Geo-Spatial Wildland Management Tool –
Cumulative Watershed Effects Extension
Research Leader
Chris S. Renschler, Assistant Professor (Dept. of Geography, University at
Buffalo)
Collaborators
William
Elliott, Research Leader (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture - Forest Service)
Bill Ypsilantis, Soil Scientist (U.S. Dept. of
Interior - Bureau of Land Management)
Sponsors:
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture - Agricultural
Research Service
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture - Forest Service
U.S. Dept. of Interior - Bureau of Land Management
Environment & Society
Institute (University at Buffalo)
Research Assistant
Martin Minkowski, PhD Cand. (Geography)
Abstract: This project is funded by
the Joint Fire Science Program. The GeoWEPP spatial erosion modeling tool is
showing great promise for applications to Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation
(BAER) erosion analysis, postfire salvage logging analysis, and cumulative
watershed effects analysis of fuel management treatments, including thinning and
prescribed fire. In BLM and Forest Service workshops in the past year, the
current generic GeoWEPP tool has been presented, and users have enthusiastically
encouraged us to further develop and refine this tool for fire and fuel
management applications. GeoWEPP was used on at least one fire during this past
fire season in spite of its generic nature, and we expect to see increasing
demand for this new spatial analysis tool in the coming years as increased
incidences of wildfires are coincident with increased fuel management
activities.
To make this promising tool more useful, we customize GeoWEPP
specifically for fire and fuel management. We propose to build custom databases,
and prepare three custom interfaces in ArcGIS specifically for 1) BAER analysis,
2) salvage logging analysis, and 3) fuel management (mulching, thinning, and
prescribed fire) analysis. We will also prepare analysis worksheets and prepare
model documentation. All products will be available online on the GeoWEPP home
page. During the short 18-mn duration of this proposal we will also present the
model to potential users at a minimum of four workshops, targeting improvements
on feedback received from every workshop. We expect that the outcome of this
proposal will be improved watershed analysis to support wildfire rehabilitation
and fuel management activities.
Key Features
