Where Ideas Take Flight

I visited the University of Montana in Missoula to briefly catch up with Carl Seielstad, Associate Research Professor and Fire/Fuels Program Manager, National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis and Eric Rowell, an Image Programmer/Remote Sensing Analyst who are working on, among other projects, the measurement of fuel bed properties beneath close-canopies using laser altimetry.

My understanding of this project is that an aerial laser scan (airborne LiDAR – light detection and ranging) of an area is taken which shows up the spacing of the trees across a landscape. They then scanned live trees on the ground with laser to try to extrapolate an average fuel mass for trees of a particular size class. Using the aerial laser scan coupled with the ground scanning they are working to estimate the amount of biomass in a forest unit. They hope to develop a baseline validation project that will be able to accurately characterize fuels spatially as well as estimate carbon and assess habitat.

using laser to assess the biomass of trees

each red spot is the bole of a tree (collected using LiDAR)

Back at the Fire Sciences Lab I had a moment to talk in the library with Jane Kapler Smith, Ecologist and she showed me a learning activity for children from the "FireWorks" program developed at the Fire Lab together with Blackfeet Community College about traditional ecological knowledge.

Jane showed me a fire carrier that were used by the native people, the Pikunii, to carry live coals of fire from the old camp to the new camp. They were practical, in order to make a fire in the new camp, but also had a cultural purpose - so the people would have continuity from one place to another using the same fire that had been used for many years.

The Pikunii made fire carriers from a buffalo horn that was filled with pieces of specific kinds of wood and other materials, arranged very carefully so the coals would smoulder slowly on the journey between camps. The horn had small slits in the sides to allow oxygen in so the live coals would stay alive. Fire carriers were covered on the outside with a combination of sand and dirt, mixed with homemade glue. This insulating mixture was pasted on the outside of the horn and dried for several days before the carrier was used. After a live coal was placed inside and a few final pieces of wood were placed on top, the carrier was covered with a rawhide-wrapped stone or piece of wood, which was tied on tight with strips of leather.

inside the horn - red bead represents the fire

a cross section of the fire carrier

In the Fire Modelling Institute at the Fire Sciences Laboratory I spent time with Duncan Lutes, a Fire Ecologist at the Fire Lab in Missoula who has been working with Nate Benson from the National Park Service from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise and others on developing a monitoring tool called FFI (FEAT/FIREMON Integrated) to assist managers with the collection, storage and analysis of ecological monitoring data.  FFI is a synthesis and expansion of two previous fire ecology monitoring systems, one from the US NPS and the other developed by the US Forest Service. The progeny of these two parents basically is a place to enter, store and analyse ecological data, such as fire effects monitoring or fire severity mapping or fuels plot data. In the program you can organise the data, query it, analyse it, share it and compare it. You can look at the data spatially and query data in the GIS. It is scalable so you can look at project to landscape level.

The program comes pre-loaded with species lists and a range of sampling protocols, however it has the ability to be manipulated by the user to design any type of sampling protocol that may be required. A PDA or tablet can be used in the field to electronically capture data on pre-prepared forms that can be uploaded directly to the database. The program can be operated as stand alone, networked or as a linked online system to allow for data sharing. The latest version of FFI is nearing completion although the software will be developed over time as improvements as required and conceived of.

The FFI is already in use by the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, some state conservation agencies as well as other government users, so comparison between different agencies and land managers is possible.




Where ideas take flight? Well, it could be said of every agency and institution I have visited on this tour, however I found that little gem on the College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana’s web page.

a print by Missoula artist Monte Dolack hanging in the hall of the Fire Sciences Lab

Thanks to all at the people I met at the Missoula Fire Lab including, Duncan, Pam, Jane, Faith Ann, LaWen and to Carl and Eric at the University of Montana!