Rocky Mountain Research Station

Title: Strategic Placement of Treatments (SPOTS): Maximizing the Effectiveness of Fuel and Vegetation Treatments on Problem Fire Behavior and Effects

Author: Gercke, Diane M.; Stewart, Susan A.

Date: 2006

Source: In: Andrews, Patricia L.; Butler, Bret W., comps. 2006. Fuels Management-How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings. 28-30 March 2006; Portland, OR. Proceedings RMRS-P-41. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 185-192

Station ID: P-RMRS-041

Description: In 2005, eight U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management interdisciplinary teams participated in a test of strategic placement of treatments (SPOTS) techniques to maximize the effectiveness of fuel treatments in reducing problem fire behavior, adverse fire effects, and suppression costs. This interagency approach to standardizing the assessment of risks and proposing strategically placed treatments to mitigate that risk uses an iterative, collaborative strategic approach to proposing landscape scale treatment patterns. The pilot teams used FARSITE and FlamMap, spatially explicit fire behavior prediction models, to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed treatments on fire behavior and effects at scales appropriate to address the expected problem fire event. A primary objective was to develop a consistent, systematic approach that integrates multiple land and resource management objectives when addressing and evaluating fuels risks. This paper discusses the accomplishments and challenges the pilot project teams faced as they tested strategic placement of treatments methods in different landscapes, vegetation, fire regimes, and ownerships.

Keywords: fire, fire ecology, fuels management, strategic placement of treatments, SPOTS, fuel treatments, fire behavior, adverse fire effects, suppression costs, landscape scale treatment patterns, FARSITE, FlamMap, behavior prediction models

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Citation

Gercke, Diane M.; Stewart, Susan A.  2006.  Strategic Placement of Treatments (SPOTS): Maximizing the Effectiveness of Fuel and Vegetation Treatments on Problem Fire Behavior and Effects.   In: Andrews, Patricia L.; Butler, Bret W., comps. 2006. Fuels Management-How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings. 28-30 March 2006; Portland, OR. Proceedings RMRS-P-41. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 185-192.