U.S. Forest Service offers webinar on evaluating resilience in fire-prone ecosystems

How do people adapt to forest fires?

That question underlies the interdisciplinary Forest People Fire (FPF) project and is the focus of the next U.S. Forest Service Landscape Science webinar on Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. EST.

The FPF project uses systems theory and simulation models to integrate biophysical and socioeconomic interconnections across land ownerships and to examine feedbacks between human and natural subsystems. The project hypothesizes that fire-prone landscapes are difficult human learning environments because individuals have infrequent encounters with fire and fire effects are spatially variable. These characteristics can limit humans’ ability to develop adaptive behaviors. The project is testing this prediction using an agent-based landscape model and collaborative learning.

Tom Spies, research ecologist wit the U.S. Forest Service pacific Northwest Research Station, will discuss the project's findings so far, indicating that social networks may help transmit adaptive knowledge and improve adaption in complex dynamic environments.

For more information, including how to join the webniar and how to access live captioning, visit the "Integrating ecological & social landscapes: evaluating resilience in fire‐prone ecosystems" webinar page.