ArcFuels - Wildfire Management with GIS Training in Olympia, Washington

This course has been cancelled.
For more information please email iclausen@nwetc.org

ArcFuels: An ArcGIS Interface for fuel treatment planning and wildfire risk assessment
Course ID: GIS - 601
March 24-26, 2010, 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M.
The Evergreen State College - Library Computer Center
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, Washington

Instructor: Tyson Waldo; Adjunct Professor of GIS, Western Washington University

Description:The objective of this 3-day course is to provide applied GIS training to wildfire planning and management. This course will focus on software training using ArcFuels. ArcFuels is a suite of custom ArcGIS tools developed to streamline fire behavior modeling and spatial analyses for fuel treatment planning. Attendees will preview the entire ArcFuels toolset, and students will learn how to use ArcFuels tools to prepare data for loading into other wildfire behavior models (E.g. FlamMap, FARSITE). By the end of the training, you will learn how to link ArcFuels to FlamMap and then we will use FlamMap to model a few landscape scale fire behavior scenarios.

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

Fully integrate the custom ArcGIS toolset ArcFuels into their wildfire planning and management Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Prepare data in ArcFuels to be used in FlamMap.
Begin using FlamMap for landscape scale wildfire behavior modeling.
Possess a more streamlined approach for wildfire risk planning, fuel treatment planning, and spatial analysis of wildfire in the ArcGIS environment.
Arc Fuels Overview:

Arc Fuels is a library of ArcGIS macros developed to streamline fire behavior modeling and spatial analysis for fuel treatment planning. The macros link: 1)key wildfire behavior models; 2)fuels and vegetation data (e.g. landfire, FVS databses); 3) MS Offices; and 4) ArcGIS (WWETAC 2009). Arc Fuels is designed with linkages to FlameMap to allow for simulation of landscape-scale fire behavior and evaluation of fuel treatment scenarios.

Specific Functions:

An interactive linkage between digital imagery, vegetation data, FVS-FFE, and SVS, providing a map-based tool for designing, simulating, and visualizing stand fuel treatments
Rapid scale-up of stand-specific treatments to simulate landscape packages of treatment alternatives,
Data linkages between FVS outputs and FlamMap to allow for simulation of landscape-scale fire behavior and evaluation of fuel treatment scenarios,
Full GIS functionality provided within ArcMap for data manipulation, ancillary analyses, mapping, and other GIS functionality (WWETAC 2009).

The ArcFuels suite of custom GIS tools was created with a grant from the Joint Fire Sciences Program; Project JFSP 03-4-1-04. It was created by Alan Ager and John Anderson. Alan Ager is an Operations Research Analyst for the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center (WWETAC), and John Anderson is a lead programmer with Balance Tech, LLC . ArcFuels is publically available for download through the WWETAC website.

Prerequisites: Students of this course should have an intermediate to advanced background in ESRI ArcGIS 9.X desktop software. Students of this class should also have a background or an interest in wildfire planning and management. ArcFuels is designed to run with FlamMap and FARSITE, and while not necessary, experience in either of those wildfire modeling software will be of benefit.

Credit: 2.0 Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Registration: $795 ($695* reduced tuition is available for Native American tribes; government employees; nonprofits; students; and NAEP, NEBC, NWAEP members.) You may register via the link below or by calling the Northwest Environmental Training Center at 206-762-1976. Register online now!

About the Instructor : Tyson Waldo has been working at the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) for the last 9-years. Starting as a GIS Specialist in 1999 he became the North Puget Sound Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Inventory and Assessment Program (SSHIAP) Biologist in 2001. Additionally, since the spring of 2006, Tyson has worked, as an adjunct professor of GIS at Western Washington University. Recently, Tyson has been applying the ArcGIS ArcHydro geo-data model to fisheries and fish habitat management in western Washington.

Cancellation Policy: Registration fees are fully refundable up to 30 days prior to the event and 50 percent refundable (or 100% credit) thereafter up to the day prior to the event. Registration may occur up to the day prior to the event provided that space is available.

Disability Accommodations: To request disability accommodations, please contact us at info@nwetc.org or (206) 762-1976 at least 30 days prior to the event.