Kapler Smith, Jane

Jane Kapler Smith is an Ecologist working for the Fire Modeling Institute at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab. She is Leader of the Information Team for the Fire Modeling Institute. Jane has degrees in English and Speech (B.A., Alverno College) and Forest Ecology (M.S., Colorado State University). She is Education Committee Chair for the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation.

Jane’s M.S. research was on fire behavior and fire effects in aspen groves in Colorado’s Front Range. With colleagues at the University of Montana and Colorado State University, Jane has conducted research on the effectiveness of educational tools and presentation techniques for increasing public understanding of wildland fire. Jane’s work focuses mainly on synthesis of scientific knowledge for managers and effective communication with the public. She manages the Fire Effects Information System, an on-line collection of literature reviews covering fire effects on more than 1,100 plants and animals; the Fire Effects Literature collection, more than 50,000 documents on fire ecology and related biological and ecological literature; and the Citation Retrieval System, the database of keyworded citations that catalogues the Fire Effects Literature Collection.