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NIDIS Drought and Wildfire Nexus (NDAWN) Fire Practitioner Workshops

Since 2015, the NIDIS Drought and Wildfire Nexus (NDAWN) has convened 8 regional and subregional workshops, presented to fire practitioners at 8 number of conferences, and interviewed 15 fire weather forecasters on the impacts of drought on wildfire planning, behavior, and post wildfire response. Below is a list of national and sub-regional workshops with the fire management community, along with a key takeaway from each.

Map of NDAWN National and Sub-Regional Fire Practitioner workshops across the U.S., with an example key takeaway from each. Workshops began with a national workshop in Boise, Idaho in 2015. Sub-regional workshops span from 2017 to 2019, and a few were delayed due to COVID-19.
NDAWN national and sub-regional fire practitioner workshops across the U.S., from 2015 to the present. Workshop locations marked with a + sign have been delayed due to COVID-19 and will be rescheduled for the future. 

2015 National Workshop: Boise, Idaho

NDAWN convened a national-level workshop on Drought and Wildfire in Boise, Idaho in 2015. A key outcome of this workshop was a need to better understand if/how drought impacts influence wildfire planning efforts, wildfire behavior, and post-wildfire recovery efforts at a sub-regional level. This lead to undertaking a series of small, one-day workshops across the U.S. The Boise workshop and the sub-regional workshops in 2017 formed the basis for the NDAWN Strategic Plan released in 2018. Sub-regional workshops will continue post COVID-19.

NDAWN Sub-Regional Workshops

  • Reno, Nevada: 2017
    • A key need is to understand fuel flammability in the context of extended and flash drought conditions in the Great Basin.
  • Missoula, Montana: May 2017
    • A key need is better communication with stakeholders and local landowners on when and how to communicate drought conditions and impacts.
  • Redding, California: June 2017
    • A key need is more field observations throughout the wildfire season.
  • Vancouver, Washington: June 2017
    • A key need is to answer: How actionable is drought information for the region? How much dry do you need?
    College Station, Texas: September 2019
    • A key need is to develop a robust grass production index.
  • Norman, Oklahoma: September 2019
    • A key need is including mesonet weather into the national weather information management system framework.
  • Salt Lake City, Utah: October 2019
    • A key need is for an ontology for fuel/field observations and fire behavior that could be easily accessed for the region.

Additional sub-regional workshops were planned for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, and Georgia, which were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These workshops will be rescheduled for a later date.