Fuel treatment and previous fire effects on daily fire management costs

Metadata:
Identification_Information:
Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Barnett, Kevin
Originator: Naughton, Helen T.
Originator: Parks, Sean A.
Originator: Miller, Carol
Publication_Date: 2017
Title:
Fuel treatment and previous fire effects on daily fire management costs
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Tabular Digital Data
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: Fort Collins, CO
Publisher: Forest Service Research Data Archive
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0050
Description:
Abstract:
This publication contains tabular data used to evaluate the effects of fuel treatments and previously burned areas on daily wildland fire management costs. The data represent daily Forest Service fire management costs for a sample of 56 fires that burned between 2008 and 2012 throughout the conterminous United States. Included in the data is a suite of spatially derived variables used to control for variation in daily fire management costs, including topography, fire weather, fuel loading, remoteness, and human populations-at-risk. These data were extracted using daily fire progression maps produced using the methods outlined in Parks (2014).
Purpose:
The purpose of these data was to quantify the relationship between daily fire management costs and encounters with fuel treatments and previously burned areas. These data were the primary source of information used to construct empirical models of daily fire management costs.
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 2008
Ending_Date: 2012
Currentness_Reference:
Ground condition
Status:
Progress: Complete
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: As needed
Spatial_Domain:
Description_of_Geographic_Extent:
conterminous United States
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -123.75452
East_Bounding_Coordinate: -75.74081
North_Bounding_Coordinate: 47.91087
South_Bounding_Coordinate: 31.54656
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category
Theme_Keyword: economy
Theme_Keyword: environment
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: National Research & Development Taxonomy
Theme_Keyword: Ecology, Ecosystems, & Environment
Theme_Keyword: Geography
Theme_Keyword: Fire
Theme_Keyword: Fire suppression, pre-suppression
Theme_Keyword: Natural Resource Management & Use
Theme_Keyword: Economics
Theme_Keyword: Forest Management
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Theme_Keyword: wildland fire
Theme_Keyword: fuel treatments
Theme_Keyword: suppression
Theme_Keyword: cost
Theme_Keyword: expenditures
Theme_Keyword: panel data
Theme_Keyword: Joint Fire Science Program
Theme_Keyword: JFSP
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Place_Keyword: conterminous United States
Place_Keyword: United States
Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints:
These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:

Barnett, Kevin; Naughton, Helen T.; Parks, Sean A.; Miller, Carol. 2017. Fuel treatment and previous fire effects on daily fire management costs. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0050
Point_of_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: Helen T. Naughton
Contact_Organization: The University of Montana
Contact_Position: Associate Professor
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing and physical address
Address: 32 Campus Dr. #5472
City: Missoula
State_or_Province: MT
Postal_Code: 59812-5472
Country: USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone: 406-243-2925
Data_Set_Credit:
Funding for this project provided by Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP # 14-5-01-25): https://www.firescience.gov. Assistance also provided by USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute.
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Data_Quality_Information:
Attribute_Accuracy:
Attribute_Accuracy_Report:
Daily fire management costs incurred by the Forest Service for 56 fires that burned between 2008 and 2012 were retrieved by agency personnel through the I-Suite data management system. Although independent verification of these data is not feasible, fires containing erroneous values were removed from the sample. All geospatial data, including fuel treatment and fire history polygons, have a national coverage and employ standardized methods that minimize bias over space and time.
Logical_Consistency_Report:
not applicable
Completeness_Report:
The sample frame was restricted to fires that were managed by a Type 1 or Type 2 incident management team, were not managed as a 'complex', and intersected a fuel treatment or previously burned area during their progression. Although more fires met the selection criteria, the final sample size reflects the capacity of agency personnel to access and distribute fire management cost data.
Lineage:
Methodology:
Methodology_Type: Lab
Methodolgy_Identifier:
Methodolgy_Keyword_Thesaurus:
None
Methodology_Keyword: geospatial overlay
Methodology_Keyword: moving window
Methodology_Keyword: fire progression
Methodology_Keyword: panel data
Methodology_Description:
Daily fire management cost data were paired with spatial and tabular data that described the fire environment. The ecoregion spatial layer was obtained from The Nature Conservancy (available at http://maps.tnc.org/gis_data.html). The Topographic Position Index was calculated within a 2 kilometer (km) window (Gallant and Wilson 2000). A daily gridded dataset containing Energy Release Component (ERC) values was obtained from the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service. These data contain daily raw ERC values between 1990 and 2012 calculated at a 4 km spatial resolution; these data were subsequently converted into percentiles using observed ERC values during an ecoregion's fire season. Following Parks et al. (2015), the fire season for each ecoregion was defined as the dates that encompassed 95% of MODIS fire detection hoptspots. Data on the location of wilderness areas were used to construct a remoteness index following methods described in Haire et al. (2013); this variable was calculated within a 20 km window. The Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated within the footprint of each fire using Landsat remotely sensed imagery observed during the previous pre-defined fire season described above. NDVI served as a proxy for pre-fire fuel loading (Holsinger et al. 2016), with increasing NDVI values corresponding to higher live fuel loading (Uyeda et al. 2015). A median-filter algorithm was first applied across all images to produce a single composite grid corrected for cloud cover and other spectral uncertainties.

Description of LandScan data. Description of LANDFIRE fuel treatment data. Description of MTBS fire polygons.

These data were then used to construct statistical models to explain variation in daily fire management costs.
Methodology_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Gallant, John C.
Originator: Wilson, John P.
Publication_Date: 2000
Title:
Primary topographic attributes
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Book Chapter
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: New York
Publisher: Wiley
Other_Citation_Details:
In: Wilson, J., Gallant, J. (Eds.). Terrain Analysis: Principles and Applications, pp. 51-85
Methodology_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Haire, Sandra L.
Originator: McGarigal, Kevin
Originator: Miller, Carol
Publication_Date: 2013
Title:
Wilderness shapes contemporary fire size distributions across landscapes of the western United States
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Journal Article
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Ecosphere
Issue_Identification: 4: 1-20
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.1890/es12-00257.1
Methodology_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Parks, Sean A.
Originator: Holsinger, Lisa M.
Originator: Miller, Carol
Originator: Nelson, Cara R.
Publication_Date: 2015
Title:
Wildland fire as a self-regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Journal Article
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Ecological Applications
Issue_Identification: 25(6): 1478-1492
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1430.1
Methodology_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Holsinger, Lisa M.
Originator: Parks, Sean A.
Originator: Miller, Carol
Publication_Date: 2016
Title:
Weather, fuels, and topography impede wildland fire spread in western US landscapes
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Journal Article
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Forest Ecology and Management
Issue_Identification: 380: 59-69
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.08.035
Online_Linkage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/52447
Methodology_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Uyeda, Kellie A.
Originator: Stow, Douglas A.
Originator: Riggan, Philip J.
Publication_Date: 2015
Title:
Tracking MODIS NDVI time series to estimate fuel accumulation
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Journal Article
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Remote Sensing Letters
Issue_Identification: 6(8): 587-596
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.1080/2150704X.2015.1063736
Online_Linkage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/48720
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: The Nature Conservancy
Publication_Date: 20091214
Title:
TNC Terrestrial Ecoregions
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data
Other_Citation_Details:
This layers is based on WWF’s ecoregions outside of the United States, and is loosely based on Bailey’s ecoregions (from the USDA Forest Service) within the United States.
Online_Linkage: http://maps.tnc.org/gis_data.html
Type_of_Source_Media: Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date: 2009
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Ground Condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
Ecoregion spatial layer
Source_Contribution:
The ecoregion spatial layer was used to classify sample fires into broad scale ecosystem types.
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE)
Publication_Date: 2014
Title:
LANDFIRE Public Events Geodatabase
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data
Online_Linkage: https://www.landfire.gov/publicevents.php
Type_of_Source_Media: Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 1999
Ending_Date: 2012
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Ground Condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
LANDFIRE fuel treatment spatial layer
Source_Contribution:
This fuel treatment spatial layer was used to characterize encounters between recent wildland fires and fuel treatments.
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS)
Publication_Date: Unknown
Title:
National Burned Area Boundaries Dataset
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data
Online_Linkage: https://www.mtbs.gov/direct-download
Type_of_Source_Media: Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 1984
Ending_Date: 2015
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Ground Condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
MTSB Fire perimeters spatial layer
Source_Contribution:
This layer was used to identify recent wildland fires that burned into previous fuel treatments or wildland fires.
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Oak Ridge National Laboratories
Publication_Date: Unknown
Title:
High resolution population distribution model
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Raster Digital Data
Online_Linkage: http://web.ornl.gov/sci/landscan/
Type_of_Source_Media: Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date: 2012
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Ground Condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
Raster layer depicting human population count
Source_Contribution:
This layer was used to identify days in which the sample fires encountered a human populated area.
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Wilderness Connect
Publication_Date: 20090722
Title:
The National Wilderness Preservation System
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Vector Digital Data
Online_Linkage: http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/geography
Type_of_Source_Media: Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date: 2009
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Ground Condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
Wilderness boundaries spatial layer
Source_Contribution:
This layer was used to develop a remoteness index following the methods outlined in Haire et al. (2013).
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
Linking the spatially derived independent variables with daily fire management cost data required the use of fire progression maps produced using the interpolation methods described in Parks (2014). Day-of-burning maps were generated by spatially interpolating Moderate Resolution Spectrometer (MODIS) fire detection data within each fire's perimeter; these remotely sensed data depict the location and date and actively burning pixels. The fire progression maps were used to delineate both the daily and cumulative footprint of the fire (i.e., the total area burned up to a given day). Spatial data characterizing the daily fire environment was summarized within the daily cumulative footprint. However, days when a fire encountered a fuel treatment, previously burned areas, or a populated area were evaluated only on fire spread days. This decision was made to facilitate the interpretation of model outputs. All I-Suite observations dated before the first interpolated day-of-burning were removed.

Parks, Sean A. 2014. Mapping day-of-burning with coarse-resolution satellite fire-detection data. International Journal of Wildland Fire 23 (2): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1071/wf13138
Process_Date: 2017
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Entity_and_Attribute_Information:
Overview_Description:
Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
Below is a complete description of the data file included in this publication.

\Data\cost_data.csv: Comma-delimited ASCII text file containing daily fire management cost data. Variables include:

NAME: Official incident name assigned to each wildland fire

JULIAN DAY: Julian date

IMT_TYPE: Type of Incident Management Team assigned to manage each fire on a given day (1=Type 1 Incident Management Team, 2=Type 2 Incident Management Team, 3=Type 3 Incident Management Team, 4=Type 4 Incident Management Team, LOCAL=managed by local units (e.g., Forest Service district), UC=Managed under ‘unified command’)

YEAR: Year of incident (2008-2012)

ECOREGION: Ecoregion classification from The Nature Conservancy’s terrestrial ecoregions of the world spatial data layer. Ecoregion delineations are loosely based on Bailey’s (1995) ecoregion definition.

DAILY_COST: daily fire management cost (dollars)

TOPO: standard deviation of the Topographic Position Index calculated within a 2 kilometer (km) window (unitless). This variable is calculated within the daily cumulative footprint of each fire.

ERC: mean Energy Release Component percentile (0-100). This variable is calculated within the daily cumulative footprint of each fire.

FIRE: dummy variable, = 1 if a fire encountered a previously burned area

RX: dummy variable, = 1 if a fire encountered a previous fuel treatment

POP: dummy variable, = 1 if a fire encountered a populated area

EAST: dummy variable, = 'EAST' if a fire is located in eastern US ecoregions, = 'WEST' if a fire is located in western US ecoregions

REMOTE: Mean value of an index characterizing the relative amount of wilderness areas within a 20 km window (unitless). This variable is calculated within the daily cumulative footprint of each fire.

FUEL: Mean Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (0 - 100) (unitless). This variable is calculated within the daily cumulative footprint of each fire.

LOWPOP: dummy variable, = 'low' if less than 500 people are within 5 km of the final fire perimeter, otherwise = 'high'

LOWRX: dummy variable, = 'low' if less than 3,000 hectares of previously treated or burned areas are within 10 km of the final fire perimeter, otherwise = 'high'
Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
Bailey, Robert G. Description of the ecoregions of the United States (2nd ed.) 1995. Misc. Pub. No. 1391, Map scale 1:7,500,000. USDA Forest Service.
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Distribution_Information:
Distributor:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Organization_Primary:
Contact_Organization: USDA Forest Service, Research and Development
Contact_Position: Research Data Archivist
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing and physical
Address: 240 West Prospect Road
City: Fort Collins
State_or_Province: CO
Postal_Code: 80526
Country: USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone: see Contact Instructions
Contact Instructions: This contact information was current as of September 2017. For current information see Contact Us page on: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS.
Resource_Description: RDS-2017-0050
Distribution_Liability:
Metadata documents have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness. Unless otherwise stated, all data and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. However, neither the author, the Archive, nor any part of the federal government can assure the reliability or suitability of these data for a particular purpose. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed for a user's application of these data or related materials.

The metadata, data, or related materials may be updated without notification. If a user believes errors are present in the metadata, data or related materials, please use the information in (1) Identification Information: Point of Contact, (2) Metadata Reference: Metadata Contact, or (3) Distribution Information: Distributor to notify the author or the Archive of the issues.
Standard_Order_Process:
Digital_Form:
Digital_Transfer_Information:
Format_Name: ASCII
Format_Version_Number: see Format Specification
Format_Specification:
Comma-delimited ASCII text file (CSV)
File_Decompression_Technique: Files zipped with Winzip 14.0
Digital_Transfer_Option:
Online_Option:
Computer_Contact_Information:
Network_Address:
Network_Resource_Name: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0050
Fees: None
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Metadata_Reference_Information:
Metadata_Date: 20170920
Metadata_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person: Helen T. Naughton
Contact_Organization: The University of Montana
Contact_Position: Associate Professor
Contact_Address:
Address_Type: mailing and physical address
Address: 32 Campus Dr. #5472
City: Missoula
State_or_Province: MT
Postal_Code: 59812-5472
Country: USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone: 406-243-2925
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: helen.naughton@mso.umt.edu
Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001.1-1999
Metadata_Access_Constraints: None
Metadata_Use_Constraints:
None
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