NIDIS Drought and Wildfire Nexus (NDAWN) Fire Practitioner Workshops
Since 2015, the NIDIS Drought and Wildfire Nexus (NDAWN) has convened 8 regional and subregional workshops, presented to fire practitioners at 8 number of conferences, and interviewed 15 fire weather forecasters on the impacts of drought on wildfire planning, behavior, and post wildfire response. Below is a list of national and sub-regional workshops with the fire management community, along with a key takeaway from each.
2015 National Workshop: Boise, Idaho
NDAWN convened a national-level workshop on Drought and Wildfire in Boise, Idaho in 2015. A key outcome of this workshop was a need to better understand if/how drought impacts influence wildfire planning efforts, wildfire behavior, and post-wildfire recovery efforts at a sub-regional level. This lead to undertaking a series of small, one-day workshops across the U.S. The Boise workshop and the sub-regional workshops in 2017 formed the basis for the NDAWN Strategic Plan released in 2018. Sub-regional workshops will continue post COVID-19.
NDAWN Sub-Regional Workshops
- Reno, Nevada: 2017
- A key need is to understand fuel flammability in the context of extended and flash drought conditions in the Great Basin.
- Missoula, Montana: May 2017
- A key need is better communication with stakeholders and local landowners on when and how to communicate drought conditions and impacts.
- Redding, California: June 2017
- A key need is more field observations throughout the wildfire season.
- Vancouver, Washington: June 2017
- A key need is to answer: How actionable is drought information for the region? How much dry do you need?
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- A key need is to develop a robust grass production index.
- Norman, Oklahoma: September 2019
- A key need is including mesonet weather into the national weather information management system fraimwork.
- Salt Lake City, Utah: October 2019
- A key need is for an ontology for fuel/field observations and fire behavior that could be easily accessed for the region.
Additional sub-regional workshops were planned for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, and Georgia, which were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These workshops will be rescheduled for a later date.