This pilot project was requested by the JFSP Governing Board to provide the necessary ‘proof of concept’ for our proposed national assessment of fuel treatment effectiveness. Specifically, we were requested to address concerns about the utility of both NFPORS and LANDFIRE data for the proposed study and prove our ability to successfully assess the effectiveness of specific fuels treatments at both local (i.e. fire effects on the treated acres) and landscape scales (i.e. changes in fire extent).

The fire situation in the United States is well documented with a growing prevalence of larger and more intense fires that have increasingly severe consequences for affected ecosystems and human health and well being. Wildland fire managers have the task of mitigating the impacts of wildfires that will inevitably occur. Increasingly, fuels management has been put forth and implemented as part of an integral strategy for minimizing fire risk, extreme fire behavior, area affected by wildfire and both the economic and ecological costs of fires. These activities take a multitude of forms, from stand alone prescribed fires to various types of thinning or combinations of treatments. However, managers need to know how cumulative wildland fuels treatments act at the landscape level and, furthermore, how long effective life spans of treatment are.