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 Fire planning is traditionally agency-centric, discouraging landscape or ecosystem considerations. The Southern Sierra Geographic Information Cooperative is deploying technical information management solutions to the Southern Sierra Nevada ecosystem for improved coordination in fire planning across landowner boundaries. Anne Birkholz Pat Lineback
Back to Chapter 7: Collaboration and Public Participation Articles Public involvement at Blue Ridge Parkway By Bambi Teague and Chris Ulrey Russian scientists help seek brucellosis solutions for Yellowstone By Glenn Plumb, Wayne Brewster, and Margaret Wild Long-term bison management plan for Yellowstone and Montana Park Flight Program protects migratory birds beyond the United States By Carol Beidleman Work group initiated by National Park Service gains permanent support from county government By Kathleen Kodish Reeder Partners in plant protection at Capitol Reef National Park By Tom O. Clark Mountain of partnerships elevates North Cascades’ monitoring capabilities By Bruce L. Freet Other Developments A photographic mushroom survey Joint conservation plan for the Potomac Gorge Geologists-in-the-Parks program expands in scope Public participation and personal watercraft Award-winner Profile - Facility Manager Chris Case recognized with award Superfund cleanup at Grant Kohrs Ranch Progress developing the National Cave and Karst Research Institute International fisheries management plan for the Amistad Reservoir |
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 By Anne Birkholz and Pat Lineback The Southern Sierra Geographic Information Cooperative (SSGIC) was established in 2000 to develop and test collaborative approaches to landscape-scale fire management planning. The scope and complexity of fire management are increasing with more emphasis on the wildland-urban interface, integrating the role of fire in ecosystem management, and reducing hazardous fuels. Disastrous fires in the wildland-urban interface are increasing in frequency and intensity with large economic losses and increasing threat to public and firefighter safety. Effectively managing fuels in fire-dependent ecosystems such as the Sierra Nevada is growing in importance as plant communities continue to depart from their historic fire regimes and ecosystem health deteriorates. This interagency initiative focuses on technologies, including the Internet and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to support different agencies’ missions, enhance resource protection, improve public safety, protect property values, and reduce long-term costs to taxpayers. The SSGIC project area includes six major watersheds in the Southern Sierra Nevada encompassing 4.7 million acres. Member agencies include the Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Kern County Fire Department, and National Park Service. The traditional approach to fire management planning has been agency-centric, which discouraged landscape analysis and planning. The Southern Sierra Nevada has highly fragmented ownership and experiences substantial and increasing human encroachment on native ecosystems. Increased fuel loads after nearly 100 years of fire suppression have made cooperative planning an important goal. A significant impediment to successful collaboration has been technical issues associated with assembling interagency data sets and developing analyses that meet the goals of all agency missions. Additionally, each agency has its own business processes and standards for developing and managing its own data. The process of assembling “best available data” from the source agencies is a daunting and continuous task. Data related to fire, for example fuels, are dynamic and should be updated annually to improve the reliability of analyses and other applications. These problems reinforce the nationally recognized need for common fire data standards and business practices. Therefore, the SSGIC project is analyzing interagency differences between current data and business processes and developing strategies for improving long-term collaboration. To provide effective analytical tools, the local fire and GIS community continued a series of workshops in 2001 to develop analysis models and an implementation process. The process combines the “risk” of an ignition with a “hazard” value describing the potential fire behavior and a “value” factor that considers both the values at risk of loss due to fire as well as the benefits of fire to ecosystems. The individual analyses will be integrated and maps produced to provide fire managers with previously unavailable information for collaborative planning. To date, analyses are complete for risk, hazard, and positive ecosystem values. By April 2002 the values at risk of loss will be completed. The Southern Sierra Geographic Information Cooperative is working with the USGS to develop a website (http://ssgic.cr.usgs.gov). It uses ArcIMS software that allows users to display data and analysis results as a map that can be printed from a Web browser. On-line mapping ensures access to the best available data and allows customization of maps to meet specific user needs. Additionally, source data and analysis outputs can be downloaded by individual watersheds and employed with the user’s GIS software. The Southern Sierra Geographic Information Cooperative is a prototype model of interagency collaboration consistent with National Fire Plan policy and focused on issues representative of those facing fire managers across the country. Experience gained from analyzing agency business practices and developing analytical models will contribute to the current nationwide initiative to develop a comprehensive, interagency fire planning and analysis tool. |
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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2001, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2001 (publication D-2255) /YearInReview/yir/yir2001/0d7_collaboration/07_4_birkholz_SEKI.html Last Updated: |
