Abstracts and Presentations

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Day 1 - Ecology, Landscapes, Fire Behavior and Stand Structure, Modeling Fire Behavior at the Landscape Level

Moderator: Stephen Fitzgerald, Extension Specialist, Oregon State University

9:00 a.m. Keynote: Re-Creating Fire-Resilient Landscapes
Wally Covington, Director of Ecological Restoration Institute and Professor, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona

10:00 Fire in the Pacific Northwest with an Emphasis on South Western Oregon Landscapes
Tom Atzet, Area Ecologist, Siskiyou National Forest and Tom Sensenig, Ecologist, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, Oregon

10:50 BREAK

11:15 What Does Fire Resiliency Mean in Rangeland and Juniper Woodlands? (PDF)
Richard Miller, Rangeland Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

11:45 LUNCH

AFTERNOON SESSION

1:15 Fire Behavior and Forest Structure
Russ Graham, Research Forester, and Theresa B. Jain, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Moscow, Idaho

1:45 Assessing Fire Regime Condition Class
Ayn Shlisky, Landscape Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy, Colorado and Tom DeMeo, Regional Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Portland, Oregon

2:15 Designing Fuel Hazard Reduction Treatments to Modify Landscape Level Fire Behavior
Carl Skinner, Geographer, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Redding, California

2:45 BREAK

3:15 Modeling Landscape Fire Behavior and Effects of Landscape Treatments
Mark Finney, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Montana

3:45 Insects & Disease and Risk Associated with Wildfire
Ellen Goheen, Forest Pathologist, USDA Forest Service, Medford, Oregon

4:15 Fire Effects on Soils and Watershed Processes (PDF)
Steve Schoenholtz, and Paul Adams, Forest Engineering Department, Oregon State University

4:45 Wrap-up Day 1 - Tom DeMeo, Regional Ecologist, Region 6 USDA Forest Service, Portland, Oregon

5:00 No-Host Social and Poster Session

Day 2 - Social/Economic/Decisions

SOCIAL SESSION

Moderator: Paul Adams, Extension Speacialist, Oregon State University

8:00 a.m. Panel Discussion - Fire and Forest Management in the Public Eye: What the News Media Sees and Reports on Fire Issues

Paul Adams, Oregon State University (Moderator) - Overview and examples
Paul Fattig, Medford Mail Tribune - Local/regional print news perspective
Jeff Golden, Jefferson Public Radio -Local/regional radio news perspective
Hasso Hering, Albany Democrat-Herald, Regional/National News Perspsective

9:15 Opinions and Perceptions of Oregonians about Wildfire and Treatments to Create Fire-Resilient Forests
Mike Cloughesy, Director of Forestry Information and Interpretation, Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Portland and Adam Davis, Davis & Hibbits, Inc., Portland

10:00 BREAK

10:30 Public Concerns and Involvement in Fire and Fuels Management: Why It Matters to Both the Public and to Public Managers?
Bruce Shindler, Forest Resources Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

11: 10 Healthy Forest Initiative and Maintaining Air Quality (PDF)
Roger Ottmar, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, PNW Research Station, Seattle, Washington

11:50 LUNCH

ECONOMIC SESSION

Moderator: Max Bennett, Extension Forester, Oregon State University

1:15 p.m. Financing and Effectiveness of Fuel Reduction Treatments in Southwestern Oregon (PDF)
Jamie Barbour, Program Manager, and Roger Fight, Jeremy Fried, and Glenn Christensen, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, Oregon

1:45 Realities of Small Log Utilization (PDF)
Blair Moody, Special Project Forester, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, Oregon

2:15 Biomass Utilization: What Does it Take?
Gordon Draper, Vice President, Biomass One, L.P. White City, Oregon

2:45 Biomass Utilization and Co-Generation: Ecological and Economic Benefits
Ken Cummings, Chief Forester, Boise Building Solutions, Medford, Oregon

3:10 BREAK

APPLYING SCIENCE, ASSESSING RISK, MAKING DECISIONS

3:30 Colliding and Colluding Worlds: Science, Scientists and Policies and Practices for Fire-resilient Landscapes
Paul W. Adams, Professor and Extension Specialist, Forest Engineering Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

4:00 Prioritizing Treatments Across Broad Landscapes: Integrating Social, Ecological, and Economic Criteria
Tom DeMeo, Regional Ecologist, Region 6 USDA Forest Service, Portland, Oregon

4:30 Risk and Resource Management
Dave Caraher, Projects Manager and Forest Analyst, Region 6 USDA Forest Service, Portland, Oregon (retired)

5:00 Overview of All-Day Field trip
Greg Chandler, Fuels Management Specialist, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, Oregon

5:15 Day 2 Wrap Up
Stephen Fitzgerald, Extension Specialist, Oregon State University

Day 3 -- Field Trip

All-day field trip to Quartz and Squires Peak Fires

Group I
7:45am Staging for Bus

8:00am Depart for Applegate Valley- Landscape Scale Fuel Treatments

8:45am Arrive- Squires Fire Thinning- Presentation and Discussion (Steve Armitage, Medford District BLM, Forest Manager) 9:45am Depart for Woodrat Mountain Summit

10:00am Arrive at Landscape View of Fuel Treatments Presentation and Discussion (Greg Chandler, Medford District BLM, Fuels Specialist)

11:00am Depart for Cantrell Buckley Park

11:45am Arrive for Lunch

1:00pm Depart for Quartz Fire

2:00pm Arrive at Fire Area- Fire Behavior in Unmanaged Spotted Owl Reserve Presentation and Discussion (Tom Sensenig, Medford District BLM, Forest Ecologists)

3:30pm Depart for Medford

4:45pm Arrive in Medford

Group II
7:45am Staging for Bus

8:00am Depart for Quartz Fire

9:15am Arrive at Fire Area- Fire Behavior in Unmanaged Spotted Owl Reserve Presentation and Discussion (Tom Sensenig, Medford District BLM, Forest Ecologists)

11:00am Depart for Cantrell Buckley Park

11:45am Arrive for Lunch

1:00pm Depart for Applegate Vally- Landscape Scale Fuel Treatments

1:45am Arrive Squires Fire Thinning- Presentation and Discussion (Steve Armitage, Medford District BLM, Forest Manager)

2:45pm Depart for Woodrat Mountain Summit

3:00pm Arrive at Landscape View of Fuel Treatments Presentation and Discussion (Greg Chandler, Medford District BLM, Fuels Specialist)

3:45pm Depart for Medford

4:30pm Arrive in Medford

Day 4 - Community Interactions and Partnerships, Getting It Done on the Ground, and Planning (Concurrent Sessions)

SESSION 1 - COMMUNITY INTERACTION and PARTNERSHIPS

Moderator: Norm Michaels, Forest Silviculturist, Fremont and Winema National Forests

8:00 Developing Landscape Partners: The Quincy Library Group and Plumas Fire Safe Council (PDF)
Michael De Lasaux, Natural Resource Advisor, U.C. Cooperative Extension, Quincy California

8:30 Developing Trust and Building Public Support for Projects on Federal Lands: The Metolius Forest Management Project Kris Martinson, Project Team Leader, Sisters Ranger District, Deschutes National Forest, Sisters, Oregon

9:00 Development of the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Unit
Jeff Rose, Fire Ecologist, Bureau of Land Management, Burns, Oregon

9:30 Reducing Fire Risk in the Wildland-Urban Interface: The City of Ashland Experience (PDF)
Fire Chief Keith E. Woodley and Chris Chambers, Ashland Fire & Rescue, City of Ashland, Oregon

10:00 BREAK

10:30 Applegate Community Fire Plan
Sandy Shaffer, Applegate Partnership, Jacksonville, Oregon

11:00 Perspectives on Working with Public Agencies
Jack Shipley, Applegate Partnership, Jacksonville, Oregon

11:30 General Session

SESSION 2 - GETTING IT DONE ON THE GROUND

Moderator: Tom Sensenig, Ecologist, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, Oregon

8:00 Stewardship Contracting on Federal Lands (PDF)
Margaret Kain, Group Leader, Forest Products and Vegetation Management, Region 6, USDA Forest Service, Portland, Oregon

8:30 Fuel Reduction Treatments in the City of Ashland Watershed
Marty Main, Consulting Forester, Small Woodland Services, Inc., Ashland, Oregon State University

9:00 Rangeland Fuel Treatments: Chainsaw, Flames, and 4-Legged Critters
Joe Wagner, Interagency Fire Ecologist, Fremont & Winema National Forests, Lakeview Oregon

9:30 Developing a Fuel Treatment Maintenance Program (PDF)
Eric Johnson, Fuels Management Technician, Klamath Resource Area, Bureau of Land Management, Klamath Falls, Oregon

10:00 BREAK

10:30 Landscape Simulation Tools for Analyzing Fuel Treatment Scenarios: Case Studies From the Blue Mountains (PDF)
Alan Ager, Analyst, Umatilla National Forest and PNW Station, Pendleton, Oregon

11:00 Using State and Transition Models to Integrate Fire, Fuel Treatments, and Other Landscape Characteristics
Miles Hemstrom, Research Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station

11:30 General Session

SESSION 3 - PLANNING

Moderator: Kelly Esterbrook, Assistant Fire Management Officer, North Zone, Willamette National Forest

8:00 How to Plan at the Landscape Level (PDF)
Ed Reilly, Natural Resource Planner, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, Oregon

8:30 How to be Successful with the NEPA Process and the Healthy Forest Legislation (PDF)
Owen Schmidt, Senior Council, USDA OGC, Portland, Oregon

9:00 How to be Successful with the NEPA Process and the Healthy Forest Legislation (continued)

9:30 What's New in Fire Planning Tools? (PDF)
Tom Wordell, Fire Technology Transfer Specialist, NIFC, Boise, Idaho

10:00 BREAK

10:30 Community Fire Planning (PDF)
Kathy Lynn, Watershed and Community Health Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

11:00 Planning Tools for Communities
Sue Kupillas, Jackson County Commissioner, Medford, Oregon

11:30 General Session

GENERAL SESSION AND CONFERENCE WRAP UP AND CONCLUDING REMARKS

11:30 Fire Resilient Landscapes: Conference Summary, Observations, and Comments
Steve Mealey, Manager of Wildlife, Watersheds, and Aquatic Ecology, Boise Cascade Corporation, Boise, Idaho.

12:15 Conference Adjourns

Day 5 - Optional Field Trip to Biscuit Fire