accessed by 800,000 public users over 8 million times to view information
related to the devastating wildfires in California throughout the fall of 2017.

WIMS
Weather Information Management System

https://famit.nwcg.gov/applications/WIMS
WIMS is a mission critical, national system, managed and maintained by
USDA, Forest Service's Fire and Aviation Management (F&AM) branch for
interagency use. WIMS serves as the processor for the National Fire Danger
Rating System (NFDRS), using weather observations and NWS forecast to
generate indices, including Burning Index (BI), Energy Release component
(ERC), Staffing Level (SL) and the Adjective Rating.

Vega

https://vega.github.io/vega/
Vega is a visualization grammar, a declarative language for creating, saving,
and sharing interactive visualization designs. With Vega, you can describe the
visual appearance and interactive behavior of a visualization in a JSON
format, and generate web-based views using Canvas or SVG.

67
Programs, governance,
standards & frameworks
CEQA
The California Environmental Quality Act

http://opr.ca.gov/ceqa/
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) generally requires state and
local government agencies to inform decision makers and the public about
the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects, and to reduce
those environmental impacts to the extent feasible. If a project subject to
CEQA will not cause any adverse environmental impacts, a public agency
may adopt a brief document known as a Negative Declaration. If the project
may cause adverse environmental impacts, the public agency must prepare
a more detailed study called an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). An EIR
contains in-depth studies of potential impacts, measures to reduce or avoid
those impacts, and an analysis of alternatives to the project. A key feature of
the CEQA process is the opportunity for the public to review and provide input
on both Negative Declarations and EIRs.

The laws and rules governing the CEQA process are contained in the CEQA
statute (Public Resources Code Section 21000 and following), the CEQA
Guidelines (California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15000 and
following), published court decisions interpreting CEQA, and locally adopted
CEQA procedures.

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The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) serves several
important functions in the administration of CEQA. First, together with the
Natural Resources Agency, OPR develops the CEQA Guidelines. The CEQA
Guidelines are administrative regulations interpreting the CEQA statute and
published court decisions. Second, OPR runs the State Clearinghouse which
coordinates state level review of CEQA documents. Third, in certain
circumstances, OPR may designate a lead agency. Finally, OPR provides
technical assistance to state and local government agencies, including the
development of technical advisories on selected CEQA topics.

CWHR
California Wildlife Habitat Relationships

https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CWHR
California Wildlife Habitat Relationships (CWHR) is a state-of-the-art
information system for California's wildlife. CWHR contains life history,
geographic range, habitat relationships, and management information on 712
species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals known to occur in the
state. CWHR products aid in understanding, conserving, and managing
California's wildlife.

● CWHR Life History Accounts and Range Maps​ (online): Life history
information and geographic range data by season on 712
regularly-occurring species. Species range GIS data are available
below under GIS data downloads.
● A complete species list (PDF)​ of California's 1000+ terrestrial
vertebrates.
● Guide to Wildlife Habitats of California​: a standardized habitat
classification scheme for California containing 59 habitats, structural
stages for most habitats, and 124 special habitat elements.

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 ● CWHR Model and BIOVIEW (CWHR Version 9.0): A community-level
matrix model associating 712 wildlife species to these standard habitats
and stages - rating suitability for reproduction, cover, and feeding.

National Preparedness Level

The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (MAC) establishes National

Preparedness Levels throughout the calendar year to help assure that
wildland firefighting resources are ready to respond to new incidents.
Preparedness Levels are dictated by burning conditions, fire activity, and
especially resource availability.

The five Preparedness Levels range from I to V, with V being the highest level.
Each Preparedness Level has specific management directions. As the
Preparedness Levels rise, more federal and state employees become
available for fire mobilization if needed.

NEPA
National Environmental Policy Act

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental

law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the
President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on
January 1, 1970. To date, more than 100 nations around the world have
enacted national environmental policies modeled after NEPA.

Prior to NEPA, Federal agencies were mission oriented. An example of mission

orientation was to select highway routes as the shortest route between two
points. NEPA was necessary to require Federal agencies to evaluate the
environmental effects of their actions. 2–3 NEPA's most significant outcome
was the requirement that all executive Federal agencies prepare

70
environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements
(EISs). These reports state the potential environmental effects of proposed
Federal agency actions. Further the U.S. Congress recognizes that each
person has a responsibility to preserve and enhance the environment as
trustees for succeeding generations. NEPA's procedural requirements do not
apply to the President, Congress, or the Federal courts since they are not a
"Federal agency" by definition. However, a Federal agency taking action
under authority ordered by the President may be a final agency action
subject to NEPA's procedural requirements.

NFDRS
National Fire Danger Rating System

https://sites.google.com/firenet.gov/nfdrs
The National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) has offered a consistent
interagency decision-support framework since its inception in 1972. The
System was first updated in 1978; and again in 1988. Although the original
developers intended for periodic improvements to be incorporated as
science and technology improved, the System has remained fundamentally
unchanged the past 40 years. Today, there is an even greater need for
state-of-the-art tools to assist the wildland fire community sort through the
daunting complexities and conflicting priorities which can confound
decision-makers.
In 2013, research scientists from the USDA Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain
Research Station (RMRS) proposed updates to the National Wildfire
Coordinating Group (NWCG) Fire Danger Subcommittee. In September 2014,
the NWCG Executive Board issued​ Memorandum 14-018​, approving a revision
to the US National Fire Danger Rating System. Three significant changes were
addressed:
1. Incorporate the Growing Season Index (GSI) to compute live fuel
moisture;

71
 2. Incorporate the Nelson Model to compute fine dead fuel moisture;
and
3. Reduce the number of fuel models in the NFDRS.
In September 2016, the NWCG Executive Board Issued​ Memorandum 16-019
providing an update of the transition to the 2016 version of NFDRS; otherwise
known as NFDRS2016. The primary objective is to provide a stable NFDRS2016
system along with updates to the​ Weather Information Management System
(WIMS) and​ FireFamilyPlus​ (FF+) to assure end-users are comfortable with the
new model outputs and associated applications.

NFDRS2016 is a next-generation system which aligns with common

interagency goals to use the best available science and technology to
provide decision-makers with improved efficiencies, increased accuracy, and
a much clearer understanding of the associated risks. Since interagency
cooperation and collaboration (at every level) is essential for a successful
transition to NFDRS2016, all agencies (State and Federal) with responsibility to
make and implement risk-based wildfire management decisions are
encouraged to participate in the roll-out process.
On July 24, 2019, the NWCG Executive Board approved a proposal from the Fire
Danger Subcommittee to update the initial NFDRS2016 Rollout Plan. All units
will be fully transitioned to NFDRS2016 by January 2021.

NWCG
National Wildfire Coordinating Group

https://www.nwcg.gov/data-standards-approved
NWCG data standards (data element and geospatial data layer) provide
specifications that enable the common usage of data across wildland fire
information systems. For ​more information click on one of the following lists:

● Requested Data Standards

● Assigned Data Standards
● Proposed Data Standards

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OGC Standards
Open Geospatial Consortium

https://www.opengeospatial.org/docs/is
The OGC is a collaborative, global voluntary consensus standards
organization focused on the discussion and resolution of interoperability
issues in the geospatial domain. The key words are “collaboration” and
“consensus”. Every member has the opportunity to participate, contribute,
and have a voice in the development and approval of OGC standards.

73
Definitions, glossaries &
appendices

Condition Class

Depiction of the degree of departure from historical fire regimes, possibly

resulting in alterations of key ecosystem components. These classes
categorize and describe vegetation composition and structure conditions
that currently exist inside the Fire Regime Groups. Based on the coarse-scale
national data, they serve as generalized wildfire rankings. The risk of loss of
key ecosystem components from wildfires increases from Condition Class 1
(lowest risk) to Condition Class 3 (highest risk).

FBAN
Fire Behavior Analyst

FBAN is responsible for collecting weather data, developing strategic and

tactical fire behavior information, predicting fire growth, and interpreting fire
characteristics for use by incident overhead.

Fire Regime

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A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the ​bushfires​ and
wildfires​ that prevail in an area over long periods of time.​ ​ It is an integral part
of ​fire ecology​, and renewal for certain types of ​ecosystems​. A fire regime
describes the spatial and temporal patterns and ecosystem impacts of fire
on the landscape, and provides an integrative approach to identifying the
impacts of fire at an ecosystem or landscape level.​ ​ If fires are too frequent,
plants may be killed before they have matured, or before they have set
sufficient seed to ensure population recovery. If fires are too infrequent, plants
may mature, ​senesce​, and die without ever releasing their seed.

Fire regimes can change with the spatial and temporal var​iations in
topography, climate, and fuel. Understanding the historic fire regime is
important for understanding and predicting future fire regime changes and
the interactions between fire and climates.

Fire Return Interval

Fire return interval (or fire interval): The time between fires in a defined area,
usually at the scale of a point, stand or relatively small landscape area.

Wildfire Risk

Wildfire risk is the product of the likelihood of a fire occurring (likelihood), the
associated fire behavior when a fire occurs (intensity), and the effects of the
fire (susceptibility) on highly valued resources and assets (​Calkin et al. 2010​,
Finney 2005​, ​Scott 2006​, ​Scott et al. 2013​). Wildfire risk mitigation is achieved
when any of the three aspects are reduced.

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Wildfire risk triangle. Figure 1 from ​Scott et al. 2013​.

The wildfire risk assessment framework is comprised of four primary

components: 1) wildfire simulation, 2) highly valued resource and asset
(HVRA) characterization, 3) exposure analysis, and 4) effects analysis. In this
tutorial we give a brief overview of the process and highlight how ArcFuels
can be leveraged to complete the exposure analysis and effects analysis
steps. For detailed information we suggest you read ​A wildfire risk assessment
framework for land and resource management​.

76
A wildfire risk assessment is comprised of four primary steps: 1) wildfire
simulation, 2) highly valued resource and asset (HVRA) characterization, 3)
exposure analysis, and 4) effects analysis. Cover figure from ​Scott et al. 2013​.

Appendix: Fire and Forest Glossaries

Glossary of Forest Engineering Terms

https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/forestops/glossary/

Forest Service Glossary and List of Acronyms

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5260256.pdf

(Basic) Glossary of Forestry Terminology

http://cemendocino.ucanr.edu/files/17302.pdf

Glossary of Wildland Fire

https://www.nwcg.gov/glossary/a-z

National Wildfire Coordinating Group

https://fam.nwcg.gov/fam-web/help/glossary.htm

FIRESCOPE Glossary of Terms

https://firescope.caloes.ca.gov/ICS%20Documents/ICS%20010-1.pdf

Smokepedia
http://smokeapp.serppas.org/smokepedia.html

Appendix: Studies & Papers

77
https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr237/psw_gtr237
_089.pdf

WFDSS Spatial Fire Planning Guide

https://wfdss.usgs.gov/wfdss/pdfs/WFDSS_SFP_Guide.pdf

State and Private Forestry Fact Sheet California 2019

https://apps.fs.usda.gov/nicportal/temppdf/sfs/naweb/CA_std.pdf

Landscape LiDAR and Managing Forests at Multiple Scales

https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/smp/progdev/iasc/2017/condensed.pdf

Wildland Fire Potential: A Tool for Assessing Wildfire Risk and Fuels
Management Needs
https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p073/rmrs_p073_060_076.pdf

How CalFire Is Spending Recent Forest Health Funds

https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3902

Improving California’s Forest and Watershed Management

https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3798

A tree-based approach to biomass estimation from remote sensing data in a

tropical agricultural landscape
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0034425718304206

Threshold System Structure: Forest Health Example (includes workflow)

http://www.trpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018_8_22_TUISWG_StaffPresenta
tion.pdf

Land Management Plan - Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd507523.pdf

Cost savings and risk management through precision silviculture

78
https://www.luke.fi/en/news/cost-savings-and-risk-management-through-
precision-silviculture/

McKinsey & Company - Precision forestry: A revolution in the woods

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/paper-forest-products-and-packagin
g/our-insights/precision-forestry-a-revolution-in-the-woods

A Wildfire Risk Assessment Framework for Land and Resource Management

https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr315.pdf

Lake Tahoe West Landscape Resilience Assessment

https://www.nationalforests.org/assets/files/Lake-Tahoe-West-Landscape-R
esilience-Assessment-V1-FINAL-11Dec2017.pdf

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Appendix: Online Maps

CALFIRE Viewers
https://frap.fire.ca.gov/mapping/viewers/

FHSZ Viewer

Forest Practice Watershed Mapper

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SRA Viewer

Emergency Declaration Drought-Caused Tree Mortality Viewer

2018 Priority Landscapes

CalFire - Incidents Overview

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/

81
SF Chronicle CA Fire Tracker
https://projects.sfchronicle.com/trackers/california-fire-map/

Firebuster
https://fwxfcst.us/firebuster/

ONCC: Fire Activity

https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/index.php

Topofire - Topographically resolved drought and wildfire danger monitoring

system for the conterminous US
https://topofire.dbs.umt.edu/topofire_v3/index.php

MRLC: Land Characteristics

https://www.mrlc.gov/viewer/

MTBS - Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity

https://www.mtbs.gov/viewer/index.html

NOAA - Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke Product

https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html

Global Forest Watch

https://www.globalforestwatch.org

Prep Data
https://www.prepdata.org/

BLM - Geospatial
https://www.blm.gov/services/geospatial
https://navigator.blm.gov/map

NASA - Earthdata

82
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/

Data Basin - science-based mapping and analysis platform that supports

learning, research, and sustainable environmental stewardship
https://databasin.org

GEOMAC - Wildland Fire Support

https://www.geomac.gov/viewer/viewer.shtml

USDA Forest Service - PSW district (possibly out of maintenance)

https://www.fireimaging.com

Landfire
https://www.landfire.gov/viewer/viewer.html?extent=-124.459318868889,37.44
90776022576,-122.086281160658,42.0270285914843

WFDS - Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/wfds/simulation_models.shtml

Trust for Public Land Forest Carbon Mapping tool

https://dev.tplgis.org/carbonmap/

83
Appendix: Web Resources

https://www.fs.fed.us/wwetac/tools/arcfuels/help/Content/02Toolbar/05-04
%20-Wildfire%20Models.htm
Wildfire Models link page
Fire Behavior Model Description Linkage within ArcFuels10

Stand-level spreadsheet that

Calls the program, creates
NEXUS​ (Scott 1999) links surface and crown fire
input data
prediction models
Calls the program, creates
Fire Area Simulator Landscape-level fire spread
input data, processes output
(FARSITE, Finney 1998) simulator
data
Landscape-level fire behavior Calls the program, creates
FlamMap​ (Finney 2006) mapping and analysis input data, processes output
program data
Stand-level fire behavior, fire Calls the program; SURFACE
BehavePlus​ (Heinsch
effects, and fire environment module fully integrated in the
and Andrews 2010)
modeling system Behave Calculator
First Order Fire Effects
Stand-level first order fire
Model​ (FOFEM, Reinhardt Calls the program
effects modeling system
et al. 1997)
Fire Family Plus​ (Main et Analysis of fire danger indices
Calls the program
al. 1990) and weather

https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/smp/techtool/techtool.htm
Smoke Management Program Technical Tools

https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/weather/index.htm
Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center: Very deep list of
links and resources for weather, smoke and fire

https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/analysis.php
Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center: Very deep list of
links and resources for Fire Analysis

84
https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/intel.php
Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center:
ONCC Intel links to products and resources
The Intelligence Section provides fire management personnel, incident
managers, firefighters and support staff with access to current intelligence on
preparedness levels, fire situation, resources, mapping and satellite imagery,
climatology, preparedness levels, resource availability and rotations, and fire
potential information.

https://tahoe.livingwithfire.info/
Helping Lake Tahoe Residents and Visitors Prepare for Wildfire

https://www.neonscience.org/
The National Ecological Observatory Network:
Open data to understand how our aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are
changing

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Appendix: Competitive and Adjacent Market
– Tools and Companies

Openforis
http://www.openforis.org

Open Foris is a set of free and open-source software tools that facilitates
flexible and efficient data collection, analysis and reporting.

Government, research institutions and NGOs use these tools for a wide range
of monitoring purposes such as:
● Forest Inventories
● Climate Change reporting
● Socio-economic surveys
● Biodiversity assessment
● Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry measurement
● Deforestation monitoring with remote sensing
● Detecting desertification and trees outside of forests

The initiative is a collaborative effort of numerous public and private

institutions and it is hosted by the Forestry Department of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Pyrologix
http://pyrologix.com/
Pyrologix LLC was formed to provide specialized fuel characterization and
wildfire modeling services to the United States Forest Service. Our client roster
has since expanded to include non-governmental organizations, businesses,
local and state government entities, and federal agencies in the Departments
of Defense, Homeland Security and Interior.

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Pyrologix is based in Missoula, Montana, a small city in the northern Rocky
Mountains. Missoula is home to premier wildfire and risk science research
organizations like the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab, Aldo Leopold Wilderness
Research Institute, and Human Dimensions Program of the USFS Rocky
Mountain Research Station, the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis,
and the SAF-accredited School of Forestry at the University of Montana.

ESRI / ArcGIS
https://www.esri.com

Intterra
https://www.intterragroup.com
https://www.intterragroup.com/case-study-enterprise-geospatial-portal/
Intterra started on fire. Our team, our tech, and our spirit formed around the
need to get reliable information to the fireline faster than was possible back in
the day. We had each been challenged, frustrated, even heartbroken by the
need for critical intel to save homes, lives, communities, watersheds, wildlife,
and firefighters.

When firefighters are racing against disaster – and every emergency is

someone’s personal disaster – they need to know what’s around the corner,
what’s likely to happen next, where the hazards are located, who’s next to
them in the dark, and how to get out safely. That’s our mission, our vision, our
strategy, our tech, our metric, and our bottom line: helping get information to
the people who put their lives on the line to save others, as fast as
technologically possible.

Silviaterra
https://www.silviaterra.com/bark/index.html

Landfire
https://www.landfire.gov
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL90B8F1B49D94B2C0​ (Landfire on
YouTube)

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Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools is a shared
program between the wildland fire management programs of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior,
providing landscape scale geo-spatial products to support cross-boundary
planning, management, and operations.

What We Do
This multi-partner program produces consistent, comprehensive, geospatial
data and databases that describe vegetation, wildland fuel, and fire regimes
across the United States and insular areas.

Our Vision
LF is a cornerstone of a fully integrated national data information framework
developing and improving vegetation and fuels data products based on the
best available authoritative data and science in an all lands landscape
conservation approach based on inter-agency/inter-organizational
collaboration and cooperation. LF is acknowledged for management
excellence and effective mission delivery.

Our Mission
LF's mission is to provide agency leaders and managers with a common
"all-lands" data set of vegetation and wildland fire/fuels information for
strategic fire and resource management planning and analysis.

34North / OpenNRM
http://34north.com/
http://34north.com/opennrm/opennrm-forest-management-and-project-pr
ioritization-data-platform/

34 North is an innovator in collaborative natural resource management

technologies and data solutions. Our unique software platform, OpenNRM, is
designed to help our clients turn data into valuable information.

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OpenNRM is a collaborative resource management platform for data and
information collection, analysis, reporting, and visualization. Since 1999, 34
North has been an innovator in collaborative natural resource management
technologies and data solutions. Our unique software platform, OpenNRM ,
and data service offerings help our clients to turn data into valuable real time
information. OpenNRM applications include:
Collaborative Natural Resource Management and Planning
Ecosystem Restoration Project Management
Collaborative Data Management and Access, Open Data
Collaborative Science
Water Operations
Monitoring Programs
Watershed and Estuary Management
Regulatory Compliance and Reporting
Fisheries Management
Inter-agency Collaboration
Climate Adaptation
Conservation
Policy and Public Outreach

Forest Management Data Platform

OpenNRM Forest Management and Project Prioritization
Forest restoration and management must be implemented strategically at
the landscape scale to effectively yield multiple watershed benefits. Working
with stakeholders, 34 North has customized our OpenNRM data platform to
support fuels reduction and forest restoration planning to reduce the risks
associated with wildfire. The platform facilitates a more robust collaborative
planning process and addresses the challenges facing our forests and the
need to increase the “pace and scale of restoration”.
Data and information exist for various purposes in many different forms. To
efficiently plan and restore at a landscape level, data and information needs
to be accessible, useful, and accurate. The successful implementation of
landscape level planning requires the cooperation and coordination of

89
various agencies, community groups, and individual landowners. Our data
platform supports regional stakeholders with collaborative planning tools and
base line information allowing stakeholders to view and assess project area
conditions and implementation challenges.
The OpenNRM Forest Management Data Platform significantly increases the
capacity for forest restoration and fuel reduction project planning.

Quantum Spatial
https://quantumspatial.com/
http://quantumspatial.com/about-us/what-we-do
http://quantumspatial.com/our-solutions/forestry
https://vimeo.com/quantumspatial

Quantum Spatial does it all. We go well beyond data acquisition. We excel at

transforming data into usable information tailored to meet your needs. We
carefully consider technology choices and survey design to optimize data
quality, and then we transform pixels and points into meaningful analytics
based on the questions you want to answer.

We invest in and deploy the latest and most advanced sensor, platform and
satellite technologies on the market to acquire geospatial data. And our
acquisition team is the best, bar none.

FORESTRY

Individual Tree Delineation & Attribution

Calculate and catalog valuable forest metrics such as tree height, canopy
cover, stem density, and crown area for individual trees in both forest and
urban settings. Quantum Spatial has developed cutting-edge methodology
that generates forest metrics directly from LiDAR points, which produces an
accurate, detailed tree databases for entire study areas.

90
Forest Stratification
Model forest structure and use the results to make management decisions.
When aggregated, individual tree metrics produce nuanced analysis of forest
characterization. Incorporating Quantum Spatial’s forest models aids timber
management practices, supports habitat conservation efforts, and improves
efficiency of ground surveys and research plot placement.

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Hardwood - Softwood Classification
Enhance forest structure modeling by distinguishing hardwoods from
softwoods. In conjunction with Quantum Spatial’s LiDAR-derived physical tree
measurements and density calculations, our hardwood/softwood
classification further defines forest characterization over vast areas

Carbon & Biomass Estimation

Quantify complex bio-relationships using our LiDAR data and analytics. In
tandem with onsite measurements, we create linear regression models to
calculate carbon, biomass, and related forest inventory parameters.

92
Urban Forest Inventories
Maintain urban forest health through Quantum Spatial’s efficient and
accurate approach that identify iIndividual trees are assigned a unique tree
ID, and additional metrics relating to tree height, canopy height, canopy
cover, stem density, and crown area are calculated directly from our LiDAR
data, resulting in precise calculations.

93
Wildfire Modeling
Forest metrics from LiDAR provide valuable information in the application of
land use and management practices, fire suppression planning and fuel
loading calculations. High resolution LiDAR also provides detailed terrain
models for the determination of slope and aspect, as well as the identification
of access roads delineation.

94
Change Detection
Monitor forest dynamics, including tree growth and vegetation removal with
recurring surveys and our temporal analysis and modeling.

Watershed Drainage & Overland Flow Analysis

Combine hydrological mechanics with forest structure modeling to
understand the impacts of terrain surface and water movement on forest
composition.

95
Landslide Analysis
Mitigate forest management risks associated with Landslides. With our
high-resolution datasets and analytics, we identify terrain instability beneath
dense forest canopy. Find out more about Quantum Spatial’s terrain analysis
HERE

96
Vegetation Management Applications
Apply Quantum Spatial’s tree analysis to vegetation management practices.
We have developed comprehensive programs for electrical utility corridors, oil
and gas pipelines, and airport operations. LiDAR based vegetation
management provides a fast, safe, and cost competitive approach that
increases efficiency of management efforts, decreases underlisting of
potential risks, and reduces the amount of time and money spent on
mitigation efforts.

Urban Footprint
https://urbanfootprint.com/
Create beautiful maps in a snap. Enhance proposals, reports, and more.
Step up your proposal game, engage your community, or simply craft
stunning maps with UrbanFootprint’s best-in-class data visualization. Search
any U.S. location to create a map in seconds. Choose from hundreds of
curated datasets for quick location insights.

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Plan Safe, Strong, and Resilient Cities with UrbanFootprint. UrbanFootprint's
Risk and Resilience Module is designed to help planners and communities
better prepare for the projected impacts of:
● Sea level rise
● Flood risk
● Fire hazard

Vizzuality
https://www.vizzuality.com
Beautiful data design for a better world. We are trusted by the world’s most
important organisations to create unique tools and applications with a
lasting benefit to society and the environment

Technosylva
https://technosylva.com/
Technosylva provides advanced GIS-enabled software solutions for wildfire
protection planning, operational response & firefighter and public safety. Our
solutions encapsulate years of forestry and wildfire experience into efficient,
timely and responsive applications – on desktop, web & mobile platforms.

Technosylva offers a range of subject matter expertise, consulting services

and software development capabilities unparalleled for Wildfire Risk Analysis,
Fire Protection Planning and Fire Incident Operations. This expertise is
encapsulated in our fiResponse™, Wildfire Analyst™ and Wildfire Risk Atlas
products.

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Appendix: Education / R&D Labs

Forest Resilience Lab - University of Washington

https://sites.uw.edu/vkane

The Forest Resilience Lab in the ​School of Environmental and Forest Sciences​,
within the ​Precision Forestry Collaborative​, conducts applied precision forest
ecology research to promote forest resilience in the face of climate change.
We apply the full suite of technical innovations in active and passive sensing
(i.e., lidar, spectral remote sensing, and structure from motion) along with
field assessments to investigate what forest structure patterns are resistant to
changing ecological processes such as wildfire and drought across multiple
spatial scales from the project to ecoregion. We conduct our research in
forests located in the western United States, and we collaborate with
researchers and land managers to assist in forest planning; evaluating
wildlife habitat; and forest management efforts. Our lab is led by ​Dr. Van R.
Kane​, a research professor at the University of Washington, ​College of the
Environment​, ​School of Environmental and Forest Sciences ​. Our lab includes
undergraduate, master’s and doctoral graduate students, analysts, and
faculty. We frequently partner with other labs in our School as well as outside
of the University of Washington.

GEARS
Global Environmental Analysis and Remote Sensing Laboratory
https://naes.unr.edu/gears/

The Global Environmental Analysis and Remote Sensing (GEARS) Laboratory,

led by Dr. Jonathan A. Greenberg, focuses on addressing questions of the
impacts of climate change and land use/land cover change on vegetated
ecosystems using remote sensing data. Our research ranges across scales
from individual plants to the globe, across many terrestrial and aquatic

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ecosystems, and utilizes state-of-the-art remote sensing imagery including
hyperspectral, hyperspatial, multitemporal, thermal, and LiDAR data, collected
from spaceborne, airborne, and terrestrial sensors.

Berkeley Ecosystem Management and Forestry (EMF)

https://nature.berkeley.edu/advising/majors/forestry-and-natural-resources

Ecosystem Management and Forestry (EMF) focuses on the conservation and

restoration of the earth's natural resources through hands-on study of the
ecology, stewardship, and management of forest, woodland, and grassland
ecosystems. The program offers two specializations to choose from, and if the
student chooses a specialization in Forestry, they can qualify to take the
Registered Professional Foresters licensing exam in California. Topics studied
include wildlife and conservation biology, ecosystem restoration, rangeland
management, water policy, fire science, GIS and remote sensing,
environmental justice, and rural sociology. Students can participate in an
8-week summer field program in the Sierra Nevada. Offered by the
Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management​ (ESPM).

Yale’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

https://environment.yale.edu/

Yale’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies aspires to lead the world
toward a sustainable future with cutting-edge research, teaching, and public
engagement on society’s evolving and urgent environmental challenges.

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Appendix: Grants

https://www.forestrygrants.org/westernLSR/

https://www.forestrygrants.org/cwsfWUI/

https://www.thewflc.org/landscape-scale-restoration-competitive-grant-pr
ogram
The Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) Competitive Grant Program prioritizes
landscapes of national importance, using the Forest Action Plans and the
national themes (specifically the National Themes/Priorities identified in the
Farm Bill consistent with P.L. 110-246 Section 8001).
The objective is to focus competitive LSR funds on activities that address
priority areas, challenges and opportunities facing Western lands. Funding for
the LSR Competitive Process is made possible through the USDA Forest
Service.
WFLC is charged with delivering the LSR competitive grant process in the
West. Our ​LSR grants team​ reviews, scores and makes recommendations on
project proposals from Western states and island territories, which are passed
along to the WFLC membership for approval. Proposed projects
recommended for funding are then sent to the Forest Service.

CA Energy Commission
https://www.energy.ca.gov/funding-opportunities
https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/electric-progra
m-investment-charge-epic-program

CalFire
https://www.fire.ca.gov/grants/

Forest Health Grant Program

https://www.fire.ca.gov/grants/forest-health-grants/

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Microsoft AI for Earth
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-earth-grants

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Appendix: Land Management Plan Factors

Air Quality
Noise
Recreation
Roads
Scenic Quality
Socio-Economics (Social and Economic Systems)
Soil Conservation
Stream Environment Zones (SEZ)
Smoke
Transportation
Vegetation
Water Quality
Wildlife and Fisheries

Natural Hazards: ​flooding, mass wasting (landslides, etc.), earthquakes,

liquefaction, seiches, avalanches and volcanic hazards

Climate change​: expected to bring rising air temperatures and changes in

precipitation patterns, leading to an increased risk of high severity fire and
shifts in species ranges, presenting complex challenges for management.
Perhaps chief among these challenges is how to sustainably balance
restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems and fuels reduction projects to
protect public and private assets, with the legal and biological necessity of
preserving habitat for species that require dense canopy, late seral
conditions.

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Appendix: Market Opportunities

Individual Tree Delineation & Attribution

Forest Stratification
Hardwood - Softwood Classification
Carbon & Biomass Estimation
Urban Forest Inventories
Wildfire Modeling
Change Detection
Watershed Drainage & Overland Flow Analysis
Landslide Analysis
Vegetation Management Applications
Collaborative Natural Resource Management and Planning
Ecosystem Restoration Project Management
Collaborative Data Management and Access, Open Data
Collaborative Science
Water Operations
Monitoring Programs
Watershed and Estuary Management
Regulatory Compliance and Reporting
Fisheries Management
Inter-agency Collaboration
Climate Adaptation
Conservation
Policy and Public Outreach

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Appendix: Example Datasets

NEON
https://data.neonscience.org/browse-data

NOAA
https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/imagery/gis.html

MTBS
https://www.mtbs.gov/direct-download

BAER
https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/baer/data-request

BAER Imagery Support Data Download

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/baer/baer-imagery-support-data-download

RAVG
https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/ravg/data-access

BLM
https://landscape.blm.gov/geoportal/catalog/main/home.page
https://landscape.blm.gov/geoportal/catalog/main/portal.page

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Appendix: Example API’s

NEON API
https://data.neonscience.org/data-api
The​ NEON API​ (Application Programming Interface) can be used to quickly
access NEON data and information about our data products and sampling
locations. This API provides a simple means of constructing URLs or CURL
statements that return information in a common machine-readable format,
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)​.

The API provides numerous endpoints, each delivering different types of data
or information. Some endpoints provide the option to enter values for specific
parameters that allow you to refine your search. Click on the interactive table
below to discover and try out the various endpoints. Below the table, read
more details about each endpoint. If you need more information, try visiting
our​ FAQ​,​ GitHub repository,​ or​ Using the NEON API tutorial​. We also provide an​ R
package​ that you can use to download and reformat the data.

Research Watch
https://api.resourcewatch.org/
https://resource-watch.github.io/doc-api/index-rw.html

NASA - Earth Data

https://earthdata.nasa.gov/collaborate/open-data-services-and-software/
api
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/eosdis/science-system-description/eosdis-com
ponents/gibs

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Appendix: Example API Documentation

● Introduction
● Authentication
● Dataset
● Widget
● Layer
● Query
● Fields
● Metadata
● Vocabulary (and Tags)
● Geostore
● Subscriptions
● Favorites
● Graph
● Areas
● Webshot
● Topic
● Dashboard
● Tasks
● User Management
● Microservices
● Errors
● API attribution requirements

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