Due to a system outage at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, some Drought.gov maps and statistics may not be updated. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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.