Northeast RSC Prescribed Fire Resource Guide – March 2020
This guide has been developed by the Northeast Regional Cohesive Strategy Committee (RSC) Prescribed Fire Work Group and is intended to be an information source for prescribed fire managers and practitioners, or those interested in learning more about prescribed fire, to locate information about prescribed fire organizations, resources, research, best practices and educational and training opportunities in the 20 Northeast and Midwest states.
Organizations and Resources
- National Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils – The overarching goal of the Coalition is to create one voice to assist fire practitioners, policymakers, regulators, and citizens with issues surrounding prescribed fire use.
- 2020 Prescribed Fire Use Report – The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) and the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils (CPFC) worked collaboratively to produce the 2020 National Prescribed Fire Use Survey Report. Since 2012, this report has been compiled every three years, and is unique among fire surveys. Numerous surveys have been conducted that investigated the challenges that fire managers and land owners face relative to prescribed fire use in the United States.
- NE RSC PRESCRIBED FIRE TRAINING NEEDS SURVEY REPORT (October 2020) – This practitioner-oriented, non-scientific survey was conducted during the last two weeks of August 2020 with the purpose of assessing the state of prescribed fire training in the 20 state Northeast-Midwest region of the Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The survey was developed by the Prescribed Fire Coordination Work Group of the NE RSC.
- INVASIVE SPECIES AND WILDLAND FIRE IN THE NORTHEAST-MIDWEST REGION REPORT (February 2023) – This report was developed to discover the type and extent of the invasive species management challenges in wildland fire management exist in the NE-MW region and how the National Invasive Species Council (NISC) and Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) can collaborate to help address regional invasive species and wildland fire management challenges.
- State Prescribed Fire Councils (Northeast Region) – Organized at the state and local level, Prescribed Fire Councils connect individuals from public agencies and institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector who use prescribed fire as a land management tool. The Councils typically meet one to two times a year, and these meetings consist of presentations, reports, and updates; continuing education credits are often available for attendees.
- Prescribed Burn Associations – A Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) is a group of landowners and other concerned citizens that form a partnership to conduct prescribed burns. Association members pool their knowledge, man-power and equipment to help other people in their association conduct prescribed burns.
- TNC Fire & Landscapes – The Nature Conservancy works to maintain fire’s role where it benefits people and nature, and keep fire out of places where it is destructive. These pages contain information and resources related to the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems, especially those that are significantly affected by fire activity.
- Fire Learning Network: This section holds information about the FLN—a cooperative program of the Forest Service, Department of the Interior agencies and the Conservancy—that has been working since 2002 to help restore forests and grasslands. Network publications as well as documents and tools produced by FLN regional networks and landscapes are found here.
- The Nature Conservancy – Controlled Burning for Safe Communities & Healthy Ecosystems
- Insights and Suggestions for Certified Prescribed Burn Manager Programs – by Megan S. Matonis, Forest Stewards Guild. provides invaluable insights about best practices and lessons learned for certified prescribed burn manager programs.
- A more complete list of wildland fire management agencies in the Northeast-Midwest can be found at: https://www.northeasternwildfire.net/partners/
- Prescribed Fire Insurance – Insurance coverage for prescribed burning is relatively new to the insurance market but is available from several companies under an extended Forester’s policy or as a separate insurance policy specifically for prescribed burning. Survey results found that while costs varied widely between companies, all the surveyed providers required (at a minimum) that the policy holder be a certified burner within their respective state and provide proof of experience in prescribed burning.
Smoke Management & Air Quality
- Prescribed Fire and Community Health Resource List (FAC Net) July 2021
- WILDFIRE SMOKE: A GUIDE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH (EPA)
- NWCG Smoke Management Guide for Prescribed Fire (PMS 420-3) Nov 2020
- App – Prescribed Fire Smoke Management Pocket Guide
- Smoke Management – National Interagency Fire Center
- Simple Smoke Screening Tool
- VSmoke-Web
Education and Training
- Wildland Fire Learning Portal – The Wildland Fire Learning Portal (Learning Portal) is an enterprise learning management system that enables the national wildland fire community to better meet their education and training needs.
- National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center – The Prescribed Fire Training Center (PFTC) is a unique program blending maximum field prescribed burning experience with a flexible curriculum of classroom instruction on foundational topics for prescribed fire practitioners. Provides maximum opportunities for federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies and other organizations to build skills and knowledge of prescribed fire, with an emphasis on field experience. The PFTC is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.
- Prescribed Fire Science Consortium – The Prescribed Fire Science Consortium was formed to address the lack of research on the mechanisms driving fire behavior and fire effects in prescribed fires. The Consortium aims to facilitate collaborative research on building a mechanistic understanding of fire through annual burn experiments.
- Fire Science Exchange Network (Northeast/Midwest) – The Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) Fire Science Exchange Network is a national collaboration of 15 regional fire science exchanges that provides the most relevant, current wildland fire science information to federal, state, local, tribal, and private stakeholders within ecologically similar regions. The network brings fire managers, practitioners, and scientists together to address regional fire management needs and challenges.
- Learn & Burn Workshops – “Learn & Burn” workshops are an excellent way to provide private landowners and others interested in learning how to prescribe burn with a hands-on opportunity to gain experience and knowledge. These workshops can come in many forms, from a half day in the classroom and half day in the field combination, to a full day (or even multiple days) in the field.
- Fire Festivals – Fire festivals are becoming increasingly popular in the South as a way to communicate the importance of prescribed fire. These festivals typically target the general public, specifically families with children. Fire festivals include elements common to many festivals and outdoor events such as interactive exhibits, informational booths, fire trucks and equipment, food trucks, and live music. They may also include a live prescribed burn demonstration and demonstrations of prescribed burning equipment such as drip torches, backpack sprayers, engines, and even helicopters.
- Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) – Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) and cooperative burns provide experiential training that builds robust local capacity for fire management and offers professional fire practitioners a more holistic perspective—while implementing treatments that support community and landscape objectives.
