General Material

 

 

1. A Student Guide For Preparing, Writing and Presenting TFM Papers
   by Reid Kenady, Bob Loveless and Stew Pickford

Module I: Math Fundamentals

 

 

1. You will receive your statistics textbook with Minitab software during this class; please load the software before coming to Module II
2. Make sure EXCEL w/Data Analysis Toolpak is loaded, activated and working before coming to class
3. You will receive your homework for statistics class
4. You will receive your TFM group assignment and instructions for student presentations
5. Please read the following: PowerPoint Presentatons Advice by Mike Splane.

Module II: Statistics

 

 

1. You will receive your pre-work for the economics class
2. You will receive your final project notebook, including a copy of the TFM Student Guide

Module III: Economics

 

 

Sonoran Institute

1. Tools for Economic Analysis: Sonoran Institute website

Inventory and Monitoring Institute (IMI)

1. More economics: IMI website

Week 1 Pre-Work

1. Students interested in having a reference guide with example problems may wish to purchase a copy of Donald G. Newnan‘s Student‘s Quick Study Guide. 7th ed. Austin: Engineering, 1998, ISBN 1-57645-050-3. (Currently out of print but still available). This is a recommended supplemental text; it is not required reading. Material in Chapters 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12 and 16 will be covered in class.
2. Optional pre-work: Work through all the example problems in CHAPTER 1. Each of the concepts introduced in this chapter are detailed in later chapters should you wish to investigate further.

Pre-Work reading for Module III:

1. Intro to Environmental Economics (PDF, 1.2 mb)
2. Conservation Reconsidered (PDF, 740 kb)
3. The Tragedy of the Commons (PDF, 2.1 mb)
4. Integrated Public Lands Management (PDF, 14.6 mb)
5. A Comparative Risk Assessment Framework for Wildland Fire Management (PDF, 984 kb)
6. Issues in Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Fuel Treatment to Reduce Wildfire in the Nation‘s forests (PDF, 652 kb)

Week II Group Exercise Reading:

1. A Comparison of Landscape Fuel Treatment Strategies… (PDF, 2.3 mb)
2. A Real-Time Risk Assessment Tool Supporting Wildland Fire Decision Making (PDF, 188 kb)
3. Advancing Effects Analysis for Integrated, Large-Scale Wildfire Risk Assessment (PDF, 2 mb)

Week II Power Point Presentations:

1. Incentives and Risk Aversion
2. Applications of Risk-Based Tools

Module IV: Fuels

 

 

1. If you did not receive FMAplus software during Module III, Fire Program Solutions will send it via a shipping service to you BEFORE this class begins; make sure WI has a street address for delivery as they cannot deliver to PO Boxes.
2. Download FFPlus version 4.0 software and the User's Guide BEFORE you come to Module IV. Available at: http://www.firemodels.org/index.php/firefamilyplus-software/firefamilyplus-downloads
   
   1. Select FireFamilyPlus Version 4.0 Install file
   2. Print FireFamilyPlus Version 4.0 Release Notice
   3. Follow installation instructions (FireFamilyPlus version 4 Install file) and install on the laptop you will be bringing to TFM
   4. You may wish to download and review the User's Guide for Version 3, but you are not required to do so
3. Download and review the PDF publication NFES 2665 "Gaining an Understanding of the NFDRS (National Fire Danger Rating System)"

   or it may be ordered from:
   NIFC
   Attn: Great Basin Cache Supply Office
   3833 South Development Avenue
   Boise, ID 83705
   Order Item NFES #2665

4. Download instructor Phil Omi's exercises: Excel Exercises (59k)
5. Make sure that BehavePlus is installed on your laptop. If not, download the most recent version (available from www.fire.org). If needed, refresh your understanding of its features by referring to the BehavePlus Fire Modeling System Version 3.0 User's Guide by Patricia L. Andrews, Collin D. Bevins, Robert C. Seli. Users Guide 3 (4.6 mb)
6. Students also need to order a hard copy of GTR 153 (Standard fire behavior fuel models:
   a comprehensive set for use with Rothermel's surface fire spread model) by Burgan and Scott. You can download or order it here: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr153.html
7. Download instructor John Robertson's 25 Module IV Resource Folder (Zip File, 14.6 mb)
8. Download FMAplus Workbook Section 1 (Word doc, 588kb)
9. Download FMAplus Workbook Section 2 (Word doc, 391kb)
10. Download Stew's Reading Prework Folder (Zip file, 12 mb)
    This folder contains PDF files of all of the following:
    1. "An Introduction to the Literature on Fire Behavior and Fire Science." Download and read or print and read. This document contains instructions on what to read and questions to be answered for each article to be read. Answer the questions on the document or on a seperate copy of the document and turn this in at the beginning of Module IV. The following are PDF files of the articles you are to read.
    2. A Mathematical Model for Predicting Fire Spread in Wildland Fuels
    3. Handbook for Inventorying Downed Woody Material
    4. Predicting Slash Depth for Fire Modeling
    5. Woody Litter Decomposition Following Clear-cutting
    6. Decomposition of Logging Residues...
    7. Assessing Crown Fire Potential

Joe Scott's Material (Download for Thursday, March 3rd)

1. New Fuel Models(17.5 mb) NOTE: If you are having difficulty downloading this, right-click on the file name (at left) and choose "save as" to download it. Once the file is downloaded, right-click on it, select "properties" and choose "unblock."
2. Joe Scott folder

Download Joe Scott's PowerPoints

 

Optional Reference Material for Prework Reading

• Reference and Study Guide: Fuels and Fire Science
  by R. Gordon Schmidt and Stewart G. Pickford

Day One Powerpoints

• R. Gordon Schmidt Powerpoint
• Mike Hilbruner Powerpoint

Day Three Notes

• Stacy Drury Powerpoint
• Fire Science Digest
• Joint Fire Science Website
• Morris Johnson Powerpoint (download only)

Module IV: Fuels (Data Download)

 

 

From the FAMWEB site download and save to a folder on the computer you will be using in the class, the weather station catalog information and weather data for a minimum of 5 weather stations on or near your administrative unit.

Sequential Steps to download data:

1. Go to the FAMWEB web site which can be reached at http://fam.nwcg.gov/fam-web/
2. Select Fire and Weather Data from the left hand column. (We are only interested in the Weather Data at this time.)
3. Select the appropriate State
4. Select Weather Files
5. Note the columns titled Catalog, Weather and Years of Data
6. Scroll down the list of stations until you find a weather station on your unit and highlight the file name under the catalog column. Only select stations that include 2009 data. Right click on the file name and select Save Target As. Consider creating a folder called TFM Weather Data to store this information in. Repeat the same steps for the Weather for the station selected. Repeat the same steps for each of the stations you want to retrieve data for. If there are no stations near your unit or you don't know the name of any adjacent weather station pick a station(s) at random.

You will be using this data during classroom exercises.

Module V: Fire Effects

 

 

 Download Agenda for Module V (PDF)

1. The Interagency Fire Regime Condition Class guidebook -
   1. Go to: http://www.fire.org/
   2. On the left side of the screen, click on "NIFTT" then "Beta Testing" then "Beta User Downloads."
   3. Download the FRCC Mapping Tool. Be sure you download file "FRCCmt_300_110329.zip"
   4. Install the software on your laptop. You will need administrative privileges. If you have an existing version of the maptool, delete that first.

      Any questions, please have the students call me: 503-808-2963 office; 503-267-3943 cell. OK to call evenings or weekends on cell. Let's try to get the installation and troubleshooting done before the class starts.

2. Download and read: The SER International Primer on Ecological Restoration http://www.ser.org/pdf/primer3.pdf
   If this link doesn't work, follow this one and select (PDF version of the SER Primer click here) from this address: http://www.ser.org/content/ecological_restoration_primer.asp
3. Please download and install FOFEM 5.7 from http://www.fire.org
4. FCCS, CONSUME download instructions from Roger Ottmar FCCS was downloaded in module IV so you should already have this.

Module VI: Management

 

 

Important: please respond to this 2-question survey regarding internet access on your laptop. We are requesting that you bring your air card to class, as the internet provided isn't enough to support the WFDSS exercise. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3Y25N57

Download Agenda for Module VI (PDF)

Download materials for Landfire 2011

Please bring the following material (most of this was loaded for module IV):

1. Have the latest version of Fire Regimes Condition Class software from: http://www.frcc.gov and the User's Guide on your laptop. Please read chapters 1, 2, and 4 of the User's Guide.
2. ArcView: WI will supply a laptop computer with ArcView software loaded for the 1st week of this module. Please bring your laptop for the second week of class.
3. Download and read A National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy 2011 (PDF). Please ready by October 13th.
   and Fire Science Brief Issue 43 ArcFuels: Integrating Wildfire Models and Risk Analysis into Landscape Fuels Management (PDF) Please ready by October 13th.
4. Download and read by October 9th: Wall Watershed Analysis (PDF) Please print and bring to class on October 9th
5. Download and read by October 14th: Superior National Forest Plan Direction for Fire Management (PDF) Please print and bring to class on October 14th
6.  Become familiar with this webpage and its links:
   http://www.landfire.gov/products_national.php
7. Download the FRCC guidebook at:
   http://frames.nbii.gov/documents/frcc/documents/FRCC+Guidebook_2008.10.30.pdf and read Chapter 2.
8. Google "NIFTT" and select the first item on the resulting list.
   Click on "Tools and User Documents"
   Click on "FRCCMT User's Guide"
   Read the Preface and Chapters 3, 4, and 5.

WFDSS exercises planned by Marlena Hovorka require that each student attending have an active WFDSS account with author privileges on the training side. New user accounts come with basic viewer privileges, so you will have to log into your new account on the training side and request author privileges. Instructions for creating an account and requesting author privileges are below:

A. To request an account:

1. Navigate to the WFDSS training side at https://wfdss.usgs.gov/training/faces/jsp/login/WFDSSLogin.jsp
2. Click Request New Account. The Request an Account page opens.
3. Enter a User Name (at least six characters, preferably your first and last name with no spaces).
4. Enter your First and Last Name.
5. Enter your Telephone Number and primary Email Address.
6. If you have a cell phone number and secondary email address, enter that information.
7. Select your Geographic Area, Agency, and Unit.
8. Click Submit.

Once your request is approved, you will receive an email confirming your user name and password. If you don't receive an email with your password within a couple of hours of submitting your request, please contact the WFDSS help desk (fire_help@fs.fed.us). For those with federal government email addresses (BIA, BLM, FS, FWS, NIFC or NPS) new user accounts will allow you access to both WFDSS production and training, and you will have basic viewing privileges in each.

B. To request author privileges:

1. Navigate to https://wfdss.usgs.gov/training/faces/jsp/login/WFDSSLogin.jsp and login in to the training account you created above.
2. Click My Home > Privileges. The Home - Privileges page appears, with your current privileges checked in the User Roles box.
3. Select the checkbox before Author.
4. Write a justification for the request. Your justification should explain why you need the additional privileges. In this case, you need author privileges to complete exercises while a student at TFM.
5. Click Submit.

A WFDSS Administrator will review your request.