United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Proceedings RMRS-P-1 April 1998

Wildland Fire Research
Future Search Conference Notes
Park City, Utah
October 6-8, 1997

Saveland, Jim; Thomas, Dave, tech coord. 1998. Wildland Fire Research: Future Search Conference Notes; October 6-8, 1997; Park City, Utah. Proceedings RMRS-P-1. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 48 p.

Note:
To quickly publish these meeting notes, the drafts did not receive conventional Forest Service editorial processing. Views expressed are those of meeting attendees and not necessarily those of the Forest Service or other organizations represented at the meeting. Trade names are used for information purposes and do not imply endorsement or preferential treatment by the Forest Service or other organizations represented at the meeting.

Acknowledgments
The USDA Forest Service funded the conference and publication of this report. No fee was charged to encourage conference attendance.

I thank Future Search Conference facilitators, Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff, for their hard work, interest, and commitment to wildland fire research. A special thanks to the conference organizers and documentation team; these people are listed in Appendix A.

Jim Saveland, Conference Organizer
USDA Forest Service
Vegetation Management and
Protection Research

Outcomes

This conference provided an arena for identifying common key issues that are shaping wildland fire research. Commonly identified desired outcomes include:

• Research, integrated across disciplines, and management form partnerships.
• Communication between management and research is effective and continuous.
• Responsive and proactive research balances long-term scientific goals with rapidly changing management issues.
• The success of research and development is measured by on-the-ground implementation.
• Fire research is responsive to national goals and receives long-term, stable political support.

Action plans were developed around the following five key themes:

1. Create an interdepartmental competitive grant program.
2. Create a coordinated response to managing fire regimes for ecosystem health.
3. Create an environment for management and research collaboration.
4. Integrate social science expertise.
5. Assess ecological risk.

Contents

• Preface
• Acronyms
• I. The Challenge
• II. The Past
• III. The Present
• IV. Future Scenarios
• V. Common Ground
• VI. Action Plans
• VII. Closing
• VIII. Conclusions
• Appendix A. Conference Committees, Stakeholder Groups, and Mixed Groups
• Appendix B. Conference Participants
• Appendix C. Timeline
• Appendix D. Future Search Conference Principles
• Ordering A Printed Copy

Title: RMRS-P-1: Wildland Fire Research - Future Search Conference Notes: Main Page
Electronic Publish Date: December 16, 1998
Expires: Indefinite
Last Update: August 19, 2008

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