Expanding the Fuels Planning Toolkit: Terrestrial Laser Scanning and 3D Fuels Characterization for Improved Wildland Fire Decision Support
Photo Credit: MC Murphy, USFS Southern Research Station
PANEL DISCUSSION: Thursday, January 16, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM ET
Wildland fire managers require an expanded toolbox for decision support in the context of an increasingly novel fuel and fire environment complicated by a changing climate, invasive species encroachment, and rapid increase in wildland-urban interface in many areas within the U.S. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) offers an efficient, cost-effective, and powerful tool for characterizing high resolution, sub-canopy forest and fuel structural conditions with the simple press of a button. In this panel discussion, TLS subject matter experts from both research and operations will share their efforts and practical applications of TLS and other 3D wildland fuels characterization tools for improved wildland fire planning, fire effects monitoring, and decision support.
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This panel discussion has been approved for 1.5 Category 1 CFE's by the Society of American Foresters.
Brett Williams (Moderator)
Brett Williams is a Technology Transfer Specialist and Research Liaison for the U.S. Forest Service Southern Region Fire & Aviation Management. He also serves as the Working Group Lead for the Eastern Innovation Landscape Network (EILN), an interagency partnership working in the eastern U.S. to accelerate adoption of wildland fire science innovations through intentional co-production between fire practitioners and fire scientists. Brett has over 20 years of experience in wildland fire management, prescribed fire planning and implementation, and fire effects monitoring, is qualified as a Type 2 Burn Boss (RXB2) and is a Long-term Fire Analyst trainee (LTAN(T)). Brett earned a BS in Environmental Science and a MS in Forest Science from Stephen F. Austin State University in East Texas.
Dr. Michael Gallagher (Panelist)
Dr. Michael Gallagher is a Research Ecologist and a Team Leader in the US Forest Service Northern Research Station’s Climate, Fire, and Carbon Cycle Science Research Work Unit and is located in the New Jersey Pine Barrens at the Silas Little Experimental Forest, where he is also Scientist in Charge. Gallagher’s current work focuses on integrating terrestrial lidar approaches into fuels inventorying and ecological monitoring as well as developing better knowledge about fire behavior phenomena like embers and smoke emissions to better inform fire simulation tools. Gallagher is also an active wildland firefighter of 17 years with a red card and single resource qualifications and aspires to one day be able to say he’s done a prescribed burn in every state. In his free time, he loves home improvement projects, helping coach little league baseball, and canoeing.
Emily Link (Panelist)
Emily Link is the regional fire ecologist for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region. She has worked coordinating the terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) program within USFWS in the Southeast since 2021. Emily is also involved in the development of TLS training, training individuals across the country and within different agencies. Emily is an airborne LiDAR technician, operating the sensor from a fixed-wing plane, collecting data for refuges and national forests in the Southeast.
Dr. Louise Loudermilk (Panelist)
Dr. Loudermilk is a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station and currently serves as the Fire Team Leader of the Athens Prescribed Fire Science Laboratory. Her work focuses on advancing science to support prescribed fire management and fire effects monitoring using advancing technology. She uses terrestrial (TLS) and aerial laser scanning (ALS) to measure fuels and ecosystems in 3D, particularly for supporting monitoring needs. An integral part of her work is building streamlined approaches to incorporating laser scanning and fuels data into ecosystem process models and next-generation 3D fire behavior models. She also uses ecosystem modeling techniques to estimate long-term changes in tree species composition and landscape carbon flux. This is widely used from regional climate vulnerability assessments to local management decision support. She aims to bridge gaps between science, technology, and management through co-production, all to support everyday applications of prescribed fire, ecosystem management, and long-term decision-making. Dr. Loudermilk received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Forestry and Ecology from the University of Florida.
Dr. Russ Parsons (Panelist)
Dr. Russ Parsons is a Research Ecologist with the USFS RMRS Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT. Russ received his B.S. in Forestry from U.C. Berkeley, in 1992, his M.S. in Forest Resources at the University of Idaho in 1999, and his Ph.D. in Forestry at the University of Montana in 2007. His research work at the Missoula fire lab spans multiple time and space scales, ranging from landscape fire and vegetation simulation modeling to highly detailed 3D fuel and physics-based fire modeling, including 3D fuel models at tree scales (FUEL3D) and stand scales (STANDFIRE). Russ and his partners have developed FastFuels, a prototype 3D fuel modeling system to accelerate access to and use of advanced fire models and to facilitate stronger analysis in fuel management, from local projects to regional scales. Russ is excited to be part of this event and looks forward to discussion and building collaborations with new partners.
Dr. Susan Prichard (Panelist)
Dr. Susan Prichard is a fire ecologist and has worked as a research scientist for over 20 years at the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Her main interests are in the effects of fire and other disturbances on forest dynamics, climate change on forest ecosystems, and fuel treatment options to mitigate fire severity and smoke impacts in fire-prone forests.
Our Panel
List of Resources Shared During the Discussion:
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Eastern Innovation Landscape Network | US Forest Service Research and Development
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Home Page | Interagency LiDAR Monitoring & Research Applications
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Terrestrial LIDAR Scanning: QUIC-Fire Modeling of New Jersey Wildfire - Nick Skowronski
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FastFuels: 3D Modeling for Next-Generation Fire Management - Russell Parsons