Alaska's State Forests

Science.gov Websites

Conservation Education Timber Management Wildland Fire & Aviation Burn Permits Firewise Alaska Brochure (PDF) Fire Management Plans Fire Assignments Annual Fire Statistics Fire Terms Glossary Incident Business Management Grants Become an Alaska Firewise Community Community Wildland Fire Protection Plans

Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Fire Assay Workers and Their Children in Alaska, 2010-2011.

PubMed

Porter, Kimberly A; Kirk, Cassandra; Fearey, Donna; Castrodale, Louisa J; Verbrugge, David; McLaughlin, Joseph

2015-01-01

In October 2010, an employee at Facility A in Alaska that performs fire assay analysis, an industrial technique that uses lead-containing flux to obtain metals from pulverized rocks, was reported to the Alaska Section of Epidemiology (SOE) with an elevated blood lead level (BLL) ≥10 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL). The SOE initiated an investigation; investigators interviewed employees, offered blood lead screening to employees and their families, and observed a visit to the industrial facility by the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Section (AKOSH). Among the 15 employees with known work responsibilities, 12 had an elevated BLL at least once from October 2010 through February 2011. Of these 12 employees, 10 reported working in the fire assay room. Four children of employees had BLLs ≥5 μg/dL. Employees working in Facility A's fire assay room were likely exposed to lead at work and could have brought lead home. AKOSH inspectors reported that they could not share their consultative report with SOE investigators because of the confidentiality requirements of a federal regulation, which hampered Alaska SOE investigators from fully characterizing the lead exposure standards.

Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Fire Assay Workers and Their Children in Alaska, 2010–2011

PubMed Central

Kirk, Cassandra; Fearey, Donna; Castrodale, Louisa J.; Verbrugge, David; McLaughlin, Joseph

2015-01-01

In October 2010, an employee at Facility A in Alaska that performs fire assay analysis, an industrial technique that uses lead-containing flux to obtain metals from pulverized rocks, was reported to the Alaska Section of Epidemiology (SOE) with an elevated blood lead level (BLL) ≥10 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL). The SOE initiated an investigation; investigators interviewed employees, offered blood lead screening to employees and their families, and observed a visit to the industrial facility by the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Section (AKOSH). Among the 15 employees with known work responsibilities, 12 had an elevated BLL at least once from October 2010 through February 2011. Of these 12 employees, 10 reported working in the fire assay room. Four children of employees had BLLs ≥5 μg/dL. Employees working in Facility A's fire assay room were likely exposed to lead at work and could have brought lead home. AKOSH inspectors reported that they could not share their consultative report with SOE investigators because of the confidentiality requirements of a federal regulation, which hampered Alaska SOE investigators from fully characterizing the lead exposure standards. PMID:26327721

Evaluating the impacts of wildland fires on caribou in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Joly, Kyle; Adams, Layne G.; Dale, Bruce W.; Collins, William

2002-01-01

Caribou are found throughout the boreal forests of interior Alaska, a region subject to chronic and expansive wildland fires. Fruticose lichens, if available, constitute the majority of the winter diet of caribou throughout their range and are common in mature boreal forests but largely absent from early successional stages. Fire, the dominant ecological driving force, increases vegetative diversity and productivity across the landscape but may reduce the availability of caribou winter forage for decades.Increasingly, wildland fire regimes are influenced by humans seeking to reduce fire hazards or mitigate the effects of years of fire suppression. Consequently, biologists have debated the importance of forage lichens to the dynamics of caribou populations, and land managers have questioned the importance of fire regime to wintering caribou. To better understand the impacts of wildland fire on caribou, we are simultaneously investigating the relationships between fire history, caribou movements, forage lichen availability, and caribou nutritional performance on their winter range.

Alaska Community Forest Council

Science.gov Websites

Conservation Education Timber Management Wildland Fire & Aviation Burn Permits Firewise Alaska Brochure (PDF) Fire Management Plans Fire Assignments Annual Fire Statistics Fire Terms Glossary Incident Business Management Grants Become an Alaska Firewise Community Community Wildland Fire Protection Plans

The 1977 tundra fire in the Kokolik River area of Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Presumably caused by lightning, a large fire occurred due east of Point Lay several kilometers southwest of the Kokolik River, the farthest north a fire was ever fought by Bureau of Land Management personnel in Alaska. The progress and area extent of the fire were determined by analysis of LANDSAT MSS band 5 and 7 imagery. Low altitude observations from helicopter showed the fire burned a range of vegetation and relief types which included low polygonized and upland tussock tundras. The burned area appeared wetter on the surface than the unburned area, due to a lack of moisture absorbing organic matter and the possible release of moisture from the deeper thawed zone. Suggestions for future investigations of the effects of fire on tundra and permafrost terrains are discussed.

Fire severity mediates climate-driven shifts in understorey community composition of black spruce stands of interior Alaska

Treesearch

Emily L. Bernhardt; Teresa N. Hollingsworth; F. Stuart Chapin

2011-01-01

Question: How do pre-fire conditions (community composition and environmental characteristics) and climate-driven disturbance characteristics (fire severity) affect post-fire community composition in black spruce stands? Location: Northern boreal forest, interior Alaska. Methods: We compared plant community composition and environmental stand characteristics in 14...

Alaska Timber Jobs Task Force

Science.gov Websites

Conservation Education Timber Management Wildland Fire & Aviation Burn Permits Firewise Alaska Brochure (PDF) Fire Management Plans Fire Assignments Annual Fire Statistics Fire Terms Glossary Incident Business Management Grants Become an Alaska Firewise Community Community Wildland Fire Protection Plans

Firewood on Alaska State Lands

Science.gov Websites

Conservation Education Timber Management Wildland Fire & Aviation Burn Permits Firewise Alaska Brochure (PDF) Fire Management Plans Fire Assignments Annual Fire Statistics Fire Terms Glossary Incident Business Management Grants Become an Alaska Firewise Community Community Wildland Fire Protection Plans

Ecosystem Carbon Emissions from 2015 Forest Fires in Interior Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Potter, Christopher S.

2018-01-01

In the summer of 2015, hundreds of wildfires burned across the state of Alaska, and consumed more than 1.6 million ha of boreal forest and wetlands in the Yukon-Koyukuk region. Mapping of 113 large wildfires using Landsat satellite images from before and after 2015 indicated that nearly 60% of this area was burned at moderate-to-high severity levels. Field measurements near the town of Tanana on the Yukon River were carried out in July of 2017 in both unburned and 2015 burned forested areas (nearly adjacent to one-another) to visually verify locations of different Landsat burn severity classes (low, moderate, or high). Results: Field measurements indicated that the loss of surface organic layers in boreal ecosystem fires is a major factor determining post-fire soil temperature changes, depth of thawing, and carbon losses from the mineral topsoil layer. Measurements in forest sites showed that soil temperature profiles to 30 cm depth at burned forest sites increased by an average of 8o - 10o C compared to unburned forest sites. Sampling and laboratory analysis indicated a 65% reduction in soil carbon content and a 58% reduction in soil nitrogen content in severely burned sample sites compared to soil mineral samples from nearby unburned spruce forests. Conclusions: Combined with nearly unprecedented forest areas severely burned in the Interior region of Alaska in 2015, total ecosystem fire emission of carbon to the atmosphere exceeded most previous estimates for the state.

Using NPP-Suomi VIIRS I-band data to delineate high- and low-intensity burn areas for forest fires in interior Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waigl, C. F.; Prakash, A.; Stuefer, M.; Ichoku, C. M.

2016-12-01

The aim of this work is to present and evaluate an algorithm that generates near real-time fire detections suitable for use by fire and related hazard management agencies in Alaska. Our scheme offers benefits over available global products and is sensitive to low-intensity residual burns while at the same time avoiding common sources of false detections as they are observed in the Alaskan boreal forest, such as refective river banks and old fire scars. The algorithm is based on I-band brightness temperature data form the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA's NPP Suomi spacecraft. Using datasets covering the entire 2015 Alaska fire season, we first evaluate the performance of two global fire products: MOD14/MYD14, derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the more recent global VIIRS I-band product. A comparison with the fire perimeter and properties data published by the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) shows that both MODIS and VIIRS fire products successfully detect all fires larger than approx. 1000 hectares, with the VIIRS I-band product only moderately outperforming MOD14/MYD14. For smaller fires, the VIIRS I-band product offers higher detection likelihood, but still misses one fifth of the fire events overall. Furthermore, some daytime detections are missing, possibly due to processing difficulties or incomplete data transfer. Second, as an alternative, we present a simple algorithm that uses the normalized difference between the 3.74µm and 11.45 µm VIIRS-I band at-sensor brightness temperatures to map both low- and high-intensity burn areas. Such an approach has the advantage that it makes use of data that is available via the direct readout station operated by Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA). We apply this scheme to known Alaskan boreal forest fires and validate it using GIS data produced by fire management agencies, fire detections from near simultanous Landsat

Estimating release of carbon from 1990 and 1991 forest fires in Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaisischke, Eric S.; French, Nancy H. F.; Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura L.; Christensen, N. L., Jr.

1995-01-01

An improved method to estimate the amounts of carbon released during fires in the boreal forest zone of Alaska in 1990 and 1991 is described. This method divides the state into 64 distinct physiographic regions and estimates areal extent of five different land covers: two forest types, peat land, tundra, and nonvegetated. The areal extent of each cover type was estimated from a review of topographic maps of each region and observations on the distribution of foreat types within the state. Using previous observations and theoretical models for the two forest types found in interior Alaska, models of biomass accumulation as a function of stand age were developed. Stand age distributions for each region were determined using a statistical distribution based on fire frequency, which was from available long-term historical records. Estimates of the degree of biomass combusted were based on recent field observations as well as research reported in the literature. The location and areal extent of fires in this region for 1990 and 1991 were based on both field observations and analysis of satellite (advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR)) data sets. Estimates of average carbon release for the two study years ranged between 2.54 and 3.00 kg/sq m, which are 2.2 to 2.6 times greater than estimates used in other studies of carbon release through biomass burning in boreal forests. Total average annual carbon release for the two years ranged between 0.012 and 0.018 Pg C/yr, with the lower value resulting from the AVHRR estimates of fire location and area.

Isotopic evidence indicates saprotrophy in post-fire Morchella in Oregon and Alaska

Treesearch

Erik A. Hobbie; Samuel F. Rice; Nancy S. Weber; Jane E. Smith

2016-01-01

We assessed the nutritional strategy of true morels (genus Morchella) collected in 2003 and 2004 in Oregon and Alaska, 1 or 2 y after forest fires. We hypothesized that the patterns of stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) in the sporocarps would match those of saprotrophic fungi and that radiocarbon (Δ

Differences in human versus lightning fires between urban and rural areas of the boreal forest in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Calef, Monika; Varvak, Anna; McGuire, A. David

2017-01-01

In western North America, the carbon-rich boreal forest is experiencing warmer temperatures, drier conditions and larger and more frequent wildfires. However, the fire regime is also affected by direct human activities through suppression, ignition, and land use changes. Models are important predictive tools for understanding future conditions but they are based on regional generalizations of wildfire behavior and weather that do not adequately account for the complexity of human–fire interactions. To achieve a better understanding of the intensity of human influence on fires in this sparsely populated area and to quantify differences between human and lightning fires, we analyzed fires by both ignition types in regard to human proximity in urban (the Fairbanks subregion) and rural areas of interior Alaska using spatial (Geographic Information Systems) and quantitative analysis methods. We found substantial differences in drivers of wildfire: while increases in fire ignitions and area burned were caused by lightning in rural interior Alaska, in the Fairbanks subregion these increases were due to human fires, especially in the wildland urban interface. Lightning fires are starting earlier and fires are burning longer, which is much more pronounced in the Fairbanks subregion than in rural areas. Human fires differed from lightning fires in several ways: they started closer to settlements and highways, burned for a shorter duration, were concentrated in the Fairbanks subregion, and often occurred outside the brief seasonal window for lightning fires. This study provides important insights that improve our understanding of the direct human influence on recently observed changes in wildfire regime with implications for both fire modeling and fire management.

El Niño and its impact on fire weather conditions in Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hess, Jason C.; Scott, Carven A.; Hufford, Gary L.; Fleming, Michael D.

2001-01-01

Examining the relationship of El Niño to weather patterns in Alaska shows wide climate variances that depend on the teleconnection between the tropics and the northern latitudes. However, the weather patterns exhibited in Alaska during and just after moderate to strong El Niño episodes are generally consistent: above normal temperature and precipitation along the Alaskan coast, and above normal temperature and below normal precipitation in the interior, especially through the winter. The warm, dry conditions in the Alaskan interior increase summer wildfire potential. Statistics on the area burned since 1940 show that 15 out of 17 of the biggest fire years occurred during a moderate to strong El Niño episode. These 15 years account for nearly 63% of the total area burned over the last 58 years. Evidence points to increased dry thunderstorms and associated lightning activity during an El Niño episode; the percentage of total area burned by lightning caused fires during five episodes increased from a normal of less than 40% to a high of about 96%.

Smoke from Alaska and Canada Fires Dives into the Continental U.S.

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-07-01

The InciWeb Incident Information System is following 18 fires in Alaska that are contributing, along with 49 uncontrolled fires under surveillance by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, to vast areas of visible smoke throughout Canadian provinces and stretching into northern U.S. states. This image from the Suomi NPP satellite's VIIRS instrument was taken from NOAA View on June 28, 2015. The smoke from these fires can also be seen in NOAA View as Aerosol Optical Thickness, a measure of how aerosols, such as smoke from wildfires, scatter and absorb sunlight. Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

76 FR 8378 - National Park Service Alaska Region's Subsistence Resource Commission (SRC) Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-14

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service [NPS-AKR-DENA] [9924-PYS] National Park Service Alaska Region's Subsistence Resource Commission (SRC) Program AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice of public meeting for the National Park Service Alaska Region's Subsistence Resource...

NWS Alaska Sea Ice Program: Operations and Decision Support Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreck, M. B.; Nelson, J. A., Jr.; Heim, R.

2015-12-01

The National Weather Service's Alaska Sea Ice Program is designed to service customers and partners operating and planning operations within Alaska waters. The Alaska Sea Ice Program offers daily sea ice and sea surface temperature analysis products. The program also delivers a five day sea ice forecast 3 times each week, provides a 3 month sea ice outlook at the end of each month, and has staff available to respond to sea ice related information inquiries. These analysis and forecast products are utilized by many entities around the state of Alaska and nationally for safety of navigation and community strategic planning. The list of current customers stem from academia and research institutions, to local state and federal agencies, to resupply barges, to coastal subsistence hunters, to gold dredgers, to fisheries, to the general public. Due to a longer sea ice free season over recent years, activity in the waters around Alaska has increased. This has led to a rise in decision support services from the Alaska Sea Ice Program. The ASIP is in constant contact with the National Ice Center as well as the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for safety of navigation. In the past, the ASIP provided briefings to the USCG when in support of search and rescue efforts. Currently, not only does that support remain, but our team is also briefing on sea ice outlooks into the next few months. As traffic in the Arctic increases, the ASIP will be called upon to provide more and more services on varying time scales to meet customer needs. This talk will address the many facets of the current Alaska Sea Ice Program as well as delve into what we see as the future of the ASIP.

Post-fire Thermokarst Development Along a Planned Road Corridor in Arctic Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, B. M.; Grosse, G.; Larsen, C. F.; Hayes, D. J.; Arp, C. D.; Liu, L.; Miller, E.

2015-12-01

Wildfire disturbance in northern high latitude regions is an important factor contributing to ecosystem and landscape change. In permafrost influenced terrain, fire may initiate thermokarst development which impacts hydrology, vegetation, wildlife, carbon storage and infrastructure. In this study we differenced two airborne LiDAR datasets that were acquired in the aftermath of the large and severe Anaktuvuk River tundra fire, which in 2007 burned across a proposed road corridor in Arctic Alaska. The 2009 LiDAR dataset was acquired by the Alaska Department of Transportation in preparation for construction of a gravel road that would connect the Dalton Highway with the logistical camp of Umiat. The 2014 LiDAR dataset was acquired by the USGS to quantify potential post-fire thermokarst development over the first seven years following the tundra fire event. By differencing the two 1 m resolution digital terrain models, we measured permafrost thaw subsidence across 34% of the burned tundra area studied, and observed less than 1% in similar, undisturbed tundra terrain units. Ice-rich, yedoma upland terrain was most susceptible to thermokarst development following the disturbance, accounting for 50% of the areal and volumetric change detected, with some locations subsiding more than six meters over the study period. Calculation of rugosity, or surface roughness, in the two datasets showed a doubling in microtopography on average across the burned portion of the study area, with a 340% increase in yedoma upland terrain. An additional LiDAR dataset was acquired in April 2015 to document the role of thermokarst development on enhanced snow accumulation and subsequent snowmelt runoff within the burn area. Our findings will enable future vulnerability assessments of ice-rich permafrost terrain as a result of shifting disturbance regimes. Such assessments are needed to address questions focused on the impact of permafrost degradation on physical, ecological, and socio

Reconstruction of fire history of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sae-lim, J.; Mann, P. J.; Russell, J. M.; Natali, S.; Vachula, R. S.; Schade, J. D.; Holmes, R. M.

2017-12-01

Wildfire is an important disturbance in Arctic ecosystems and can cause abrupt perturbations in global carbon cycling and atmospheric chemistry. Over the next few decades, arctic fire frequency, intensity and extent is projected to increase due to anthropogenic climate change, as regional air temperatures are increasing at more than twice the global average. In order to more accurately predict the anthropogenic impacts of climate change on tundra fire regimes, it is critical to have detailed knowledge of the natural frequency and extent of past wildfires. However, reliable historical records only extend back a few hundred years, whereas climatic shifts have affected fire regimes for thousands of years. In this work we analyzed a lake sediment core collected from the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta, Alaska, a region that has recently experienced fire and is predicted to see increasing fire frequency in the near future. Our primary lake site is situated adjacent to recent burned areas, providing a `calibration' point and also attesting to the sensitivity of the sites. We used charcoal counts alongside geochemical measurements (C:N, 13C, 15N, 210Pb, X-ray fluorescence analyses of elemental chemistry) to reconstruct past fire history and ecosystem responses during the late Holocene. Average C (%C) and N concentrations (%N) in the core were 8.10 ±0.74% and 0.48 ±0.05%, resulting in C:N ratios of 16.80 ±0.74. The values are generally stable, with no obvious trend in C, N or C:N with depth; however, fluctuations in sediment composition in other nearby lake sediment cores possibly suggests shifts in lake conditions (oxic, anoxic) over time that might result from paleofires. This study provides a baseline for estimated fire return intervals in the YK Delta that will support more accurate projections of tundra fire frequencies under a changing climate.

Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Program Procedures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

These procedures for the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Program provide professional qualification standards for three levels of fire fighter and four levels of fire service instructor. A section on program authority/operations covers program development, the credential review system, and revocation of certification. Requirements for…

36 CFR 13.976 - Fire.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Fire. 13.976 Section 13.976 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM UNITS IN ALASKA Special Regulations-Denali National Park and Preserve Frontcountry Developed Area...

Division of Forestry Fire and Aviation Program

Science.gov Websites

Conservation Education Timber Management Wildland Fire & Aviation Burn Permits Firewise Alaska Brochure (PDF) Fire Management Plans Fire Assignments Annual Fire Statistics Fire Terms Glossary Incident Business Management Grants Become an Alaska Firewise Community Community Wildland Fire Protection Plans

Understanding the drivers of post-fire albedo and radiative forcing across Alaska and Canada: implications for management.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potter, S.; Solvik, K.; Erb, A.; Goetz, S. J.; Johnstone, J. F.; Mack, M. C.; Randerson, J. T.; Roman, M. O.; Schaaf, C. L.; Turetsky, M. R.; Veraverbeke, S.; Wang, Z.; Rogers, B. M.

2017-12-01

Boreal forest dynamics including succession, composition, carbon cycling, and surface-atmosphere energy exchanges are largely driven by fire. In Alaska and Canada, burned area and fire frequency have increased since the 1970s, and are projected to continue increasing into the 21st century. In contrast to other biomes, alterations to surface albedo from fires in North American boreal forests are one of the primary feedbacks to climate. Understanding how altered fire regimes impact vegetation composition and energy budgets is therefore critical to forecasting regional and global climate change. High-severity fires cause winter and spring albedo to increase due to increased snow exposure and replacement of evergreen conifers by deciduous broadleaf trees. Although summer albedo decreases initially due to the deposition of black carbon and charred surfaces, it typically increases for several decades thereafter when younger and brighter deciduous trees dominate. The net effect of these albedo changes is expected to result in substantive radiative cooling, but there has been little research to examine how albedo trajectories differ spatially and temporally as a result of differences in burn severity, species composition, topography, climate and soil properties, and what the associated implications for future energy balances are. Here we investigate drivers of post-fire monthly albedo trajectories across Canada and Alaska using a new Collection V006 500 m MODIS daily blue-sky albedo product and historical fires from the Canadian and Alaskan National Fire Databases. The impacts of varying fuel type, landscape position, soils, climate, and burn severity on monthly albedo trajectories are explored using a Random Forest model. This information is then used to predict long-term monthly albedo and radiative forcing for fires that occurred during the MODIS era (2001-2012). We find that higher severity burns in denser forests and environmental conditions that promote either

Forestry timber typing. Tanana demonstration project, Alaska ASVT. [Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morrissey, L. A.; Ambrosia, V. G.

1982-01-01

The feasibility of using LANDSAT digital data in conjunction with topographic data to delineate commercial forests by stand size and crown closure in the Tanana River basin of Alaska was tested. A modified clustering approach using two LANDSAT dates to generate an initial forest type classification was then refined with topographic data. To further demonstrate the ability of remotely sensed data in a fire protection planning framework, the timber type data were subsequently integrated with terrain information to generate a fire hazard map of the study area. This map provides valuable assistance in initial attack planning, determining equipment accessibility, and fire growth modeling. The resulting data sets were incorporated into the Alaska Department of Natural Resources geographic information system for subsequent utilization.

Analysis of Idaho fire service education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, Walter O.

1999-01-01

Becoming a career fire fighter in the state of Idaho requires specialized knowledge and training. Fire science education at Idaho colleges and universities is available only to people who are affiliated with a fire department. Law enforcement curriculum, on the other hand, is available to any interested persons. A student in law enforcement can attend the Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) academy or participate in classes in one of Idaho's institutions for higher education. There are no fire academies in Idaho. Applicants wanting to become professional fire fighters in Idaho are required to compete with applicants from other states; many of whom have had prior fire education and training. Resident Idaho fire fighter applicants are at a disadvantage when applying for Idaho fire fighting positions. Because of this apparent need, I surveyed the Idaho fire chiefs, using a research instrument I developed in a graduate field research class. I wrote the research instrument to determine the educational needs of the Idaho fire service. The College of Southern Idaho (CSI) and the Idaho Fire Chiefs Association (IFCA) were the recipients of this survey. This report, Analysis of Idaho Fire Service Education, describes that research process from beginning to end.

Fire Problems in High-Rise Buildings. California Fire Service Training Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento. Bureau of Industrial Education.

Resulting from a conference concerned with high-rise fire problems, this manual has been prepared as a fire department training manual and as a reference for students enrolled in fire service training courses. Information is provided for topics dealing with: (1) Typical Fire Problems in High-Rise Buildings, (2) Heat, (3) Smoke and Fire Gases, (4)…

Simulating the response of natural ecosystems and their fire regimes to climatic variability in Alaska.

Treesearch

D. Bachelet; J. Lenihan; R. Neilson; R. Drapek; T. Kittel

2005-01-01

The dynamic global vegetation model MC1 was used to examine climate, fire, and ecosystems interactions in Alaska under historical (1922-1996) and future (1997-2100) climate conditions. Projections show that by the end of the 21st century, 75%-90% of the area simulated as tundra in 1922 is replaced by boreal and temperate forest. From 1922 to 1996, simulation results...

Dashboards for the Fire Service

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

did not appear to meet the specific needs of the MCFRS. The vendor prides itself on its customization skills and offered to work with MCFRS to...fire protection services in particular localities, and offered these assessments to the insurance industry so that individual insurance companies had a...THE FIRE SERVICE by Alan L. Butsch December 2017 Thesis Advisor: Scott Jasper Second Reader: Rodrigo Nieto-Gomez THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY

Assessing predictive services' 7-day fire potential outlook

Treesearch

Karin Riley; Crystal Stonesifer; Dave Calkin; Haiganoush Preisler

2015-01-01

The Predictive Services program was created under the National Wildfire Coordinating Group in 2001 to address the need for long- and short-term decision support information for fire managers and operations personnel. The primary mission of Predictive Services is to integrate fire weather, fire danger, and resource availability to enable strategic fire suppression...

Fire Streams. Fire Service Certification Series. Unit FSCS-FF-10-80.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

This training unit on fire streams is part of a 17-unit course package written to aid instructors in the development, teaching, and evaluation of fire fighters in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. The purpose stated for the 8-hour unit is to provide the fire fighters with an understanding of the characteristics, use, and application…

State of Alaska Fire Service Training. Instructor Certification Standards.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hagevig, William

Designed for local Alaskan fire departments, this pamphlet provides the criteria and qualifications for certificates of firefighter instructors (basic, advanced, master), a list of approved subject categories for each level of certification, sample certification applications, a list of resource publications, and a training course outline (basic…

Suggested Guide for Fire Service Standard Operating Procedures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillett, Merl; Hertzler, Simon L.

Suggested guidelines for the development of fire service standard operating procedures are presented in this document. Section topics are as follow: chain of command; communications; emergency response; apparatus; fire service training; disaster response; aircraft fire safety; mutual aid; national reporting system (example reporting forms);…

Spatiotemporal variation of surface shortwave forcing from fire-induced albedo change in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Huang, Shengli; Dahal, Devendra; Liu, Heping; Jin, Suming; Young, Claudia J.; Liu, Shuang; Liu, Shu-Guang

2015-01-01

The albedo change caused by both fires and subsequent succession is spatially heterogeneous, leading to the need to assess the spatiotemporal variation of surface shortwave forcing (SSF) as a component to quantify the climate impacts of high-latitude fires. We used an image reconstruction approach to compare postfire albedo with the albedo assuming fires had not occurred. Combining the fire-caused albedo change from the 2001-2010 fires in interior Alaska and the monthly surface incoming solar radiation, we examined the spatiotemporal variation of SSF in the early successional stage of around 10 years. Our results showed that while postfire albedo generally increased in fall, winter, and spring, some burned areas could show an albedo decrease during these seasons. In summer, the albedo increased for several years and then declined again. The spring SSF distribution did not show a latitudinal decrease from south to north as previously reported. The results also indicated that although the SSF is usually largely negative in the early successional years, it may not be significant during the first postfire year. The annual 2005-2010 SSF for the 2004 fire scars was -1.30, -4.40, -3.31, -4.00, -3.42, and -2.47 Wm-2. The integrated annual SSF map showed significant spatial variation with a mean of -3.15 Wm-2 and a standard deviation of 3.26 Wm-2, 16% of burned areas having positive SSF. Our results suggest that boreal deciduous fires would be less positive for climate change than boreal evergreen fires. Future research is needed to comprehensively investigate the spatiotemporal radiative and non-radiative forcings to determine the effect of boreal fires on climate.

Tundra Fires in the Noatak National Preserve, Northwestern Alaska, Since 6000 yr BP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chipman, M. L.; Higuera, P. E.; Allen, J.; Rupp, S.; Hu, F. S.

2008-12-01

Over 1.7 million hectares of Alaskan tundra have burned over the past 50 years, including the record-setting Anaktuvuk River fire in 2007. Despite this evidence indicating the flammable nature of these ecosystems under warm and dry conditions, land managers and global change scientists lack critical information concerning long-term relationships among fire, climate and tundra vegetation. This knowledge gap limits the ability to assess the response of the tundra fire regime to ongoing and predicted climate warming and potential feedbacks with Earth systems. We utilize macroscopic charcoal from lake-sediment cores to characterize the frequency component of fire regimes in shrub-dominated and herb-dominated tundra ecosystems in northwestern Alaska over the past 6000 years. Here we present the first long-term records of tundra fire regimes from the Noatak National Preserve, a region encompassing some of the most flammable tundra in the state. Results from three lakes indicate that fire has been a consistent process in the region, with fire return intervals (FRIs) ranging from 70 to 800+ years since 6000 yr BP. FRIs were similar between herb- and shrub-dominated tundra sites before ~2000 yr BP, with a mean FRI of 167 yr (95% CI 145-195) Over the past ~2000 years, however, herb- dominated sites burned more frequently (mean FRI 112 yr [95% CI 80-151]) than shrub-dominated sites (mean FRI 247 yr [95% CI 141-377]). At millennial time scales, shifts in historic FRIs were likely related to regional climate changes and/or associated vegetation changes. These results provide a context for resource management and serve to refine the tundra component of an ecosystem model designed to aid land managers in assessing fuels and fire hazards in the context of climatic change.

Harvesting morels after wildfire in Alaska.

Treesearch

Tricia L. Wurtz; Amy L. Wiita; Nancy S. Weber; David Pilz

2005-01-01

Morels are edible, choice wild mushrooms that sometimes fruit prolifically in the years immediately after an area has been burned by wildfire. Wildfires are common in interior Alaska; an average of 708,700 acres burned each year in interior Alaska between 1961 and 2000, and in major fire years, over 2 million acres burned. We discuss Alaska's boreal forest...

Spatiotemporal Trends in late-Holocene Fire Regimes in Arctic and Boreal Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoecker, T. J.; Higuera, P. E.; Hu, F.; Kelly, R.

2015-12-01

Alaskan arctic and boreal ecosystems are of global importance owing to their sensitivity and feedbacks to directional climate change. Wildfires are a primary driver of boreal carbon balance, and altered fire regimes may significantly impact global climate through the release of stored carbon and changes to surface albedo. Paleoecological records provide a window to how these systems respond to change by revealing climatic and disturbance variability throughout the Holocene. These long-term records highlight the sensitivity of fire regimes to climate and vegetation change, including responses to the relatively warm Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), and the relatively cool Little Ice Age (LIA). Over millennial timescales, boreal forests and arctic tundra have been resilient to climate change, but continued directional climate change may result in novel vegetation compositions and fire regimes, with potentially significant implications for global climate. Here we present a spatiotemporal synthesis of 22 published sediment-charcoal records from three Alaskan ecoregions. We add to this network eight records collected in June 2015 from an additional ecoregion. Variability in fire return intervals (FRIs) was quantified within and among ecoregions and climatic periods spanning the past 2 millennia, based on a peak analysis representing local fire events. Preliminary results suggest that fire regimes were responsive to centennial-scale climatic shifts, including the MCA and LIA, but the degree of sensitivity varies by ecoregion. Over the past 2000 years, FRIs were shortest during the MCA, indicating the potential for climate warming to promote high rates of burning. FRIs in tundra regions of northwestern Alaska and in interior boreal forests were 20% shorter during the MCA than during the LIA, and 25% shorter in boreal forest in the south-central Brooks Range. Burning was likely promoted during the warmer, drier MCA through lower fuel moisture. Quantifying fire

FIRE SERVICE TRAINING, INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL, BASIC COURSE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BERNDT, WILLIAM M.; AND OTHERS

INSTRUCTORS CAN USE THIS MANUAL IN CONDUCTING A 34-HOUR FIRE STATION OR TRAINING CENTER EXTENSION PROGRAM TO IMPROVE THE COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS OF LOCAL FIRE PERSONNEL IN THE SPECIALIZED FIELD OF FIRE SERVICE. IT WAS DEVELOPED BY A STATEWIDE COMMITTEE OF FIRE FIGHTING CONSULTANTS AND ADVISORY GROUPS. THE 26 TEACHING GUIDES PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONAL…

Interactive effects of fire, soil, climate, and moss on CO2 fluxes in black spruce ecosystems of interior Alaska

Treesearch

Jonathan A. O' Donnell; Merritt R. Turetsky; Jennifer W. Harden; Kristen L. Manies; Lee E. Pruett; Gordon Shetler; Jason C. Neff

2009-01-01

We present findings from two complementary studies that examine how fire modifies soil organic matter properties, and how these modifications influence rates of decomposition and carbon (C) exchange in black spruce (Picea mariana) ecosystems of interior Alaska. Our laboratory study showed that burning reduced the sensitivity of decomposition to...

PREFER: a European service providing forest fire management support products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eftychidis, George; Laneve, Giovanni; Ferrucci, Fabrizio; Sebastian Lopez, Ana; Lourenco, Louciano; Clandillon, Stephen; Tampellini, Lucia; Hirn, Barbara; Diagourtas, Dimitris; Leventakis, George

2015-06-01

PREFER is a Copernicus project of the EC-FP7 program which aims developing spatial information products that may support fire prevention and burned areas restoration decisions and establish a relevant web-based regional service for making these products available to fire management stakeholders. The service focuses to the Mediterranean region, where fire risk is high and damages from wildfires are quite important, and develop its products for pilot areas located in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Greece. PREFER aims to allow fire managers to have access to online resources, which shall facilitate fire prevention measures, fire hazard and risk assessment, estimation of fire impact and damages caused by wildfire as well as support monitoring of post-fire regeneration and vegetation recovery. It makes use of a variety of products delivered by space borne sensors and develop seasonal and daily products using multi-payload, multi-scale and multi-temporal analysis of EO data. The PREFER Service portfolio consists of two main suite of products. The first refers to mapping products for supporting decisions concerning the Preparedness/Prevention Phase (ISP Service). The service delivers Fuel, Hazard and Fire risk maps for this purpose. Furthermore the PREFER portfolio includes Post-fire vegetation recovery, burn scar maps, damage severity and 3D fire damage assessment products in order to support relative assessments required in context of the Recovery/Reconstruction Phase (ISR Service) of fire management.

Applying stand replacement prescribed fires in Alaska

Treesearch

Larry A. Vanderlinden

1996-01-01

Stand replacement prescribed burning has been applied in Alaska on several occasions. Based on that experience, perspectives can be provided, issues can be discussed, and keys to success can be identified that are applicable to stand replacement prescribed burning activities in areas outside Alaska.

The effects of fire on the thermal stability of permafrost in lowland and upland black spruce forests of interior Alaska in a changing climate

Treesearch

E.E. Jafarov; V.E. Romanovsky; H. Genet; A.D. McGuire; S.S. Marchenko

2013-01-01

Fire is an important factor controlling the composition and thickness of the organic layer in the black spruce forest ecosystems of interior Alaska. Fire that burns the organic layer can trigger dramatic changes in the underlying permafrost, leading to accelerated ground thawing within a relatively short time. In this study, we addressed the following questions. (1)...

Children's Knowledge of Fire Safety: A Report for the New Zealand Fire Service.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Constable, Cheryl; Renwick, Margery

The study reported in this document was conducted to measure the impact of the New Zealand Fire Service's new fire safety program on elementary school students. Firefighters in each fire station and voluntary fire brigade in New Zealand were responsible for arranging a visit to every elementary school within their area to present a learning…

Changes in Species, Areal Cover, and Production of Moss across a Fire Chronosequence in Interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harden, J.W.; Munster, J.; Manies, K.L.; Mack, M.C.; Bubier, J.L.

2009-01-01

In an effort to characterize the species and production rates of various upland mosses and their relationship to both site drainage and time since fire, annual net primary production of six common moss species was measured. Several stands located near Delta Junction, interior Alaska, were located. These stands ranged from one to 116 years since fire in well-drained (dry) and moderately to somewhat poorly drained (wet) black spruce (Picea mariana)-feathermoss systems. Moss species composition varied greatly during the fire cycle, with Ceratodon purpureus dominating the earliest years after a fire, Aulacomnium palustre dominating the transitional and older stages, and Hylocomium splendens dominating the oldest, mature sites. Polytrichum spp. was found at all sites. Average moss cover ranged from <10 percent in the youngest sites to almost 90 percent in the mature sites. Species from the genus Polytrichum were the most productive and contributed up to 30 g m2 of organic matter in one growing season. Least productive was Rhytidium rugosum, which contributed about 1.5 g m2 of organic matter in mature stands. Recovery of moss productivity after fire was not significantly different for wet and dry sites.

46 CFR 107.235 - Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire extinguishing systems. 107.235 Section 107.235 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS INSPECTION AND...

46 CFR 107.235 - Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire-extinguishing systems. 107.235 Section 107.235 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS INSPECTION AND...

46 CFR 107.235 - Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire-extinguishing systems. 107.235 Section 107.235 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS INSPECTION AND...

46 CFR 107.235 - Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire extinguishing systems. 107.235 Section 107.235 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS INSPECTION AND...

46 CFR 107.235 - Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Servicing of hand portable fire extinguishers, semi-portable fire extinguishers and fixed fire extinguishing systems. 107.235 Section 107.235 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS INSPECTION AND...

Alaska Mental Health Board

Science.gov Websites

State Employees Alaska Mental Health Board DHSS State of Alaska Home Divisions and Agencies Alaska Pioneer Homes Behavioral Health Office of Children's Services Office of the Commissioner Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention Finance & Management Services Health Care Services Juvenile

Differences in Human Versus Lightning Fires with Human Proximity at Two Spatial Scales in Interior Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calef, M. P.; Varvak, A.; McGuire, A. D.

2017-12-01

The boreal forest contains significant amounts of carbon in its biomass and soils and is currently responding to a rapidly changing climate. This is leading to warmer temperatures, drier conditions and larger and more frequent wildfires in western North America. However, the fire regime is also affected by direct human activities through suppression, ignition, and land use changes. Models are important predictive tools for understanding future conditions but they are based on regional generalizations of wildfire behavior and do not account for the complexity of human-fire interactions. In order to achieve a better understanding of the human influence on fires and how human fires differ from lightning fires, we analyzed both in regard to human proximity at two spatial scales (the Fairbanks subregion and Interior Alaska) using ArcGIS and quantitative analysis methods. We found that area burned is increasing across the region at 3% per year and is driven by increase in area burned by lightning while human-caused area burned has been decreasing recently especially in the WUI near Fairbanks. Human fires differed from lightning fires in several ways: they occurred significantly closer to settlements and highways, burned for a shorter duration, and were not as restricted to a brief seasonal window. The fire regime in the much more populated Fairbanks subregion has been altered by human activity: it experienced substantially more human fire ignitions along with a larger area burned though the human influence decreases with distance. This study provides important insights into spatial patterns of human influences on fires and provides useful information for fire modeling and fire management.

Modeling the effects of fire severity and climate warming on active layer and soil carbon dynamics of black spruce forests across the landscape in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Genet, H.; McGuire, Anthony David; Barrett, K.; Breen, A.; Euskirchen, E.S.; Johnstone, J.F.; Kasischke, E.S.; Melvin, A.M.; Bennett, A.; Mack, M.C.; Rupp, T.S.; Schuur, A.E.G.; Turetsky, M.R.; Yuan, F.

2013-01-01

There is a substantial amount of carbon stored in the permafrost soils of boreal forest ecosystems, where it is currently protected from decomposition. The surface organic horizons insulate the deeper soil from variations in atmospheric temperature. The removal of these insulating horizons through consumption by fire increases the vulnerability of permafrost to thaw, and the carbon stored in permafrost to decomposition. In this study we ask how warming and fire regime may influence spatial and temporal changes in active layer and carbon dynamics across a boreal forest landscape in interior Alaska. To address this question, we (1) developed and tested a predictive model of the effect of fire severity on soil organic horizons that depends on landscape-level conditions and (2) used this model to evaluate the long-term consequences of warming and changes in fire regime on active layer and soil carbon dynamics of black spruce forests across interior Alaska. The predictive model of fire severity, designed from the analysis of field observations, reproduces the effect of local topography (landform category, the slope angle and aspect and flow accumulation), weather conditions (drought index, soil moisture) and fire characteristics (day of year and size of the fire) on the reduction of the organic layer caused by fire. The integration of the fire severity model into an ecosystem process-based model allowed us to document the relative importance and interactions among local topography, fire regime and climate warming on active layer and soil carbon dynamics. Lowlands were more resistant to severe fires and climate warming, showing smaller increases in active layer thickness and soil carbon loss compared to drier flat uplands and slopes. In simulations that included the effects of both warming and fire at the regional scale, fire was primarily responsible for a reduction in organic layer thickness of 0.06 m on average by 2100 that led to an increase in active layer thickness

The impact of fire on nitrogen availability in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jardine, L.; Natali, S.; Schade, J. D.; Holmes, R. M.; Mann, P. J.; Pena, H., III

2017-12-01

Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns in the Arctic are increasing the severity and frequency of fires, resulting in direct and indirect changes to permafrost ecosystems. Due to slow rates of decomposition, nitrogen (N) is a highly limiting resource in tundra. The availability of N can be substantially altered following fire as a direct result of combustion of organic matter and also due to long-term changes in ecosystem structure and function. It is critical to understand both the short- (years) and long (decades)-term effects of fire on N availability because of the role of N in arctic ecosystems. In order to better understand the availability of N following fire, we collected active layer and permafrost soil and vegetation samples from unburned, 2015 burn scars, and 1972 burn scars in peat plateau tundra in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska. We measured carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations and pools in plants and soils, and soil organic matter content, extractable inorganic N and potentially mineralizable N in active layer (0-30 cm) and surface permafrost (to 100 cm). We found that active layer N concentrations were significantly lower in the two-year burn, but N concentrations in the 45-year burn were comparable to that of unburned tundra. The levels of ammonium in the active layer were nearly three times higher in both the two- and in the 45-year-old burns, while extractable nitrate was low (<3 ug/L) at all sites. These results suggest that ammonium is retained for decades following its initial post-fire increase or that new pools of ammonium are becoming available as a result of fire-mediated permafrost thaw or microbial community changes. These results suggest that 45 years after disturbance by fire, there is still a large potential for N assimilation, nitrification, or nitrous oxide production in tundra ecosystems. These findings are especially relevant as fire regimes intensify across the Arctic, which may have long

United States Postal Service Alaska Hovercraft Demonstration Project Technology and Safety Assessment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-02-01

This report presents the results of the technology and safety assessment of the Bethel/Kuskokwim River hovercraft service,operated by the Alaska Hovercraft Joint Venture (AHJV). The primary purpose of the service was a two-year demonstration of bypas...

Alaska telemedicine: growth through collaboration.

PubMed

Patricoski, Chris

2004-12-01

The last thirty years have brought the introduction and expansion of telecommunications to rural and remote Alaska. The intellectual and financial investment of earlier projects, the more recent AFHCAN Project and the Universal Service Administrative Company Rural Health Care Division (RHCD) has sparked a new era in telemedicine and telecommunication across Alaska. This spark has been flamed by the dedication and collaboration of leaders at he highest levels of organizations such as: AFHCAN member organizations, AFHCAN Office, Alaska Clinical Engineering Services, Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership, Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership Office, Alaska Native health Board, Alaska Native Tribal health Consortium, Alaska Telehealth Advisory Council, AT&T Alascom, GCI Inc., Health care providers throughout the state of Alaska, Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of U.S. Senator Ted Steens, State of Alaska, U.S. Department of Homeland Security--United States Coast Guard, United States Department of Agriculture, United States Department of Defense--Air Force and Army, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, University of Alaska, and University of Alaska Anchorage. Alaska now has one of the largest telemedicine programs in the world. As Alaska moves system now in place become self-sustaining, and 2) collaborating with all stakeholders in promoting the growth of an integrated, state-wide telemedicine network.

Modeling soil thermal and carbon dynamics of a fire chronosequence in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhuang, Q.; McGuire, A.D.; O'Neill, K. P.; Harden, J.W.; Romanovsky, V.E.; Yarie, J.

2003-01-01

In this study, the dynamics of soil thermal, hydrologic, and ecosystem processes were coupled to project how the carbon budgets of boreal forests will respond to changes in atmospheric CO2, climate, and fire disturbance. The ability of the model to simulate gross primary production and ecosystem respiration was verified for a mature black spruce ecosystem in Canada, the age-dependent pattern of the simulated vegetation carbon was verified with inventory data on aboveground growth of Alaskan black spruce forests, and the model was applied to a postfire chronosequence in interior Alaska. The comparison between the simulated soil temperature and field-based estimates during the growing season (May to September) of 1997 revealed that the model was able to accurately simulate monthly temperatures at 10 cm (R > 0.93) for control and burned stands of the fire chronosequence. Similarly, the simulated and field-based estimates of soil respiration for control and burned stands were correlated (R = 0.84 and 0.74 for control and burned stands, respectively). The simulated and observed decadal to century-scale dynamics of soil temperature and carbon dynamics, which are represented by mean monthly values of these variables during the growing season, were correlated among stands (R = 0.93 and 0.71 for soil temperature at 20- and 10-cm depths, R = 0.95 and 0.91 for soil respiration and soil carbon, respectively). Sensitivity analyses indicate that along with differences in fire and climate history a number of other factors influence the response of carbon dynamics to fire disturbance. These factors include nitrogen fixation, the growth of moss, changes in the depth of the organic layer, soil drainage, and fire severity.

Fire Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Wetlands in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peter, D. L.; Bristol, E. M.; Mann, P. J.; Schade, J. D.; Natali, S.; Holmes, R. M.

2017-12-01

Climate change in increasing both fire frequency and fire intensity, especially in Arctic regions. Fire often leads to increased soil temperature, which increases the likelihood of permafrost thaw. Permafrost soils in northern latitudes store large amounts of carbon, and thawing of this permafrost will alter carbon cycling processes, which may substantially impact ecosystem processes in aquatic ecosystems. One potential consequence of altered aquatic ecosystem processes is changes in carbon emissions resulting from altered carbon inputs from thawing permafrost. Aquatic ecosystems are known to be hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions, so changes in greenhouse gas fluxes from them may have important impacts on global climate. In this work, we focused on CO2 and CH4 fluxes from peat plateau ponds, fens and bogs in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta in southwest Alaska. The YK Delta experienced unprecedented fires in summer 2015, presenting an opportunity to assess the impacts of fire on greenhouse gas fluxes from aquatic ecosystems. We sampled upland ponds, channel fens, bogs, and lowland ponds in sites that had burned in 2015 as well as from similar sites where there have been no recorded fires in the past 75 years. We found little difference in gas flux between aquatic sites in burned and unburned sites, with the exception of channel fens, which showed substantially higher fluxes of both CH4 and CO2 in burned sites. This is in contrast to similar measurements taken in summer 2016, when burned ponds showed consistently higher GHG fluxes, suggesting these increases were not sustained in sites other than channel fens. These results, if general, indicate the possibility that the response of aquatic ecosystems to fire may lead to positive feedbacks on climate change.

State of Alaska

Science.gov Websites

Alaska Railroad Alaska Maps Alaska Travel Safety Information Alaska Fish and Game Alaska Facts & Month Services How Do I? Education Health Jobs Safety How Do I? Apply for a Permanent Fund Dividend File Information More Dept. of Commerce, Comm... More Dept. of Labor & Workforce Dev. Safety 511 - Traveler

Field performance in southeast Alaska of sitka spruce seedlings produced at two nurseries.

Treesearch

John C. Zasada; Peyton W. Owston; Dennis Murphy

1990-01-01

A study of nursery stock performance was conducted on four sites in the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska: two sites at Fire Cove (Ketchikan Ranger District [R.D.]) and one each at Anita Bay (Wrangell R.D.) and Eight Fathom (Hoonah R.D.). Containerized Sitka spruce seedlings used in the study were grown at USDA Forest Service nurseries in Petersburg,...

Response interval comparison between urban fire departments and ambulance services.

PubMed

Jermyn, B D

1999-01-01

To measure the response intervals of fire departments compared with ambulance services in three urban centers to determine whether defibrillators should be added to fire vehicles. A prospective sample of 1,882 code 4 (life-threatening) tiered calls were collected over a six-month period from March 1, 1994, to August 31, 1994. A matched pairs experimental design compared the response interval of the fire department with that of the ambulance service for each call. This emergency medical services (EMS) system encompasses three urban centers with populations of 80,000, 95,000, and 170,000. In two of three of the urban centers, the fire department arrived on scene more than a minute sooner than the ambulance service: Cambridge (n = 571, mean = 2.22 min, p < 0.0001); Kitchener (n = 1,011, mean = 1.24 min, p < 0.003); and Waterloo (n = 300, mean = 0.69 min, p < 0.98). The shorter response interval of fire departments suggests placing defibrillators on fire response vehicles in an effort to decrease the time to defibrillation for cardiac arrest victims in this EMS system.

Can Tree Ring Analyses Predict Resilience of Black Spruce Forests to Fire in Interior Alaska?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, X. J.; Johnstone, J. F.; Mack, M. C.

2015-12-01

Climate change has increased the occurrence, severity, and impact of disturbances on forested ecosystems worldwide. As such there is a growing need to identify factors that contribute to an ecosystem's ability to recover from disturbance, commonly referred to as ecosystem resilience. In trees, drought-induced growth declines may signal decreased ecosystem resilience if mature trees are able to survive in stressful environmental conditions that do not permit successful post-disturbance recruitment and survival. Here we explore links between ecosystem resilience and the growth-climate relationships of pre-fire trees, specifically drought stress signals, across topographic moisture gradients within the boreal forest. We sampled 72 recently (2004) burned black spruce stands within interior Alaska and found the proportion of black spruce relative to deciduous trees decreased post-fire, ranging from almost no change to a 90% decrease. The largest shifts in post-fire species composition occurred in sites where trees showed negative growth responses to warm spring temperatures, and shallow post-fire organic layer depths due to dry site conditions or high fire severity. These sites were generally located at warmer and drier landscape positions, suggesting they are less resilient to disturbance than sites at the wetter end of the gradient. Tree growth-climate responses can provide an estimate of stand environmental stress to ongoing climate change and as such are a valuable tool for predicting landscape variations in forest ecosystem resilience and forecasting future forest composition.

Fire Effects at the Tundra-Boreal Ecotone in Interior Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, B. K.; Mack, M. C.; Johnstone, J. F.; Walker, X. J.; Roland, C.

2016-12-01

Climate warming in northern latitudes has led to an intensification of disturbance by wildfire. Little is known about the effects of fire on tundra vegetation. Changes in vegetation composition could have important implications for carbon cycling , and may feedback positively or negatively to future climate change (Randerson et al., 2006). Our study utilizes extensive pre-fire ecological data collected by the National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program to assess the prefire conditions important in driving successional pathways within Denali National Park and Preserve. In 2013, the East Toklat fire burned 30,000 acres of tussock tundra and mixed white and black spruce forest at a high severity, which encompassed 50 NPS plots that were originally monitored in 2003. Our sampling occurred the summer of 2016 following the same NPS protocols to assess post-fire vegetation composition. In addition, we conducted a seeding experiment using locally collected white and black spruce seed to assess natural and potential tree regeneration in unburned and post fire environments. Seed traps were established along our transects to assess seed rain. A multivariate approach will be used to assess post-fire community dynamics and future field seasons will address tree germination and survival rates. These data will then be coupled with pre and post-fire ecological data to parse out important factors driving secondary succession.

Tundra fire alters stream water chemistry and benthic invertebrate communities, North Slope, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, A. R.; Bowden, W. B.; Kling, G. W.; Schuett, E.; Kostrzewski, J. M.; Kolden Abatzoglou, C.; Findlay, R. H.

2010-12-01

Increased fire frequency and severity are potentially important consequences of climate change in high latitude ecosystems. The 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire, which burned from July until October, is the largest recorded tundra fire from Alaska's north slope (≈1,000 km2). The immediate effects of wildfire on water chemistry and biotic assemblages in tundra streams are heretofore unknown. We hypothesized that a tundra fire would increase inorganic nutrient inputs to P-limited tundra streams, increasing primary production and altering benthic macroinvertebrate community structure. We examined linkages among: 1) percentage of riparian zone and overall watershed vegetation burned, 2) physical, chemical and biological stream characteristics, and 3) macroinvertebrate communities in streams draining burned and unburned watersheds during the summers of 2008 and 2009. Streams in burned watersheds contained higher mean concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), ammonium (NH4+), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). In contrast, stream nitrate (NO3-) concentrations were lower in burned watersheds. The net result was that the tundra fire did not affect concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (NH4+ + NO3-). In spite of increased SRP, benthic chlorophyll-a biomass was not elevated. Macroinvertebrate abundances were 1.5 times higher in streams draining burned watersheds; Chironomidae midges, Nematodes, and Nemoura stoneflies showed the greatest increases in abundance. Multivariate multiple regression identified environmental parameters associated with the observed changes in the macroinvertebrate communities. Since we identified stream latitude as a significant predictor variable, latitude was included in the model as a covariate. After removing the variation associated with latitude, 67.3 % of the variance in macroinvertebrate community structure was explained by a subset of 7 predictor variables; DOC, conductivity, mean temperature, NO3-, mean discharge, SRP and NH

Health concerns of the U.S. fire service: perspectives from the firehouse.

PubMed

Jahnke, Sara A; Poston, Walker S C; Jitnarin, Nattinee; Haddock, C Keith

2012-01-01

Firefighters are expected to respond to any domestic emergency at a moment's notice, and therefore their health and readiness are key to the public safety net. Although emerging research is focusing on understanding firefighters' increased risk for disease and injury, the perspectives of fire service personnel is lacking. This study uses the cross-sectional qualitative data collection techniques of key informant interviews and focus groups. Data collection occurred with a national sample of firefighters from 28 (municipal and federal) career fire departments. Participants were 332 career firefighters (57.2%), company officers (23.4%), fire chiefs (15.4%), and other fire service personnel (3.9%). Focus groups and informant interviews were conducted with firefighters, fire chiefs, health promotion personnel, and medical directors to assess attitudes, opinions, and perceptions about firefighter health. Major themes that developed among fire service personnel included concerns about cancer, risk of cardiovascular disease, the importance of and barriers to physical fitness, the food culture of the firehouse, psychological stress resulting from repeated exposure to trauma, sleep disruptions, injuries, and risk for infectious disease. Health concerns identified by firefighters are juxtaposed with current efforts and trends within the national fire service. The health concerns of firefighters parallel both available epidemiological research and the health priorities of national fire service organizations. Unfortunately, these concerns often are in contrast with efforts by local governments to limit their financial liability for illnesses presumed to be caused by occupational exposures and long-held traditions in the fire service. This study highlights the need for epidemiological surveillance of firefighters and innovative health and organizational policy in the fire service. Future directions for the fire service, the public health community, and researchers are discussed.

Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy: Partnering with Decision-Makers in Climate Change Adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, D.; Trainor, S.; Walsh, J.; Gerlach, C.

2008-12-01

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP; www.uaf.edu/accap) is one of several, NOAA funded, Regional Integrated Science and Policy (RISA) programs nation-wide (http://www.climate.noaa.gov/cpo_pa/risa/). Our mission is to assess the socio-economic and biophysical impacts of climate variability in Alaska, make this information available to local and regional decision-makers, and improve the ability of Alaskans to adapt to a changing climate. We partner with the University of Alaska?s Scenario Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP; http://www.snap.uaf.edu/), state and local government, state and federal agencies, industry, and non-profit organizations to communicate accurate and up-to-date climate science and assist in formulating adaptation and mitigation plans. ACCAP and SNAP scientists are members of the Governor?s Climate Change Sub-Cabinet Adaptation and Mitigation Advisory and Technical Working Groups (http://www.climatechange.alaska.gov/), and apply their scientific expertise to provide down-scaled, state-wide maps of temperature and precipitation projections for these groups. An ACCAP scientist also serves as co-chair for the Fairbanks North Star Borough Climate Change Task Force, assisting this group as they work through the five-step model for climate change planning put forward by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (http://www.investfairbanks.com/Taskforces/climate.php). ACCAP scientists work closely with federal resource managers in on a range of projects including: partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to analyze hydrologic changes associated with climate change and related ecological impacts and wildlife management and development issues on Alaska?s North Slope; partnering with members of the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Coordinating Group in statistical modeling to predict seasonal wildfire activity and coordinate fire suppression resources state-wide; and working with Alaska Native Elders and

Fire increases carbon fluxes from inland waters of the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, Alaska.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mann, P. J.; Bristol, E. M.; Dabrowski, J. S.; Jimmie, J. A.; Melton, S.; Navarro-Perez, E.; Peter, D. L.; Sae-lim, N.; Holmes, R. M.; Natali, S.; Schade, J. D.

2017-12-01

Climate change across high-latitude regions is expected to alter the hydrology and biogeochemistry of arctic environments, significantly impacting ecosystem C cycling and landscape scale C budgets. Fire represents one manifestation of arctic climate change with the number, extent and intensity of fires projected to increase over upcoming decades. The Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta (YKD), Alaska, experienced unprecedented tundra fires in 2015 when more than 250 km2 underwent burn. In this study, we examined the effects of the 2015 YKD fire upon aquatic and terrestrial C fluxes, and investigated potential mechanisms causing changes to C-cycling. Field work was conducted during summer months (July-Sept) over two years, complimented with aerobic and anaerobic laboratory incubations. Burning of the terrestrial organic layer caused dramatic changes to soil moisture, the proportion of organic versus mineral soils near the land surface, and average active layer depth. Fire caused increased C fluxes (particularly CH4) from re-wet soils relative to unburnt soils, suggesting an interaction exists between fire history and soil moisture. Higher C fluxes from saturated ponds and fens across the landscape provided additional support for this theory. Pore-water chemistry in burnt catchments contained higher inorganic nutrient concentrations, specifically nitrogen, potentially driven by changing soil sorption processes and/ or infiltration rates. Organic matter delivery to inland waters within burns contained DOC of lower apparent molecular weight and aromaticity relative to unburnt waters (inferred from optical measures), and waters typically had higher temperatures, pH and dissolved mineral content. Lake and low-lying pond CO2 and CH4 emissions were consistently higher in burn catchment regions, with three to four-fold higher C emission rates. Our study indicates that fire may promote aquatic and terrestrial pathways for C loss and that these enhanced emissions may persist for years

Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shasby, Mark

2009-01-01

The Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group is a community of practice that recognizes the interconnections between the health of ecosystems, wildlife, and humans and meets to facilitate the exchange of ideas, data, and research opportunities. Membership includes the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Sea Life Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Impacts of fire on non-native plant recruitment in black spruce forests of interior Alaska.

PubMed

Walker, Xanthe J; Frey, Matthew D; Conway, Alexandra J; Jean, Mélanie; Johnstone, Jill F

2017-01-01

Climate change is expected to increase the extent and severity of wildfires throughout the boreal forest. Historically, black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) forests in interior Alaska have been relatively free of non-native species, but the compounding effects of climate change and an altered fire regime could facilitate the expansion of non-native plants. We tested the effects of wildfire on non-native plant colonization by conducting a seeding experiment of non-native plants on different substrate types in a burned black spruce forest, and surveying for non-native plants in recently burned and mature black spruce forests. We found few non-native plants in burned or mature forests, despite their high roadside presence, although invasion of some burned sites by dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) indicated the potential for non-native plants to move into burned forest. Experimental germination rates were significantly higher on mineral soil compared to organic soil, indicating that severe fires that combust much of the organic layer could increase the potential for non-native plant colonization. We conclude that fire disturbances that remove the organic layer could facilitate the invasion of non-native plants providing there is a viable seed source and dispersal vector.

LearnAlaska Portal

Science.gov Websites

ESS (Employee Self Service) E-Travel Online Login IRIS FIN/PROC Login IRIS HRM Login LearnAlaska SFOA SharePoint Site TRIPS (Traveler Integrated Profile System) Vendor Self Service (VSS) Resources Alaska & Resources Manuals Payment Detail Report Salary Schedules SFOA SharePoint Site (SOA Only) Training

FIRE III ACE Data Sets

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2017-12-22

... in conjunction with the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) Experiment. The FIRE-ACE focused on all aspects of Arctic cloud ... Alaska with measurements extending well over the Arctic Ocean (ship and aircraft). Guide Documents:  FIRE Project ...

Modeling impacts of fire severity on successional trajectories and future fire behavior in Alaskan boreal forests

Treesearch

Jill F. Johnstone; T. Scott Rupp; Mark Olson; David. Verbyla

2011-01-01

Much of the boreal forest in western North America and Alaska experiences frequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Secondary succession after fire initiates most forest stands and variations in fire characteristics can have strong effects on pathways of succession. Variations in surface fire severity that influence whether regenerating forests are dominated by coniferous...

Soil data from fire and permafrost-thaw chronosequences in upland Picea mariana stands near Hess Creek and Tok, interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Donnell, Jonathan A.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Manies, Kristen L.; Jorgenson, M. Torre; Kanevskiy, Mikhail; Xu, Xiaomei

2013-01-01

Soils of the Northern Circumpolar Permafrost region harbor 1,672 petagrams (Pg) (1 Pg = 1,000,000,000 kilograms) of organic carbon (OC), nearly 50 percent of the global belowground OC pool (Tarnocai and others, 2009). Of that soil OC, nearly 88 percent is presently stored in perennially frozen ground. Recent climate warming at northern latitudes has resulted in warming and thawing of permafrost in many regions (Osterkamp, 2007), which might mobilize OC stocks from associated soil reservoirs via decomposition, leaching, or erosion. Warming also has increased the magnitude and severity of wildfires in the boreal region (Turetsky and others, 2011), which might exacerbate rates of permafrost degradation relative to warming alone. Given the size and vulnerability of the soil OC pool in permafrost soils, permafrost thaw will likely function as a strong positive feedback to the climate system (Koven and others, 2011; Schaefer and others, 2011). In this report, we report soil OC inventories from two upland fire chronosequences located near Hess Creek and Tok in Interior Alaska. We sampled organic and mineral soils in the top 2 meters (m) across a range of stand ages to evaluate the effects of wildfire and permafrost thaw on soil C dynamics. These data were used to parameterize a simple process-based fire-permafrost-carbon model, which is described in detail by O’Donnell and others (2011a, b). Model simulations examine long-term changes in soil OC storage in response to fire, permafrost thaw, and climate change. These data also have been used in other papers, including Harden and others (2012), which examines C recovery post-fire, and Johnson and others (2011), which synthesizes data within the Alaska Soil Carbon Database. Findings from these studies highlight the importance of climate and disturbance (wildfire, permafrost thaw) on soil C storage, and loss of soil C from high-latitude ecosystems.

78 FR 11988 - Migratory Bird Subsistence Harvest in Alaska; Harvest Regulations for Migratory Birds in Alaska...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-21

...-management process involving the Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Alaska Native... developed under a co-management process involving the Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and... Fish and Game's request to expand the Fairbanks North Star Borough excluded area to include the Central...

Climate Change Implications to Vegetation Production in Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neigh, Christopher S.R.

2008-01-01

Investigation of long-term meteorological satellite data revealed statistically significant vegetation response to climate drivers of temperature, precipitation and solar radiation with exclusion of fire disturbance in Alaska. Abiotic trends were correlated to satellite remote sensing observations of normalized difference vegetation index to understand biophysical processes that could impact ecosystem carbon storage. Warming resulted in disparate trajectories for vegetation growth due to precipitation and photosynthetically active radiation variation. Interior spruce forest low lands in late summer through winter had precipitation deficit which resulted in extensive fire disturbance and browning of undisturbed vegetation with reduced post-fire recovery while Northern slope moist alpine tundra had increased production due to warmer-wetter conditions during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Coupled investigation of Alaska s vegetation response to warming climate found spatially dynamic abiotic processes with vegetation browning not a result from increased fire disturbance.

Millennials in the Fire Service: The Effectiveness of Fire Service Recruiting, Testing, and Retention

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

to effectively attract and retain millennials is in question. Stale marketing and static testing processes may be contributing to smaller hiring pools...ABSTRACT Modern-day fire service methods’ ability to effectively attract and retain millennials is in question. Stale marketing and static testing... Marketing of the Testing Process ..............................................................50  Table 6.  Type of Testing Process

Fire Fighter Level I-II-III [and] Practical Skills Test. Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. Final Revision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

Practical skills tests are provided for fire fighter trainees in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series, Fire Fighter Levels I, II, and III. A course introduction appears first and contains this information: recommended instructional sequence, required facilities, instructional methodology, requirements for certification, course…

Inspection. Fire Service Certification Series. Unit FSCS-FF-17-81.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

This training unit on inspection is part of a 17-unit course package written to aid instructors in the development, teaching, and evaluation of fire fighters in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. The purpose stated for the 4.5-hour unit is to give the fire fighters an insight into their responsibilities concerning fire prevention and…

An assessment of the impact of home safety assessments on fires and fire-related injuries: a case study of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

PubMed

Arch, B N; Thurston, M N

2013-06-01

Deaths and injuries related to fires are largely preventable events. In the UK, a plethora of community-based fire safety initiatives have been introduced over the last 25 years, often led by fire and rescue services, to address this issue. This paper focuses on one such initiative--home safety assessments (HSAs). Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (in England) implemented a uniquely large-scale HSA intervention. This paper assesses its effectiveness. The impact of HSAs was assessed in relation to three outcomes: accidental dwelling fires (ADFs), ADFs contained and injuries arising from ADFs. A two-period comparison in fire-related rates of incidences in Cheshire between 2002 and 2011 was implemented, using Poisson regression and adjusting for the national temporal trend using a control group comprising the 37 other English non-metropolitan fire-services. Significant reductions were observed in rates of ADFs [incidence rate ratios (IRR): 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74-0.83, P < 0.001, 2002/03-2007/08 versus 2008/09-2010/11] and associated injuries (IRR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.39-0.60, P < 0.001, 2002/03-2006/07 versus 2007/08-2010/11), but not in the proportion of fires contained to room of origin. There is strong evidence to suggest that the intervention was successful in reducing domestic fires and related injuries.

Recovery of aboveground plant biomass and productivity after fire in mesic and dry black spruce forests of interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mack, M.C.; Treseder, K.K.; Manies, K.L.; Harden, J.W.; Schuur, E.A.G.; Vogel, J.G.; Randerson, J.T.; Chapin, F. S.

2008-01-01

Plant biomass accumulation and productivity are important determinants of ecosystem carbon (C) balance during post-fire succession. In boreal black spruce (Picea mariana) forests near Delta Junction, Alaska, we quantified aboveground plant biomass and net primary productivity (ANPP) for 4 years after a 1999 wildfire in a well-drained (dry) site, and also across a dry and a moderately well-drained (mesic) chronosequence of sites that varied in time since fire (2 to ???116 years). Four years after fire, total biomass at the 1999 burn site had increased exponentially to 160 ?? 21 g m-2 (mean ?? 1SE) and vascular ANPP had recovered to 138 ?? 32 g m-2 y -1, which was not different than that of a nearby unburned stand (160 ?? 48 g m-2 y-1) that had similar pre-fire stand structure and understory composition. Production in the young site was dominated by re-sprouting graminoids, whereas production in the unburned site was dominated by black spruce. On the dry and mesic chronosequences, total biomass pools, including overstory and understory vascular and non-vascular plants, and lichens, increased logarithmically (dry) or linearly (mesic) with increasing site age, reaching a maximum of 2469 ?? 180 (dry) and 4008 ?? 233 g m-2 (mesic) in mature stands. Biomass differences were primarily due to higher tree density in the mesic sites because mass per tree was similar between sites. ANPP of vascular and non-vascular plants increased linearly over time in the mesic chronosequence to 335 ?? 68 g m-2 y -1 in the mature site, but in the dry chronosequence it peaked at 410 ?? 43 g m-2 y-1 in a 15-year-old stand dominated by deciduous trees and shrubs. Key factors regulating biomass accumulation and production in these ecosystems appear to be the abundance and composition of re-sprouting species early in succession, the abundance of deciduous trees and shrubs in intermediate aged stands, and the density of black spruce across all stand ages. A better understanding of the controls

Interactive effects of fire, soil climate, and moss on CO2 fluxes in black spruce ecosystems of interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Donnell, J. A.; Turetsky, M.R.; Harden, J.W.; Manies, K.L.; Pruett, L.E.; Shetler, G.; Neff, J.C.

2009-01-01

Fire is an important control on the carbon (C) balance of the boreal forest region. Here, we present findings from two complementary studies that examine how fire modifies soil organic matter properties, and how these modifications influence rates of decomposition and C exchange in black spruce (Picea mariana) ecosystems of interior Alaska. First, we used laboratory incubations to explore soil temperature, moisture, and vegetation effects on CO2 and DOC production rates in burned and unburned soils from three study regions in interior Alaska. Second, at one of the study regions used in the incubation experiments, we conducted intensive field measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and ecosystem respiration (ER) across an unreplicated factorial design of burning (2 year post-fire versus unburned sites) and drainage class (upland forest versus peatland sites). Our laboratory study showed that burning reduced the sensitivity of decomposition to increased temperature, most likely by inducing moisture or substrate quality limitations on decomposition rates. Burning also reduced the decomposability of Sphagnum-derived organic matter, increased the hydrophobicity of feather moss-derived organic matter, and increased the ratio of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) in both the upland and peatland sites. At the ecosystem scale, our field measurements indicate that the surface organic soil was generally wetter in burned than in unburned sites, whereas soil temperature was not different between the burned and unburned sites. Analysis of variance results showed that ER varied with soil drainage class but not by burn status, averaging 0.9 ?? 0.1 and 1.4 ?? 0.1 g C m-2d-1 in the upland and peatland sites, respectively. However, a more complex general linear model showed that ER was controlled by an interaction between soil temperature, moisture, and burn status, and in general was less variable over time in the burned than in the unburned sites

Interactive effects of fire, soil climate, and moss on CO2 fluxes in black spruce ecosystems of interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Donnell, Jonathan A.; Turetsky, Merritt R.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Manies, Kristen L.; Pruett, L.E.; Shetler, Gordon; Neff, Jason C.

2009-01-01

Fire is an important control on the carbon (C) balance of the boreal forest region. Here, we present findings from two complementary studies that examine how fire modifies soil organic matter properties, and how these modifications influence rates of decomposition and C exchange in black spruce (Picea mariana) ecosystems of interior Alaska. First, we used laboratory incubations to explore soil temperature, moisture, and vegetation effects on CO2 and DOC production rates in burned and unburned soils from three study regions in interior Alaska. Second, at one of the study regions used in the incubation experiments, we conducted intensive field measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and ecosystem respiration (ER) across an unreplicated factorial design of burning (2 year post-fire versus unburned sites) and drainage class (upland forest versus peatland sites). Our laboratory study showed that burning reduced the sensitivity of decomposition to increased temperature, most likely by inducing moisture or substrate quality limitations on decomposition rates. Burning also reduced the decomposability of Sphagnum-derived organic matter, increased the hydrophobicity of feather moss-derived organic matter, and increased the ratio of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) in both the upland and peatland sites. At the ecosystem scale, our field measurements indicate that the surface organic soil was generally wetter in burned than in unburned sites, whereas soil temperature was not different between the burned and unburned sites. Analysis of variance results showed that ER varied with soil drainage class but not by burn status, averaging 0.9 ± 0.1 and 1.4 ± 0.1 g C m−2 d−1 in the upland and peatland sites, respectively. However, a more complex general linear model showed that ER was controlled by an interaction between soil temperature, moisture, and burn status, and in general was less variable over time in the burned than in the

ALASKA MARINE VHF VOICE

Science.gov Websites

Tsunamis 406 EPIRB's National Weather Service Marine Forecasts ALASKA MARINE VHF VOICE Marine Forecast greater danger near shore or any shallow waters? NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PRODUCTS VIA ALASKA MARINE VHF VOICE NOAA broadcasts offshore forecasts, nearshore forecasts and storm warnings on marine VHF channels

Controls on carbon consumption during Alaskan wildland fires

Treesearch

Eric S. Kasischke; Elizabeth E. Hoy

2012-01-01

A method was developed to estimate carbon consumed during wildland fires in interior Alaska based on medium-spatial scale data (60 m cell size) generated on a daily basis. Carbon consumption estimates were developed for 41 fire events in the large fire year of 2004 and 34 fire events from the small fire years of 2006-2008. Total carbon consumed during the large fire...

Indian Health Service: A Comprehensive Health Care Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Indian Health Service (PHS/HSA), Rockville, MD.

Comprehensive health care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and environmental) for more than 930,000 eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives is the responsibility of the Indian Health Service (IHS). Since 1955, this agency of the U.S. Public Health Service has made notable progress in raising the health status of Indians and Alaska…

Fire prevention film spots . . . reception by television public service directors

Treesearch

Gene C. Bemardi

1974-01-01

Television public service directors in California were asked to rate fire prevention film spots they had received from the California Division of Forestry. Most directors recalled receiving the spot announcements and rated them high in technical quality and interest. Delivery of the films by a fire prevention officer impressed directors favorably. Fire prevention...

Make way for seedlings: regenerating white spruce in Alaska

Treesearch

Rhonda Mazza; Andrew Youngblood

2012-01-01

Alaska's boreal forest have experienced unprecedented levels of disturbance. Fire is becoming more frequent and burning larger areas compared to the 1960s and 1970s. In the mid 1990s, insect outbreaks reached epidemic proportions. During the same period, timber harvesting increased to meet demand for logs no longer coming from the Pacific Northwest forest. Alaska...

Prescribed Fire and Fire Suppression Training in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Year 2010

Treesearch

James L. Murphy; Frank T. Cole

1987-01-01

The Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, uses prescribed fire for habitat improvement on over 400 National Wildlife Refuges across the United States. Wildfire is a problem on some refuges. Escaped fires have resulted in fatalities and the loss of millions of dollars in natural and man-made resources. The Service recognized the critical need for...

Volatile organic compounds composition of merged and aged forest fire plumes from Alaska and western Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Gouw, J. A.; Warneke, C.; Stohl, A.; Wollny, A. G.; Brock, C. A.; Cooper, O. R.; Holloway, J. S.; Trainer, M.; Fehsenfeld, F. C.; Atlas, E. L.; Donnelly, S. G.; Stroud, V.; Lueb, A.

2006-05-01

The NOAA WP-3 aircraft intercepted aged forest fire plumes from Alaska and western Canada during several flights of the NEAQS-ITCT 2k4 mission in 2004. Measurements of acetonitrile (CH3CN) indicated that the air masses had been influenced by biomass burning. The locations of the plume intercepts were well described using emissions estimates and calculations with the transport model FLEXPART. The best description of the data was generally obtained when FLEXPART injected the forest fire emissions to high altitudes in the model. The observed plumes were generally drier than the surrounding air masses at the same altitude, suggesting that the fire plumes had been processed by clouds and that moisture had been removed by precipitation. Different degrees of photochemical processing of the plumes were determined from the measurements of aromatic VOCs. The removal of aromatic VOCs was slow considering the transport times estimated from the FLEXPART model. This suggests that the average OH levels were low during the transport, which may be explained by the low humidity and high concentrations of carbon monoxide and other pollutants. In contrast with previous work, no strong secondary production of acetone, methanol and acetic acid is inferred from the measurements. A clear case of removal of submicron particle volume and acetic acid due to precipitation scavenging was observed.

Partnership working between the Fire Service and NHS: delivering a cost-saving service to improve the safety of high-risk people.

PubMed

Craig, Joyce A; Creegan, Shelagh; Tait, Martin; Dolan, Donna

2015-04-14

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and NHS Tayside piloted partnership working. A Community Fire Safety Link Worker provided Risk Assessments to adults, identified by community health teams, at high risk of fires, with the aim of reducing fires. An existing evaluation shows the Service developed a culture of 'high trust' between partners and had high client satisfaction. This paper reports on an economic evaluation of the costs and benefits of the Link Worker role. An economic evaluation of the costs and benefits of the Link Worker role was undertaken. Changes in the Risk Assessment score following delivery of the Service were used to estimate the potential fires avoided. These were valued using a national cost of a fire. The estimated cost of delivering the Service was deducted from these savings. The pilot was estimated to save 4.4 fires, equivalent to £286 per client. The estimated cost of delivering the Service was £55 per client, giving net savings of £231 per client. The pilot was cost-saving under all scenarios, with results sensitive to the probability of a fire. We believe this is the first evaluation of Fire Safety Risk Assessments. Partnership working, delivering joint Risk Assessments in the homes of people at high risk of fire, is modelled to be cost saving. Uncertainties in data and small sample are key limitations. Further research is required into the ex ante risk of fire by risk category. Despite these limitations, potential savings identified in this study supports greater adoption of this partnership initiative.

Records & Information Management Services | Alaska State Archives

Science.gov Websites

Search Search in: Archives State of Alaska Home About Records Management (RIMS) For Researchers Collections Imaging (IMS) ASHRAB Libraries, Archives, & Museums Archives Records Management (RIMS) Records records and information management for the State of Alaska. Frequently Asked Questions Submit Records

46 CFR 108.403a - Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services. 108.403a Section 108.403a Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Fire Extinguishing Systems § 108.403a Fire extinguishing systems: Non...

46 CFR 108.403a - Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services. 108.403a Section 108.403a Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Fire Extinguishing Systems § 108.403a Fire extinguishing systems: Non...

46 CFR 108.403a - Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services. 108.403a Section 108.403a Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Fire Extinguishing Systems § 108.403a Fire extinguishing systems: Non...

46 CFR 108.403a - Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services. 108.403a Section 108.403a Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Fire Extinguishing Systems § 108.403a Fire extinguishing systems: Non...

46 CFR 108.403a - Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Fire extinguishing systems: Non-vital services. 108.403a Section 108.403a Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) A-MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Fire Extinguishing Systems § 108.403a Fire extinguishing systems: Non...

Research on polar bears in Alaska, 1983-1985

USGS Publications Warehouse

Amstrup, Steven C.

1986-01-01

Research on the ecology and status of polar bear populations in Alaska has continued since 1967. Research was a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Alaska Department of Fish and Game effort until passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, and has been largely a Federal effort since then. In 1985, Alaskan polar beer research continues to be carried out by the Research Division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (DOI). A recent reorganization removed authority for ecological research in Alaska from the Denver Wildlife Research Center, and vested it with the newly created Alaska Office of Fish and Wildlife Research. This new research office is the center for Federal fish and Wildlife related research throughout the state of Alaska and in its coastal waters.Although the responsibility for polar bear research lies with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, numerous other organizations and agencies deserve mention for their cooperation and support of the ongoing research. These include: the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), The U.S. Minerals Management Service (DOI), The Canadian Wildlife Service, The Northwest Territories Wildlife Service, the Yukon Wildlife Service, Dome Petroleum Ltd, Gulf Canada, and the Alaska Department of Fish and game.

14 CFR 121.106 - ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... augmented to meet paragraph (a) of this section from local fire fighting assets. A 30-minute response time... fighting service. 121.106 Section 121.106 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT... and Flag Operations § 121.106 ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service. (a) Except as...

14 CFR 121.106 - ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... augmented to meet paragraph (a) of this section from local fire fighting assets. A 30-minute response time... fighting service. 121.106 Section 121.106 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT... and Flag Operations § 121.106 ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service. (a) Except as...

VEGETATION MEDIATED THE IMPACTS OF POSTGLACIAL CLIMATIC CHANGE ON FIRE REGIMES IN THE SOUTHCENTRAL BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Higuera, P E; Brubaker, L B; Anderson, P M

We examine direct and indirect impacts of millennial-scale climatic change on fire regimes in the southcentral Brooks Range, Alaska, using four lake-sediment records and existing paleoclimate interpretations. New techniques are introduced to identify charcoal peaks semi-objectively and detect statistical differences in fire regimes. Peaks in charcoal accumulation rates (CHARs) provide estimates of fire return intervals (FRIs) which are compared between vegetation zones described by fossil pollen and stomata. Climatic warming from ca 15-9 ka BP (calendar years before CE 1950) coincides with shifts in vegetation from herb tundra to shrub tundra to deciduous woodlands, all novel species assemblages relative tomore » modern vegetation. Two sites cover this period and show increased CHARs and decreased FRIs with the transition from herb to shrub tundra ca 13.3-14.3 ka BP. Short FRIs in the Betula-dominated shrub tundra (mean [m] FRI 144 yr; 95% CI 119-170) primarily reflect the effects of flammable, continuous fuels on the fire regime. FRIs increased significantly with the transition to Populus-dominated deciduous woodlands ca 10.5 ka BP (mFRI 251 yr [158-352]), despite evidence of warmer- and drier-than-present summers. We attribute reduced fire activity under these conditions to low flammability of deciduous fuels. Three sites record the mid to late Holocene, when cooler and moister conditions allowed Picea glauca forest-tundra and P. mariana boreal forests to establish ca 8 and 5.5 ka BP. Forest-tundra FRIs did not differ significantly from the previous period (mFRIs range from 131-238 yr), but FRIs decreased with the transition to boreal forest (mFRI 145 yr [129-163]). Overall, fire-regime shifts in the study area showed greater correspondence with vegetation characteristics than with inferred climate, and we conclude that vegetation mediated the impacts of millennial-scale climatic change on fire regimes by modifying landscape flammability. Our findings emphasize

Isotopic evidence indicates saprotrophy in post-fire Morchella in Oregon and Alaska.

PubMed

Hobbie, Erik A; Rice, Samuel F; Weber, Nancy S; Smith, Jane E

2016-01-01

We assessed the nutritional strategy of true morels (genus Morchella) collected in 2003 and 2004 in Oregon and Alaska, 1 or 2 y after forest fires. We hypothesized that the patterns of stable isotopes (δ(13)C and δ(15)N) in the sporocarps would match those of saprotrophic fungi and that radiocarbon (Δ(14)C) analyses would indicate that Morchella was assimilating old carbon not current-year photosynthate. We compared radiocarbon and stable isotopes in Morchella with values from concurrently collected foliage, the ectomycorrhizal Geopyxis carbonaria (Alb. & Schwein.) Sacc., the saprotrophic Plicaria endocarpoides (Berk.) Rifai, and with literature to determine isotopic values for ectomycorrhizal or saprotrophic fungi. Geopyxis, Plicaria and Morchella, respectively, were 3‰, 5‰ and 6‰ higher in 13C than foliage and 5‰, 7‰ and 7‰ higher in (15)N. High (15)N enrichment in Morchella indicated that recent litter was not the primary source for Morchella nitrogen, and similar (13)C and (15)N enrichments to Plicaria suggest that Morchella assimilates its carbon and nitrogen from the same source pool as this saprotrophic fungus. From radiocarbon analyses Morchella averaged 11 ± 6 y old (n = 19), Plicaria averaged 17 ± 5 y old (n = 3), foliage averaged 1 ± 2 y old (n = 8) and Geopyxis (n = 1) resembled foliage in Δ(14)C. We conclude that morels fruiting in post-fire environments in our study assimilated old carbon and were saprotrophic. © 2016 by The Mycological Society of America.

Factors influencing improved attendance in the UK fire service

PubMed Central

Hinckley, P.

2016-01-01

Background Sickness absence rates in the UK continue to exceed those in much of the developed world, with an annual cost to employers of £29 billion. Rates of sickness absence in the public sector are higher than those in the private sector, with the exception of the fire service where they are consistently lower. Aims To understand the influences that increase attendance among operational firefighters. Methods A series of semi-structured interviews undertaken with operational staff to explore their attitudes to sickness absence. Results Review and analysis of participant responses identified a number of key themes, namely employee well-being, including physical fitness and mental health; employee engagement with the fire service as manifested by culture, experience, nature of the job and leadership; organizational factors including the staffing model and relationship with occupational health services and policy, which describes both refinements to and implementation of targeted policies. Conclusions Previously observed factors such as improved fitness and the distinct firefighter culture play a role, yet other factors emerged that could explain the differences. These include the greater work–life balance offered by their shift patterns, the terms and conditions of employment and perhaps most importantly the evolution of precisely targeted policies that understand the unique nature of the operational fire service. PMID:27810889

The health of women in the US fire service

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Despite statements from national fire service organizations, including the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), promoting a diverse work force related to gender within the fire service, rates of women firefighters remain very low. Thus, research into why this extensive gender disparity continues is a high priority. Recent years have seen a number of large scale studies on firefighter health and health risk behaviors however, none have focused on the health of women firefighters and nearly all have eliminated women from the sample due to small sample size. Data from the present report is drawn from all females in a large, randomly selected cohort of firefighters in an epidemiological study designed to assess health outcomes and health risk behaviors identified as most important to the fire service. Methods Data reported for the present study were collected as baseline data for the Firefighter Injury and Risk Evaluation (FIRE) Study, a longitudinal cohort study examining risk factors for injury in both career and volunteer firefighters in the IAFC Missouri Valley Region. Of the departments assessed, only 8 career and 6 volunteer departments had any women firefighters. All the women solicited for participation chose to enroll in the study. The number of women ranged from 1 to 7 in career departments and 1 to 6 in volunteer departments. Results Where possible, comparisons are made between female firefighters and published data on male firefighters as well as comparisons between female firefighters and military members. Compared to male firefighters, females had more favorable body composition among both career and volunteer firefighters. Tobacco use rates were generally higher among females than males and rates among female firefighters were similar to the rates of female military members. While rates of alcohol use were higher than the general population, only one of the participants

Predicting wildfire behavior in black spruce forests in Alaska.

Treesearch

Rodney A. Norum

1982-01-01

The current fire behavior system, when properly adjusted, accurately predicts forward rate of spread and flame length of wildfires in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) forests in Alaska. After fire behavior was observed and quantified, adjustment factors were calculated and assigned to the selected fuel models to correct the outputs to...

75 FR 3888 - Migratory Bird Subsistence Harvest in Alaska; Harvest Regulations for Migratory Birds in Alaska...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-25

...-0082; 91200-1231-9BPP-L2] RIN 1018-AW67 Migratory Bird Subsistence Harvest in Alaska; Harvest Regulations for Migratory Birds in Alaska During the 2010 Season AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior... Service, are reopening the public comment period on our proposed rule to establish migratory bird...

Mercury emission estimates from fires: an initial inventory for the United States.

PubMed

Wiedinmyer, Christine; Friedli, Hans

2007-12-01

Recent studies have shown that emissions of mercury (Hg), a hazardous air pollutant, from fires can be significant. However, to date, these emissions have not been well-quantified for the entire United States. Daily emissions of Hg from fires in the lower 48 states of the United States (LOWER48) and in Alaska were estimated for 2002-2006 using a simple fire emissions model. Emission factors of Hg from fires in different ecosystems were compiled from published plume studies and from soil-based assessments. Annual averaged emissions of Hg from fires in the LOWER48 and Alaska were 44 (20-65) metric tons yr(-1), equivalent to approximately 30% of the U.S. EPA 2002 National Emissions Inventory for Hg. Alaska had the highest averaged monthly emissions of all states; however, the emissions have a high temporal variability. Emissions from forests dominate the inventory, suggesting that Hg emissions from agricultural fires are not significant on an annual basis. The uncertainty in the Hg emission factors due to limited data leads to an uncertainty in the emission estimates on the order of +/-50%. Research is still needed to better constrain Hg emission factors from fires, particularly in the eastern U.S. and for ecosystems other than forests.

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Science.gov Websites

Market Information Alaska Job Centers Hot Topics Get Paid to Learn a Trade! Apprenticeship Alaska Career USAJOBS - Federal Gov. Jobs Apprenticeship Alaska Career Information System Veterans' Services Youth

Climate change, fire management, and ecological services in the southwestern US

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hurteau, Matthew D.; Bradford, John B.; Fulé, Peter Z.; Taylor, Alan H.; Martin, Katherine L.

2014-01-01

The diverse forest types of the southwestern US are inseparable from fire. Across climate zones in California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, fire suppression has left many forest types out of sync with their historic fire regimes. As a result, high fuel loads place them at risk of severe fire, particularly as fire activity increases due to climate change. A legacy of fire exclusion coupled with a warming climate has led to increasingly large and severe wildfires in many southwest forest types. Climate change projections include an extended fire season length due to earlier snowmelt and a general drying trend due to rising temperatures. This suggests the future will be warmer and drier regardless of changes in precipitation. Hotter, drier conditions are likely to increase forest flammability, at least initially. Changes in climate alone have the potential to alter the distribution of vegetation types within the region, and climate-driven shifts in vegetation distribution are likely to be accelerated when coupled with stand-replacing fire. Regardless of the rate of change, the interaction of climate and fire and their effects on Southwest ecosystems will alter the provisioning of ecosystem services, including carbon storage and biodiversity. Interactions between climate, fire, and vegetation growth provide a source of great uncertainty in projecting future fire activity in the region, as post-fire forest recovery is strongly influenced by climate and subsequent fire frequency. Severe fire can be mitigated with fuels management including prescribed fire, thinning, and wildfire management, but new strategies are needed to ensure the effectiveness of treatments across landscapes. We review the current understanding of the relationship between fire and climate in the Southwest, both historical and projected. We then discuss the potential implications of climate change for fire management and examine the potential effects of climate change and fire on ecosystem

Fire season climatic zones of mainland Alaska.

Treesearch

William M. Trigg

1971-01-01

Calculated values of precipitation effectiveness index and temperature efficiency index for 48 weather observation stations on the Alaska mainland are used to delineate areas that have different climatic subclassifications during the wildfire season of April through September. The paper outlines procedures, provides maps showing step- by- step analysis along with the...

Children's Knowledge of Fire Safety. Stage 2. The Final Report for the New Zealand Fire Service.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Karyn; Renwick, Margery

In 1991 the New Zealand Fire Service planned a primary school fire-safety education program for children from new entrants to form 2. The program introduces a new module to the children each year of their primary education. This study was undertaken in an attempt to measure the effectiveness of the program. A sample of 1,089 children completed…

An approach to the real time risk evaluation system of boreal forest fire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakau, K.; Fukuda, M.; Kimura, K.; Hayasaka, H.; Tani, H.; Kushida, K.

2005-12-01

Huge boreal forest fire may cause massive impacts not only on global warming gas emission but also local communities. Thus, it is important to control forest fire. We collected data about boreal forest fire as satellite imagery and fire observation simultaneously in Alaska and east Siberia in summer fire seasons for these three years. Fire observation data was collected from aircraft flying between Japan and Europe. Fire detection results were compared with observed data to evaluate the accuracy and earliness of automatic detection. NOAA and MODIS satellite images covering Alaska and East Siberia are collected. We are also developing fire expansion simulation model to forecast the possible fire expansion area. On the basis of fire expansion forecast, risk analysis of possible fire expansion for decision aid of fire-fighting activities will be analyzed. To identify the risk of boreal forest fire and public concern about forest fire, we collected local news paper in Fairbanks, AK and discuss the statistics of articles related to forest fire on the newspaper.

Factors influencing improved attendance in the UK fire service.

PubMed

Litchfield, I; Hinckley, P

2016-12-01

Sickness absence rates in the UK continue to exceed those in much of the developed world, with an annual cost to employers of £29 billion. Rates of sickness absence in the public sector are higher than those in the private sector, with the exception of the fire service where they are consistently lower. To understand the influences that increase attendance among operational firefighters. A series of semi-structured interviews undertaken with operational staff to explore their attitudes to sickness absence. Review and analysis of participant responses identified a number of key themes, namely employee well-being, including physical fitness and mental health; employee engagement with the fire service as manifested by culture, experience, nature of the job and leadership; organizational factors including the staffing model and relationship with occupational health services and policy, which describes both refinements to and implementation of targeted policies. Previously observed factors such as improved fitness and the distinct firefighter culture play a role, yet other factors emerged that could explain the differences. These include the greater work-life balance offered by their shift patterns, the terms and conditions of employment and perhaps most importantly the evolution of precisely targeted policies that understand the unique nature of the operational fire service. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine.

Suicide among American Indian/Alaska Native military service members and veterans.

PubMed

O'Keefe, Victoria M; Reger, Greg M

2017-08-01

Many American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities experience high suicide rates. However, there is little discussion in epidemiological and empirical literature about suicide-related outcomes among AI/AN military service members or veterans. This article briefly reviews the literature on AI/AN suicide and discusses what is known about Native military service member and veteran suicide mortality and self-directed violence. Recent studies suggest high suicide death rates among AI/AN military service members and veterans. Discussion includes the potential for unique cultural protective and risk factors that could inform prevention efforts and some of the novel existing efforts to support AI/AN veterans are reviewed. Given concerning suicide rates among military service members and veterans, it is important for future research to clarify the risk to AI/AN military service members and veterans and how to best develop and implement effective suicide prevention/interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The 1977 tundra fire at Kokolik River, Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, D.; Brown, J.; Johnson, L.

1981-01-01

During the summer of 1977, fire totaled 44 sq km of tundra vegetation according to measurements using LANDSAT imagery. Based on the experience gained from analysis of this fire using ground observations, satellite imagery, and topographic maps, it appears that natural drainages form effective fire breaks on the subdued relief of the Arctic coastal plain and northern foothills. It is confirmed that the intensity of the fire is related to vegetation type and to the moisture content of the organic rich soils.

Nighttime visibility of in-service pavement markings, pavement markers, and guardrail delineation in Alaska (with and without continuous lighting).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

This research determined the visibility of in-service pavement markings along lighted and unlighted highway sections, and compared : visibility of in-service pavement markings to the FHWA proposed minimum retroreflectivity levels for the Alaska Depar...

Safety. Fire Service Certification Series. Unit FSCS-FF-2-80.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

This training unit on safety is part of a 17-unit course package written to aid instructors in the development, teaching, and evaluation of fire fighters in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. The purpose stated for the 4-hour unit is to assist firefighters in understanding the hazards of their profession and some methods of reducing…

Effects of fire on the thermal stability of permafrost in lowland and upland black spruce forests of interior Alaska in a changing climate

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jafarov, Elchin E.; Romanovsky, Vladimir E.; Genet, Helene; McGuire, Anthony David; Marchenko, Sergey S.

2013-01-01

Fire is an important factor controlling the composition and thickness of the organic layer in the black spruce forest ecosystems of interior Alaska. Fire that burns the organic layer can trigger dramatic changes in the underlying permafrost, leading to accelerated ground thawing within a relatively short time. In this study, we addressed the following questions. (1) Which factors determine post-fire ground temperature dynamics in lowland and upland black spruce forests? (2) What levels of burn severity will cause irreversible permafrost degradation in these ecosystems? We evaluated these questions in a transient modeling–sensitivity analysis framework to assess the sensitivity of permafrost to climate, burn severity, soil organic layer thickness, and soil moisture content in lowland (with thick organic layers, ~80 cm) and upland (with thin organic layers, ~30 cm) black spruce ecosystems. The results indicate that climate warming accompanied by fire disturbance could significantly accelerate permafrost degradation. In upland black spruce forest, permafrost could completely degrade in an 18 m soil column within 120 years of a severe fire in an unchanging climate. In contrast, in a lowland black spruce forest, permafrost is more resilient to disturbance and can persist under a combination of moderate burn severity and climate warming.

Burns Centre and fire services: What information can be exchanged to manage the burn patient?

PubMed

Pujji, O; Nizar, B; Bechar, J; North, D; Jeffery, S

2018-05-01

To describe the experience of using a "Burns Extrication Form" at a regional Burns Centre. Communication between the fire services and burns team previously has been regarded as poor. Significant information is collected by the fire services at the scene and this can aid the management of the patient. The Burns Extrication Form was devised to provide a clear framework of communication between the two services. Information regarding time frames, exposure to heat & smoke, fire loading (potential severity of a fire in a given space by measuring amount of combustible material in confined space), building construction, chemicals involved is passed to the medical team through this form through a National Health Service mailbox. Also, treatment provided by the fire service was documented. All data collected by this form was collated for the purpose of this study. Data ranging from 2014 to 2017 was included in this descriptive study. The patient journey following contact by fire services shows that out of the 598 persons who were involved in a fire only 92 (15%) attended the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Signs of smoke inhalation, singed nose hair and coughing were found in 190 (32%) patients; the fire service administered oxygen to 106 (18%) of these patients although this may have been initiated by Ambulance crews who were on scene prior to the Fire Crew. The remaining 506 (85%) may have not attended A&E at UHB or may have attended another A&E in the West Midlands base on the location of the incident and clinical needs. Of the 92 patients who attended the A&E at UHB 48 (52%) were admitted to the Burns Centre in the hospital. Nine (19%) of these patients had smoke inhalation and three of these patients were managed by intubation. Birmingham North and Black Country North had the highest incidence of burns incidents, 120 and 103 respectively. Whilst, the lowest numbers were found in Birmingham South and Coventry and Solihull with

Aerial wildland firefighting resources in fire suppression activities: an example USDA Forest Service

Treesearch

A. González-Cabán

2011-01-01

Wildfires are a significant social problem affecting millions of people worldwide and causing major economic impacts at all levels. In the US, the severe fires of 1910 in Idaho and Montana galvanized a fire policy excluding fire from the ecosystem by the U.S.Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDAFS). Fire management policy changed in 1935, 1978,1995, and 2001....

Alaska Community Transit

Science.gov Websites

Grant Information Human Services Funding 5310 5316 (Repealed) 5317 (Repealed) Alaska Mental Health Trust . Transit News, Events, & Highlights SFY2019 Public Transit and Human Service Grant Recommendations pdf icon ( 134 KB) SFY2020 Human Service Intent to Apply opens 8/1/2018. Human Service agencies must sumbit

Unified Ecoregions of Alaska: 2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nowacki, Gregory J.; Spencer, Page; Fleming, Michael; Brock, Terry; Jorgenson, Torre

2003-01-01

Major ecosystems have been mapped and described for the State of Alaska and nearby areas. Ecoregion units are based on newly available datasets and field experience of ecologists, biologists, geologists and regional experts. Recently derived datasets for Alaska included climate parameters, vegetation, surficial geology and topography. Additional datasets incorporated in the mapping process were lithology, soils, permafrost, hydrography, fire regime and glaciation. Thirty two units are mapped using a combination of the approaches of Bailey (hierarchial), and Omernick (integrated). The ecoregions are grouped into two higher levels using a 'tri-archy' based on climate parameters, vegetation response and disturbance processes. The ecoregions are described with text, photos and tables on the published map.

Modeling spatially explicit fire impact on gross primary production in interior Alaska using satellite images coupled with eddy covariance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Huang, Shengli; Liu, Heping; Dahal, Devendra; Jin, Suming; Welp, Lisa R.; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shuguang

2013-01-01

In interior Alaska, wildfires change gross primary production (GPP) after the initial disturbance. The impact of fires on GPP is spatially heterogeneous, which is difficult to evaluate by limited point-based comparisons or is insufficient to assess by satellite vegetation index. The direct prefire and postfire comparison is widely used, but the recovery identification may become biased due to interannual climate variability. The objective of this study is to propose a method to quantify the spatially explicit GPP change caused by fires and succession. We collected three Landsat images acquired on 13 July 2004, 5 August 2004, and 6 September 2004 to examine the GPP recovery of burned area from 1987 to 2004. A prefire Landsat image acquired in 1986 was used to reconstruct satellite images assuming that the fires of 1987–2004 had not occurred. We used a light-use efficiency model to estimate the GPP. This model was driven by maximum light-use efficiency (Emax) and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation (FPAR). We applied this model to two scenarios (i.e., an actual postfire scenario and an assuming-no-fire scenario), where the changes in Emax and FPAR were taken into account. The changes in Emax were represented by the change in land cover of evergreen needleleaf forest, deciduous broadleaf forest, and shrub/grass mixed, whose Emax was determined from three fire chronosequence flux towers as 1.1556, 1.3336, and 0.5098 gC/MJ PAR. The changes in FPAR were inferred from NDVI change between the actual postfire NDVI and the reconstructed NDVI. After GPP quantification for July, August, and September 2004, we calculated the difference between the two scenarios in absolute and percent GPP changes. Our results showed rapid recovery of GPP post-fire with a 24% recovery immediately after burning and 43% one year later. For the fire scars with an age range of 2–17 years, the recovery rate ranged from 54% to 95%. In addition to the averaging

Fire fit: assessing comprehensive fitness and injury risk in the fire service.

PubMed

Poplin, Gerald S; Roe, Denise J; Burgess, Jefferey L; Peate, Wayne F; Harris, Robin B

2016-02-01

This study sought to develop a comprehensive measure of fitness that is predictive of injury risk and can be used in the fire service to assess individual-level health and fit-for-duty status. A retrospective occupational cohort of 799 career fire service employees was observed over the years 2005-2009. An equally weighted score for comprehensive fitness was calculated based on cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, endurance, flexibility, and body composition. Repeated measures survival analyses were used to estimate the risk of any injury, sprain or strain, and exercise-related injuries in relation to comprehensive fitness. A well-distributed comprehensive fitness score was developed to distinguish three tiers of overall fitness status. Intraclass correlations identified flexibility, total grip strength, percent body fat, and resting heart rate as the most reliable fitness metrics, while push-ups, sit-ups, and aerobic capacity demonstrated poor reliability. In general, individuals with a lower comprehensive fitness status had an increased injury risk of injury as compared to the most fit individuals. The risk of any injury was 1.82 (95% CI 1.06-3.11) times as likely for the least fit individuals, as compared to individuals in the top fire fitness category, increasing to 2.90 (95% CI 1.48-5.66) when restricted to sprains and strains. This 5-year analysis of clinical occupational health assessments enabled the development of a relevant metric for relating comprehensive fitness with the risk of injury. Results were consistent with previous studies focused on cardiorespiratory fitness, but also less susceptible to inter-individual variability of discrete measurements.

78 FR 29248 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-20

.... 121018563-3418-02] RIN 0648-XC687 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...: NMFS is prohibiting retention of Alaska plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area...

76 FR 33171 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-08

.... 101126521-0640-02] RIN 0648-XA482 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS... management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2011 Alaska plaice total allowable...

Guidelines for Fire Service Education Programs in Community and Junior Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Favreau, Donald F.

This report serves as a guideline for fire service education. For men filling the estimated 10,000 opportunities in career fire department organizations each year in the 1970s, it is necessary that they receive a supplement to department-level training in drills and skills. Knowledge of hydraulics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, law…

Impact of fire disturbance on soil thermal and carbon dynamics in Alaskan Tundra and Boreal forest ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Y.; Rastetter, E.; Shaver, G. R.; Rocha, A. V.

2012-12-01

In Alaska, fire disturbance is a major component influencing the soil water and energy balance in both tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. Fire-caused changes in soil environment further affect both above- and below-ground carbon cycles depending on different fire severities. Understanding the effects of fire disturbance on soil thermal change requires implicit modeling work on the post-fire soil thawing and freezing processes. In this study, we model the soil temperature profiles in multiple burned and non-burned sites using a well-developed soil thermal model which fully couples soil water and heat transport. The subsequent change in carbon dynamics is analyzed based on site level observations and simulations from the Multiple Element Limitation (MEL) model. With comparison between burned and non-burned sites, we compare and contrast fire effects on soil thermal and carbon dynamics in continuous permafrost (Anaktuvik fire in north slope), discontinuous permafrost (Erickson Creek fire at Hess Creek) and non-permafrost zone (Delta Junction fire in interior Alaska). Then we check the post-fire recovery of soil temperature profiles at sites with different fire severities in both tundra and boreal forest fire areas. We further project the future changes in soil thermal and carbon dynamics using projected climate data from Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning (SNAP). This study provides information to improve the understanding of fire disturbance on soil thermal and carbon dynamics and the consequent response under a warming climate.

Boreal Forest Fire Cools Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Randerson, J. T.; Liu, H.; Flanner, M.; Chambers, S. D.; Harden, J. W.; Hess, P. G.; Jin, Y.; Mack, M. C.; Pfister, G.; Schuur, E. A.; Treseder, K. K.; Welp, L. R.; Zender, C. S.

2005-12-01

We report measurements, modeling, and analysis of carbon and energy fluxes from a boreal forest fire that occurred in interior Alaska during 1999. In the first year after the fire, ozone production, atmospheric aerosol loading, greenhouse gas emissions, soot deposition, and decreases in summer albedo contributed to a positive annual radiative forcing (RF). These effects were partly offset by an increase in fall, winter, and spring albedo from reduced canopy cover and increased exposure of snow-covered surfaces. The atmospheric lifetime of aerosols and ozone and are relatively short (days to months). The radiative effects of soot on snow are also attenuated rapidly from the deposition of fresh snow. As a result, a year after the fire, only two classes of RF mechanisms remained: greenhouse gas emissions and post-fire changes in surface albedo. Summer albedo increased rapidly in subsequent years and was substantially higher than unburned control areas (by more than 0.03) after 4 years as a result of grass and shrub establishment. Satellite measurements from MODIS of other interior Alaska burn scars provided evidence that elevated levels of spring and summer albedo (relative to unburned control areas) persisted for at least 4 decades after fire. In parallel, our chamber, eddy covariance, and biomass measurements indicated that the post-fire ecosystems switch from a source to a sink within the first decade. Taken together, the extended period of increased spring and summer albedo and carbon uptake of intermediate-aged stands appears to more than offset the initial warming pulse caused by fire emissions, when compared using the RF concept. This result suggests that management of forests in northern countries to suppress fire and preserve carbon sinks may have the opposite effect on climate as that intended.

OpenFIRE - A Web GIS Service for Distributing the Finnish Reflection Experiment Datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Väkevä, Sakari; Aalto, Aleksi; Heinonen, Aku; Heikkinen, Pekka; Korja, Annakaisa

2017-04-01

The Finnish Reflection Experiment (FIRE) is a land-based deep seismic reflection survey conducted between 2001 and 2003 by a research consortium of the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu, the Geological Survey of Finland, and a Russian state-owned enterprise SpetsGeofysika. The dataset consists of 2100 kilometers of high-resolution profiles across the Archaean and Proterozoic nuclei of the Fennoscandian Shield. Although FIRE data have been available on request since 2009, the data have remained underused outside the original research consortium. The original FIRE data have been quality-controlled. The shot gathers have been cross-checked and comprehensive errata has been created. The brute stacks provided by the Russian seismic contractor have been reprocessed into seismic sections and replotted. A complete documentation of the intermediate processing steps is provided together with guidelines for setting up a computing environment and plotting the data. An open access web service "OpenFIRE" for the visualization and the downloading of FIRE data has been created. The service includes a mobile-responsive map application capable of enriching seismic sections with data from other sources such as open data from the National Land Survey and the Geological Survey of Finland. The AVAA team of the Finnish Open Science and Research Initiative has provided a tailored Liferay portal with necessary web components such as an API (Application Programming Interface) for download requests. INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) -compliant discovery metadata have been produced and geospatial data will be exposed as Open Geospatial Consortium standard services. The technical guidelines of the European Plate Observing System have been followed and the service could be considered as a reference application for sharing reflection seismic data. The OpenFIRE web service is available at www.seismo.helsinki.fi/openfire

Alaska Department of Revenue - Tax Division - Charitable Gaming Page

Science.gov Websites

Alaska Web Site? Tax State of Alaska Tax Types Forms Reports Online Services About Tax Alaska Department of Revenue - Tax Division Department of Revenue > Tax Division > Tax Types > Charitable

Reconstructing satellite images to quantify spatially explicit land surface change caused by fires and succession: A demonstration in the Yukon River Basin of interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Huang, Shengli; Jin, Suming; Dahal, Devendra; Chen, Xuexia; Young, Claudia; Liu, Heping; Liu, Shuguang

2013-01-01

Land surface change caused by fires and succession is confounded by many site-specific factors and requires further study. The objective of this study was to reveal the spatially explicit land surface change by minimizing the confounding factors of weather variability, seasonal offset, topography, land cover, and drainage. In a pilot study of the Yukon River Basin of interior Alaska, we retrieved Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), albedo, and land surface temperature (LST) from a postfire Landsat image acquired on August 5th, 2004. With a Landsat reference image acquired on June 26th, 1986, we reconstructed NDVI, albedo, and LST of 1987–2004 fire scars for August 5th, 2004, assuming that these fires had not occurred. The difference between actual postfire and assuming-no-fire scenarios depicted the fires and succession impact. Our results demonstrated the following: (1) NDVI showed an immediate decrease after burning but gradually recovered to prefire levels in the following years, in which burn severity might play an important role during this process; (2) Albedo showed an immediate decrease after burning but then recovered and became higher than prefire levels; and (3) Most fires caused surface warming, but cooler surfaces did exist; time-since-fire affected the prefire and postfire LST difference but no absolute trend could be found. Our approach provided spatially explicit land surface change rather than average condition, enabling a better understanding of fires and succession impact on ecological consequences at the pixel level.

In the wake of suicide: Developing guidelines for suicide postvention in fire service

PubMed Central

Gulliver, Suzy Bird; Pennington, Michelle L.; Leto, Frank; Cammarata, Claire; Ostiguy, William; Zavodny, Cynthia; Flynn, Elisa J.; Kimbrel, Nathan A.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT This project aimed to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) for suicide postvention in Fire Service. First, an existing SOP was refined through expert review. Next, focus groups were conducted with fire departments lacking a peer suicide postvention SOP; feedback obtained guided revisions. The current article describes the iterative process used to evaluate and revise a Suicide Postvention SOP into a Postvention guideline that is available for implementation and evaluation. Postventions assist survivors in grief and bereavement and attempt to prevent additional negative outcomes. The implementation of suicide postvention guidelines will increase behavioral wellness within Fire Service. PMID:26332212

Simulating the influences of various fire regimes on caribou winter habitat

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rupp, T. Scott; Olson, Mark; Adams, Layne G.; Dale, Bruce W.; Joly, Kyle; Henkelman, Jonathan; Collins, William B.; Starfield, Anthony M.

2006-01-01

Caribou are an integral component of high‐latitude ecosystems and represent a major subsistence food source for many northern people. The availability and quality of winter habitat is critical to sustain these caribou populations. Caribou commonly use older spruce woodlands with adequate terrestrial lichen, a preferred winter forage, in the understory. Changes in climate and fire regime pose a significant threat to the long‐term sustainability of this important winter habitat. Computer simulations performed with a spatially explicit vegetation succession model (ALFRESCO) indicate that changes in the frequency and extent of fire in interior Alaska may substantially impact the abundance and quality of winter habitat for caribou. We modeled four different fire scenarios and tracked the frequency, extent, and spatial distribution of the simulated fires and associated changes to vegetation composition and distribution. Our results suggest that shorter fire frequencies (i.e., less time between recurring fires) on the winter range of the Nelchina caribou herd in eastern interior Alaska will result in large decreases of available winter habitat, relative to that currently available, in both the short and long term. A 30% shortening of the fire frequency resulted in a 3.5‐fold increase in the area burned annually and an associated 41% decrease in the amount of spruce–lichen forest found on the landscape. More importantly, simulations with more frequent fires produced a relatively immature forest age structure, compared to that which currently exists, with few stands older than 100 years. This age structure is at the lower limits of stand age classes preferred by caribou from the Nelchina herd. Projected changes in fire regime due to climate warming and/or additional prescribed burning could substantially alter the winter habitat of caribou in interior Alaska and lead to changes in winter range use and/or population dynamics.

Chemical and Microphysical Properties of Particles in Aged Forest Fire Plumes From Alaska and Western Canada Observed Over the Northeastern U.S.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brock, C. A.; Wollny, A. G.; Cooper, O. R.; Fehsenfeld, F. C.; de Gouw, J. A.; Hudson, P. K.; Matthew, B. M.; Middlebrook, A. M.; Murphy, D. M.; Simsons, C.; Stohl, A.; Warneke, C.; Peltier, R.; Sulivan, A.; Weber, R. J.; Wilson, J. C.

2004-12-01

During the Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation - New England Air Quality Study (ITCT-NEAQS 2004) in July and August 2004 several forest fires plumes were observed over the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada. Satellite data and trajectory analyses indicate that the plumes originated from forest fires burning in Alaska and western Canada. In-situ measurements of the aged forest fire smoke were made on board the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft during several flights over a period of 2 weeks. Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the chemical composition of single aerosol particles in air masses containing forest fire smoke show significant differences compared to background air or to pollution from urban and industrial sources and unambiguously identify the smoke plumes. Particle size distributions from 0.004 to 8 um were measured with one second resolution in the aged forest fire smoke. The smoke was characterized by mass-weighted diameters between 0.6 and 1 um--much larger than secondary particles typical of urban and industrial sources. Particle volume concentrations were among the highest seen within the ITCT-NEAQS 2004 project, and regional visibility and air quality were significantly affected by the transported smoke. Quantitative compositional measurements were made of the non-refractory fraction of submicron particles, as well as of submicron inorganic ionic compounds and water soluble organic mass, within the forest fire plumes. The submicron aerosol particles in the biomass plumes were largely carbonaceous with very little sulfate, ammonium, or nitrate. A fraction of this carbonaceous material was soluble in water and likely contained oxygenated organic species.

Alaska Department of Revenue - Tax Division - License Search Page

Science.gov Websites

Alaska Web Site? Tax State of Alaska Tax Types Forms Reports Online Services About Tax Alaska Department of Revenue - Tax Division Department of Revenue > Tax Division > Tax Types > Search Permits

Estimating cost of large-fire suppression for three Forest Service regions

Treesearch

Eric L. Smith; Gonz& aacute; lez-Cab& aacute; n Armando

1987-01-01

The annual costs attributable to large fire suppression in three Forest Service Regions (1970-1981) were estimated as a function of fire perimeters using linear regression. Costs calculated on a per chain of perimeterbasis were highest for the Pacific Northwest Region, next highest for the Northern Region, and lowest for the Intermountain Region. Recent costs in real...

Water Supply. Fire Service Certification Series. Unit FSCS-FF-9-80.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

This training unit on water supply is part of a 17-unit course package written to aid instructors in the development, teaching, and evaluation of fire fighters in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. The purpose stated for the 4-hour unit is to assist the firefighter in the proper use of water supplies and the understanding of the…

What ignited Forest Service interest in nonmarket valuation in fire economics?

Treesearch

John B. Loomis; Armando González-Cabán

2009-01-01

This paper traces the origin and evolution of the application of nonmarket valuation techniques to fire management within the USDA Forest Service. The motivation for contingent valuation (CVM) studies that quantify existence value is traced to the need for monetary benefits of protecting spotted owl old-growth forest habitat from fire in the early 1990s. Two large...

The challenge of restoring natural fire to wilderness

Treesearch

David J. Parsons

2000-01-01

Despite clear legislative and policy direction to preserve natural conditions in wilderness, the maintenance of fire as a natural process has proven to be a significant challenge to federal land managers. As of 1998, only 88 of the 596 designated wilderness areas in the United States, excluding Alaska, had approved fire plans that allow some natural ignitions to burn;...

Sprinklers/Standpipes/Detection Systems. Fire Service Certification Series. Unit FSCS-FF-11-80.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

This training unit on sprinklers, standpipes, and detection systems is part of a 17-unit course package written to aid instructors in the development, teaching, and evaluation of fire fighters in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. The purpose stated for the 6-hour unit is to provide the fire fighter with an understanding of the…

Prescribed fire and its impacts on ecosystem services in the UK.

PubMed

Harper, Ashleigh R; Doerr, Stefan H; Santin, Cristina; Froyd, Cynthia A; Sinnadurai, Paul

2018-05-15

The impacts of vegetation fires on ecosystems are complex and varied affecting a range of important ecosystem services. Fire has the potential to affect the physicochemical and ecological status of water systems, alter several aspects of the carbon cycle (e.g. above- and below-ground carbon storage) and trigger changes in vegetation type and structure. Globally, fire is an essential part of land management in fire-prone regions in, e.g. Australia, the USA and some Mediterranean countries to mitigate the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires and sustain healthy ecosystems. In the less-fire prone UK, fire has a long history of usage in management for enhancing the productivity of heather, red grouse and sheep. This distinctly different socioeconomic tradition of burning underlies some of the controversy in recent decades in the UK around the use of fire. Negative public opinion and opposition from popular media have highlighted concerns around the detrimental impacts burning can have on the health and diversity of upland habitats. It is evident there are many gaps in the current knowledge around the environmental impacts of prescribed burning in less fire-prone regions (e.g. UK). Land owners and managers require a greater level of certainty on the advantages and disadvantages of prescribed burning in comparison to other techniques to better inform management practices. This paper addresses this gap by providing a critical review of published work and future research directions related to the impacts of prescribed fire on three key aspects of ecosystem services: (i) water quality, (ii) carbon dynamics and (iii) habitat composition and structure (biodiversity). Its overall aims are to provide guidance based on the current state-of-the-art for researchers, land owners, managers and policy makers on the potential effects of the use of burning and to inform the wider debate about the place of fire in modern conservation and land management in humid temperate ecosystems

76 FR 11978 - Proposed Amendment of Federal Airways; Alaska

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-04

... Federal airways in Alaska. Due to construction of wind turbines on Fire Island, AK, the Anchorage VOR is... NDB/DME (Lat. 56[deg]57'15'' N., long. 158[deg]38'51'' W.) BATTY Fix (Lat. 59[deg]03'57'' N., long...

Wild Fire Emissions for the NOAA Operational HYSPLIT Smoke Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, H. C.; ONeill, S. M.; Ruminski, M.; Shafran, P.; McQueen, J.; DiMego, G.; Kondragunta, S.; Gorline, J.; Huang, J. P.; Stunder, B.; Stein, A. F.; Stajner, I.; Upadhayay, S.; Larkin, N. K.

2015-12-01

Particulate Matter (PM) generated from forest fires often lead to degraded visibility and unhealthy air quality in nearby and downstream areas. To provide near-real time PM information to the state and local agencies, the NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) operational HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model) smoke modeling system (NWS/HYSPLIT smoke) provides the forecast of smoke concentration resulting from fire emissions driven by the NWS North American Model 12 km weather predictions. The NWS/HYSPLIT smoke incorporates the U.S. Forest Service BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework (BlueSky) to provide smoke fire emissions along with the input fire locations from the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)'s Hazard Mapping System fire and smoke detection system. Experienced analysts inspect satellite imagery from multiple sensors onboard geostationary and orbital satellites to identify the location, size and duration of smoke emissions for the model. NWS/HYSPLIT smoke is being updated to use a newer version of USFS BlueSky. The updated BlueSky incorporates the Fuel Characteristic Classification System version 2 (FCCS2) over the continental U.S. and Alaska. FCCS2 includes a more detailed description of fuel loadings with additional plant type categories. The updated BlueSky also utilizes an improved fuel consumption model and fire emission production system. For the period of August 2014 and June 2015, NWS/HYSPLIT smoke simulations show that fire smoke emissions with updated BlueSky are stronger than the current operational BlueSky in the Northwest U.S. For the same comparisons, weaker fire smoke emissions from the updated BlueSky were observed over the middle and eastern part of the U.S. A statistical evaluation of NWS/HYSPLIT smoke predicted total column concentration compared to NOAA NESDIS GOES EAST Aerosol Smoke Product retrievals is underway. Preliminary results show that using the newer version

Home Page, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Science.gov Websites

Analysis Return on Investment 0.jpg 1 1 1 1 1 Play 0.jpg Alaska Gasline Workforce Plan 1.jpg Alaska Hire 2 Protection Program May 14, 2018 Alaska Workforce Investment Board Endorses Gasline Workforce Plan Subscribe Administrative Services Alaska Workforce Investment Board Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission AVTEC

Survival Mediterranean Style: Lifestyle Changes to Improve the Health of the US Fire Service

PubMed Central

Korre, Maria; Sotos-Prieto, Mercedes; Kales, Stefanos N.

2017-01-01

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes almost half of all on-duty deaths in US firefighters and is an important and costly cause of morbidity. In addition, cancer is a growing health concern in this population. Obesity and obesity-associated, cardiometabolic risk clustering are major, modifiable risk factors for fire service CVD and cancer risk. The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is proven effective in primary and secondary CVD prevention. It is also associated with a decreased risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. Moreover, it can be adapted into successful workplace interventions. Emerging data from our group regarding the US Fire Service show that greater compliance with the MedDiet is associated with improved CVD risk profiles and less weight gain among career firefighters. Moreover, the fact that career firefighters take a considerable number of meals communally on the job also represents an excellent opportunity for a workplace Mediterranean Diet Nutritional Intervention (MDNI). The devastating effects of obesity, CVD, and cancer on the US fire service are recognized, but currently few effective preventive programs exist. The consistently positive health benefits from following a MedDiet and promising preliminary data in the fire service justify translational research to determine the most effective means of delivering MDNIs to US firefighters. Therefore, a high priority should be assigned to efforts, which can help further disseminate and implement our program of novel behavior change strategies, “Survival Mediterranean Style,” throughout the US fire service and eventually to other occupations. PMID:29326915

Survival Mediterranean Style: Lifestyle Changes to Improve the Health of the US Fire Service.

PubMed

Korre, Maria; Sotos-Prieto, Mercedes; Kales, Stefanos N

2017-01-01

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes almost half of all on-duty deaths in US firefighters and is an important and costly cause of morbidity. In addition, cancer is a growing health concern in this population. Obesity and obesity-associated, cardiometabolic risk clustering are major, modifiable risk factors for fire service CVD and cancer risk. The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is proven effective in primary and secondary CVD prevention. It is also associated with a decreased risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. Moreover, it can be adapted into successful workplace interventions. Emerging data from our group regarding the US Fire Service show that greater compliance with the MedDiet is associated with improved CVD risk profiles and less weight gain among career firefighters. Moreover, the fact that career firefighters take a considerable number of meals communally on the job also represents an excellent opportunity for a workplace Mediterranean Diet Nutritional Intervention (MDNI). The devastating effects of obesity, CVD, and cancer on the US fire service are recognized, but currently few effective preventive programs exist. The consistently positive health benefits from following a MedDiet and promising preliminary data in the fire service justify translational research to determine the most effective means of delivering MDNIs to US firefighters. Therefore, a high priority should be assigned to efforts, which can help further disseminate and implement our program of novel behavior change strategies, "Survival Mediterranean Style," throughout the US fire service and eventually to other occupations.

The potential benefit of a home fire safety intervention during emergency medical services calls.

PubMed

Pirrallo, R G; Rubin, J M; Murawsky, G A

1998-03-01

To determine how often house fires occur at 1- and 2-family dwellings visited previously by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel and whether these visits were missed opportunities for a point-of-contact home fire safety intervention. A retrospective, consecutive, case series analysis of all Milwaukee Fire Department alarm responses during 1994 was performed. Measurements included date of service, type of response, property type, dollar loss estimate, number of injuries and fatalities, cause of alarm, and presence of an operational smoke detector. Descriptive, chi2, and relative risk statistics were used to describe the relationship between EMS responses and fire responses at 1- and 2-family dwellings. The Milwaukee Fire Department dispatched 94,378 requests for service to 43,556 addresses. 16,150 addresses generated multiple requests; 7.2% (1,162/16,150) were for an "alarm of fire" response [relative risk 1.83 (95% CI: 1.69-1.99) for addresses with multiple requests vs those with a single request for service]. Most [62% (721/1,162)] of the addresses were visited by EMS personnel prior to the alarm; 28% (205/721) were 1- and 2-family dwellings. A mean of 1.8 (376/205) EMS responses occurred prior to the "alarm of fire" response; 121 addresses received 1 response, 46 received 2, 18 received 3, and 20 received > or = 4 responses. Of 169 addresses with complete data, there was a total fire dollar loss of $1,963,020 (1994) along with 32 injuries and 0 fatalities. While 47% (80/169) of the 1- and 2-family dwellings had a smoke detector present, only 17% (29/169) of the dwellings had an operational smoke detector. A point-of-contact home fire safety intervention appears of potential benefit for frequent users of EMS care. Determination of the presence of an operational smoke detector in 1- and 2-family dwellings may be a useful injury prevention act during such EMS calls.

Factors associated with pilot fatalities in work-related aircraft crashes--Alaska, 1990-1999.

PubMed

2002-04-26

Despite its large geographic area, Alaska has only 12,200 miles of public roads, and 90% of the state's communities are not connected to a highway system. Commuter and air-taxi flights are essential for transportation of passengers and delivery of goods, services, and mail to outlying communities (Figure 1). Because of the substantial progress in decreasing fatalities in the fishing and logging industries, aviation crashes are the leading cause of occupational death in Alaska. During 1990-1999, aircraft crashes in Alaska caused 107 deaths among workers classified as civilian pilots. This is equivalent to 410 fatalities per 100,000 pilots each year, approximately five times the death rate for all U.S. pilots and approximately 100 times the death rate for all U.S. workers. As part of a collaborative aviation safety initiative that CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is implementing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the National Weather Service, CDC analyzed data from NTSB crash reports to determine factors associated with pilot fatalities in work-related aviation crashes in Alaska. This report summarizes the result of this analysis, which found that the following factors were associated with pilot fatalities: crashes involving a post-crash fire, flights in darkness or weather conditions requiring instrument use, crashes occurring away from an airport, and crashes in which the pilot was not using a shoulder restraint. Additional pilot training, improved fuel systems that are less likely to ignite in crashes, and company policies that discourage flying in poor weather conditions might help decrease pilot fatalities. More detailed analyses of crash data, collaborations with aircraft operators to improve safety, and evaluation of new technologies are needed.

Indian hospitals and Aboriginal nurses: Canada and Alaska.

PubMed

Drees, Laurie Meijer

2010-01-01

Between 1945 and the early 1970s, both Indian Health Services in Canada (IHS), and the Alaska Native Health Service (ANS) initiated programs and activities aimed at recruiting and training nurses/nurses aides from Canadian and Alaskan Native communities. In Alaska, the Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka acted as a training facility for Alaska Native nurses' aides, while in Canada, the Charles Camsell Hospital served a similar function. These initiatives occurred prior to the devolution of health care to Aboriginal communities. The histories of these two hospitals provide a comparative opportunity to reveal themes related to the history of Aboriginal nurse training and Aboriginal health policies in the north. The paper outlines the structure and function of two main hospitals within the Indian Health and Alaska Native Health Services, discusses the historic training, and role of Aboriginal nurses and caregivers within those systems using both archival and oral history sources.

43 CFR 3101.5-3 - Alaska wildlife areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Alaska wildlife areas. 3101.5-3 Section... § 3101.5-3 Alaska wildlife areas. No lands within a refuge in Alaska open to leasing shall be available until the Fish and Wildlife Service has first completed compatability determinations. ...

43 CFR 3101.5-3 - Alaska wildlife areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Alaska wildlife areas. 3101.5-3 Section... § 3101.5-3 Alaska wildlife areas. No lands within a refuge in Alaska open to leasing shall be available until the Fish and Wildlife Service has first completed compatability determinations. ...

43 CFR 3101.5-3 - Alaska wildlife areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Alaska wildlife areas. 3101.5-3 Section... § 3101.5-3 Alaska wildlife areas. No lands within a refuge in Alaska open to leasing shall be available until the Fish and Wildlife Service has first completed compatability determinations. ...

43 CFR 3101.5-3 - Alaska wildlife areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Alaska wildlife areas. 3101.5-3 Section... § 3101.5-3 Alaska wildlife areas. No lands within a refuge in Alaska open to leasing shall be available until the Fish and Wildlife Service has first completed compatability determinations. ...

Rural Alaska Mentoring Project (RAMP)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cash, Terry

2011-01-01

For over two years the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University has been supporting the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) in NW Alaska with their efforts to reduce high school dropout in 23 remote Yup'ik Eskimo villages. The Rural Alaska Mentoring Project (RAMP) provides school-based E-mentoring services to 164…

Southeast Alaska forests: inventory highlights.

Treesearch

Sally Campbell; Willem W.S. van Hees; Bert. Mead

2004-01-01

This publication presents highlights of a recent southeast Alaska inventory and analysis conducted by the Pacific Northwest Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (USDA Forest Service). Southeast Alaska has about 22.9 million acres, of which two-thirds are vegetated. Almost 11 million acres are forest land and about 4 million acres have nonforest...

Analysis of USDA Forest Service fire-related expenditures 1970-1995

Treesearch

Ervin G. Schuster; David A. Cleaves; Enoch F. Bell

1997-01-01

Forest Service expenditures for fire presuppression and suppression activities increased from $61 million in FY 1970 to $951 million in FY 1994. Yet, real (net of inflation) expenditures have not increased significantly since FY 1970, if FY 1994 expenditures are excluded. During any given year, 56 percent of suppression expenditures are spent on supplies and services,...

14 CFR 121.106 - ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire... and Flag Operations § 121.106 ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service. (a) Except as... available at each airport listed as an ETOPS Alternate Airport in a dispatch or flight release. (1) For...

14 CFR 121.106 - ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire... and Flag Operations § 121.106 ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service. (a) Except as... available at each airport listed as an ETOPS Alternate Airport in a dispatch or flight release. (1) For...

14 CFR 121.106 - ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire... and Flag Operations § 121.106 ETOPS Alternate Airport: Rescue and fire fighting service. (a) Except as... available at each airport listed as an ETOPS Alternate Airport in a dispatch or flight release. (1) For...

75 FR 51103 - Notice of Public Meetings for the National Park Service (NPS) Alaska Region's Subsistence...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-18

... SRC and Wrangell-St. Elias SRC plan to meet to develop and continue work on National Park Service (NPS... SRC Meeting Date and Location: The Lake Clark National Park SRC meeting will be held on Tuesday... Alaska Regional Office, at (907) 644- 3603. Aniakchak National Monument SRC Meeting Date and Location...

Fire in the range of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd

Treesearch

Kyle Joly; T. Scott Rupp; Randi R. Jandt; F. Stuart Chapin

2009-01-01

Wildfire is the dominant ecological driver in boreal forest ecosystems. Although much less is known, it also affects tundra ecosystems. Fires effectively consume fruticose lichens, the primary winter forage for caribou, in both boreal and tundra ecosystems. We summarize 1950-2007 fire regime data for northwestern Alaska and subregions. We also identified meteorological...

Administrative Services Division - Alaska Department of Law

Science.gov Websites

Attorney General Opinions Executive Branch Ethics Criminal Justice Alaska Medicaid Fraud Control Anchorage digital communication. Department-wide Information Technology issues, strategic planning, resource

Ecological effects of the Wickersham Dome fire near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Treesearch

L.A. Viereck; C.T. Dyrness

1979-01-01

The Wickersham Dome fire occurred in late June 1971 and burned over 6 300 hectares of predominantly black spruce forest land. Shortly after the fire was controlled, studies of the effects of the fire on various components of the biotic community were undertaken. Results reported here are mainly for the first 3 years after the fire.

An Architecture for Automated Fire Detection Early Warning System Based on Geoprocessing Service Composition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samadzadegan, F.; Saber, M.; Zahmatkesh, H.; Joze Ghazi Khanlou, H.

2013-09-01

Rapidly discovering, sharing, integrating and applying geospatial information are key issues in the domain of emergency response and disaster management. Due to the distributed nature of data and processing resources in disaster management, utilizing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to take advantages of workflow of services provides an efficient, flexible and reliable implementations to encounter different hazardous situation. The implementation specification of the Web Processing Service (WPS) has guided geospatial data processing in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform to become a widely accepted solution for processing remotely sensed data on the web. This paper presents an architecture design based on OGC web services for automated workflow for acquisition, processing remotely sensed data, detecting fire and sending notifications to the authorities. A basic architecture and its building blocks for an automated fire detection early warning system are represented using web-based processing of remote sensing imageries utilizing MODIS data. A composition of WPS processes is proposed as a WPS service to extract fire events from MODIS data. Subsequently, the paper highlights the role of WPS as a middleware interface in the domain of geospatial web service technology that can be used to invoke a large variety of geoprocessing operations and chaining of other web services as an engine of composition. The applicability of proposed architecture by a real world fire event detection and notification use case is evaluated. A GeoPortal client with open-source software was developed to manage data, metadata, processes, and authorities. Investigating feasibility and benefits of proposed framework shows that this framework can be used for wide area of geospatial applications specially disaster management and environmental monitoring.

Facts About Alaska, Alaska Kids' Corner, State of Alaska

Science.gov Websites

Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska Search Home Quick Links Departments Commissioners Employee Whitepages State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting

Role of Fire and Landscape Position on Dissolved Organic Carbon Composition and Reactivity in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bristol, E. M.; Dabrowski, J. S.; Jimmie, J. A.; Peter, D. L.; Holmes, R. M.; Mann, P. J.; Natali, S.; Schade, J. D.

2017-12-01

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwest, Alaska is characterized by discontinuous permafrost, which is vulnerable to thaw induced by climate change. Recent fires in the delta have caused dramatic changes in the landscape, likely changing carbon dynamics, and potentially altering dissolved organic carbon (DOC) composition and DOC concentrations in aquatic ecosystems. These changes, in turn, likely affect microbial respiration and hydrologic C export from watersheds in the delta. In this study, we investigated how landscape position and fire history drive changes in DOC composition and reactivity in aquatic ecosystems. We surveyed soil pore waters, ponds, fens, and streams at varying landscape positions in burned and unburned landscapes. We also conducted a laboratory experiment to compare the role of photooxidation, photodegradation, and microbial respiration in altering DOC composition and concentration. Surface waters in burned regions were higher in temperature and inorganic nitrogen concentrations. Higher conductivity in burned areas suggests that fire is deepening the water table, causing water to flow through a more mineral soil horizon. While DOC concentrations did not vary significantly by landscape position or fire history, optical properties of DOC suggest that DOC molecular weight is lower in burned regions and decreases along flow paths. Similarly, our incubation experiment indicated that changes in DOC composition are driven by exposure to light more than bacterial respiration, and that photochemical reactivity declines along flow paths. Percent DOC loss was greatest in waters exposed to both light and bacterial, and percent DOC loss from burned watershed waters was correlated with optical properties. Based on our findings, we predict that the combination of increased surface water temperatures, increased inorganic nitrogen concentrations, and lower molecular weight DOC will increase bacterial respiration of DOC in watersheds burned by wildfire. Further

Ozone Production from the 2004 North American Boreal Fires

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfister, G. G.; Emmons, L. K.; Hess, P. G.; Honrath, R.; Lamarque, J.-F.; Val Martin, M.; Owen, R. C.; Avery, M. A.; Browell, E. V.; Holloway, J. S.;

47 CFR 80.469 - Maritime mobile repeater stations in Alaska.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Maritime mobile repeater stations in Alaska. 80... RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Public Coast Stations Use of Telephony § 80.469 Maritime mobile repeater stations in Alaska. (a) Maritime mobile repeater stations are authorized to extend...

2010 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-01-01

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves 31 Alaska ports by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

2011 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves 31 Alaska ports by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

2009 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves 30 Alaska ports by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

South-central Alaska forests: inventory highlights.

Treesearch

Sally Campbell; Willem W.S. van Hees; Bert. Mead

2005-01-01

This publication presents highlights of a recent south-central Alaska inventory conducted by the Pacific Northwest Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (USDA Forest Service). South-central Alaska has about 18.5 million acres, of which one-fifth (4 million acres) is forested. Species diversity is greatest in closed and open Sitka spruce forests, spruce...

NWS Alaska Sea Ice Program: Operations, Customer Support & Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heim, R.; Schreck, M. B.

2016-12-01

The National Weather Service's Alaska Sea Ice Program is designed to service customers and partners operating and planning operations within Alaska waters. The Alaska Sea Ice Program offers daily sea ice and sea surface temperature analysis products. The program also delivers a five day sea ice forecast 3 times each week, provides a 3 month sea ice outlook at the end of each month, and has staff available to respond to sea ice related information inquiries. These analysis and forecast products are utilized by many entities around the state of Alaska and nationally for safety of navigation and community strategic planning. The list of current customers stem from academia and research institutions, to local state and federal agencies, to resupply barges, to coastal subsistence hunters, to gold dredgers, to fisheries, to the general public. Due to a longer sea ice free season over recent years, activity in the waters around Alaska has increased. This has led to a rise in decision support services from the Alaska Sea Ice Program. The ASIP is in constant contact with the National Ice Center as well as the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for safety of navigation. In the past, the ASIP provided briefings to the USCG when in support of search and rescue efforts. Currently, not only does that support remain, but our team is also briefing on sea ice outlooks into the next few months. As traffic in the Arctic increases, the ASIP will be called upon to provide more and more services on varying time scales to meet customer needs. This talk will address the many facets of the current Alaska Sea Ice Program as well as delve into what we see as the future of the ASIP.

Interdisciplinary knowledge translation: lessons learned from a mental health: fire service collaboration.

PubMed

Henderson, Joanna L; Mackay, Sherri; Peterson-Badali, Michele

2010-12-01

Collaborative approaches are being increasingly advocated for addressing a variety of health, mental health and social needs for children, youth and families. Factors important for effective knowledge translation of collaborative approaches of service delivery across disciplines, however, have not been rigorously examined. TAPP-C: The Arson Prevention Program for Children is an intervention program for child and adolescent firesetters provided collaboratively by fire service and mental health professionals. The present study examined the adopter, innovation, and dissemination characteristics associated with TAPP-C implementation, protocol adherence and extent of collaboration by 241 community-based fire service professionals from communities across Ontario. Results revealed that dissemination factors are particularly important for understanding program implementation, adherence and cross-discipline collaboration. Moreover, the findings of this study show significant benefits to both within discipline (intra-disciplinary) and across discipline (interdisciplinary) knowledge translation strategies.

76 FR 33172 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-08

... fishery in the (BSAI) exclusive economic zone according to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of.... 101126521-0640-02] RIN 0648-XA483 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Alaska Plaice in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS...

Health Care Services

Science.gov Websites

State Employees Health Care Services DHSS State of Alaska Home Divisions and Agencies Alaska Pioneer Homes Behavioral Health Office of Children's Services Office of the Commissioner Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention Finance & Management Services Health Care Services Juvenile Justice

Utilization of remote sensing in Alaska permafrost studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, D. K.

1981-01-01

Permafrost related features such as: aufeis, tundra, thaw lakes and subsurface ice features were studied. LANDSAT imagery was used to measure the extent and distribution of aufeis in Arctic Slope rivers over a period of 7 years. Interannual extent of large aufeis fields was found to vary significantly. Digital LANDSAT data were used to study the short term effects of a tundra fire which burned a 48 sq km area in northwestern Alaska. Vegetation regrowth was inferred from Landsat spectral reflectance increases and compared to in-situ measurements. Aircraft SAR (Synethic Aperture Radar) imagery was used in conjunction with LANDSAT imagery used in conjunction with LANDSAT imagery to qualitatively determine depth categories for thaw lakes in northern Alaska.

Information-Seeking and Sharing Behaviors among Fire Service Field Staff Instructors: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruan, Lian J.

2011-01-01

Fire service field staff instructors seek and share information and use information sources during their instructional work of teaching, training and curriculum development. This study is the first attempt to study their information-seeking and sharing behaviors, which have not previously been investigated empirically. Twenty-five fire service…

Impact of wildfire on stream nutrient chemistry and ecosystem metabolism in boreal forest catchments of interior Alaska

Treesearch

Emma F. Betts; Jeremy B. Jones

2009-01-01

With climatic warming, wildfire occurrence is increasing in the boreal forest of interior Alaska. Loss of catchment vegetation during fire can impact streams directly through altered solute and debris inputs and changed light and temperature regimes. Over longer time scales, fire can accelerate permafrost degradation, altering catchment hydrology and stream nutrient...

Crafting a competitive edge: white spruce regeneration in Alaska.

Treesearch

Jonathan. Thompson

2005-01-01

Over the past two decades, unprecedented levels of disturbance have occurred in the white spruce forests of Alaska. Spruce bark beetles, fires, and timber harvests have left millions of acres of dead spruce with little spruce regeneration. To assist public and private landowners, Pacific Northwest Research (PNW) Station scientists are testing various approaches to...

The Response of Tundra to Biophysical Changes Ten Years Following the Anaktuvuk River Fire, Arctic Foothills, Alaska.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, B. M.; Miller, E. A.; Jandt, R.; Baughman, C. A.

2017-12-01

Ten years following a large and severe wildfire in the arctic foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska, tundra is experiencing rapid biophysical changes. Plant communities are responding to primary disturbance by fire but also to ground-ice melt, terrain subsidence, and apparent increase in soil drainage or evapotranspiration.The Anaktuvuk River Fire burned about 104,000 ha in 2007, spreading over broad ranges in soils, topography, hydrography, and permafrost features. Fourteen marked transects were measured between 2008-2011 and again in 2017 for cover of ground-layer vegetation, tall shrub abundance, thaw depth, and soil properties. A complementary set of 11 reference transects surrounding the burn was also sampled.We observed much higher rates of thermokarst inside the burn than out. Even low severity burn areas experienced noticeable thaw subsidence. Mean annual ground temperature at 1 m depth has warmed 1.5°C relative to unburned tundra. In cases ice wedge troughs have deepened by more than 1 m in areas underlain by yedoma soils. Troughs were characterized by cracking soil and slumping tussocks, often into ponded water. Troughs and degraded ice features appear to be draining adjacent polygon centers leading to a general drying of the tundra. Tussockgrasses inside the burn continue to grow and flower vigorously, suggesting a continued flush of soil nutrients. Post-fire accumulation of organic material is generally <5 cm of mostly moss and plant litter. Species of tall willow are responding by increases in stature and colonization of thermokarst areas.Other studies suggest that tundra north of the Brooks Range is responding to climate change with widespread expansion of and dominance by tall shrubs. Our observations from the Anaktuvuk River Burn, as well as at several other older burns, suggest that fire greatly accelerates this succession. Records and observations suggest that lightning and ignitions are becoming more frequent north of the Brooks Range

Some environmental effects of forest fires in interior Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eaton, Frank; Wendler, Gerd

The high variability of burning conditions and fuels, found in Alaskan forest fires, produces an associated complex emission of particulate matter. Histological evidence of some large particles has been found in the forest fire plumes as well as aerosols resulting apparently from gas-to-particle conversion. Particles analyzed with a scanning electron microscope and X-ray energy dispersive techniques show large variability in both physical and chemical characteristics. Optical measurements show forest fire smoke affects atmospheric turbidity regionally. Turbidity values presented which were measured in the plume from a forest fire 400 km from Fairbanks show values in excess of those found for heavily polluted urban regions. The particulate matter analysis showing irregular shapes and highly varied chemical composition displays the difficulty in radiative transfer calculations due to the assumptions of Mie theory. The nature of the aerosol size concentrations (non-Junge power law distributions) found in forest fire plumes also violates the assumption necessary for application of Angstrom's classic method of defining the turbidity coefficient and wavelength exponent. Consequences of such particulate matter may affect the temperature structure of the atmosphere, radiation balance as well as visibility. In addition, the burnt over forest regions display a reduction of surface albedo and roughness parameter which will have prolonged influence on the heat exchange at the earth's surface.

Fire effects on soil organic matter content, composition, and nutrients in boreal interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Neff, J.C.; Harden, J.W.; Gleixner, G.

2005-01-01

Boreal ecosystems contain a substantial fraction of the earth's soil carbon stores and are prone to frequent and severe wildfires. In this study, we examine changes in element and organic matter stocks due to a 1999 wildfire in Alaska. One year after the wildfire, burned soils contained between 1071 and 1420 g/m2 less carbon than unburned soils. Burned soils had lower nitrogen than unburned soils, higher calcium, and nearly unchanged potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus stocks. Burned surface soils tended to have higher concentrations of noncombustible elements such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus compared with unburned soils. Combustion losses of carbon were mostly limited to surface dead moss and fibric horizons, with no change in the underlying mineral horizons. Burning caused significant changes in soil organic matter structure, with a 12% higher ratio of carbon to combustible organic matter in surface burned horizons compared with unburned horizons. Pyrolysis gas chromatography - mass spectroscopy also shows preferential volatilization of polysaccharide-derived organic matter and enrichment of lignin-and lipid-derived compounds in surface soils. The chemistry of deeper soil layers in burned and unburned sites was similar, suggesting that immediate fire impacts were restricted to the surface soil horizon. ?? 2005 NRC.

The costs of climate change: ecosystem services and wildland fires

EPA Science Inventory

In this paper we use Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) to monetize the avoided ecosystem services losses due to climate change-induced wildland fires in the U.S. Specifically, we use the U.S. Forest Service’s MC1 dynamic global vegetation model to forecast changes in wildland fi...

Hyperspectral surveying for mineral resources in Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kokaly, Raymond F.; Graham, Garth E.; Hoefen, Todd M.; Kelley, Karen D.; Johnson, Michaela R.; Hubbard, Bernard E.

2016-07-07

Alaska is a major producer of base and precious metals and has a high potential for additional undiscovered mineral resources. However, discovery is hindered by Alaska’s vast size, remoteness, and rugged terrain. New methods are needed to overcome these obstacles in order to fully evaluate Alaska’s geology and mineral resource potential. Hyperspectral surveying is one method that can be used to rapidly acquire data about the distributions of surficial materials, including different types of bedrock and ground cover. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey began the Alaska Hyperspectral Project to assess the applicability of this method in Alaska. The primary study area is a remote part of the eastern Alaska Range where porphyry deposits are exposed. In collaboration with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the National Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey is collecting and analyzing hyperspectral data with the goals of enhancing geologic mapping and developing methods to identify and characterize mineral deposits elsewhere in Alaska.

Using hyperspectral imagery to estimate forest floor consumption from wildfire in boreal forests of Alaska, USA

Treesearch

Sarah A. Lewis; Andrew T. Hudak; Roger D. Ottmar; Peter R. Robichaud; Leigh B. Lentile; Sharon M. Hood; James B. Cronan; Penny Morgan

2011-01-01

Wildfire is a major forest disturbance in interior Alaska that can both directly and indirectly alter ecological processes. We used a combination of pre- and post-fire forest floor depths and post-fire ground cover assessments measured in the field, and high-resolution airborne hyperspectral imagery, to map forest floor conditions after the 2004 Taylor Complex in...

76 FR 17353 - Migratory Bird Subsistence Harvest in Alaska; Harvest Regulations for Migratory Birds in Alaska...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-29

... proposed rule and further internal discussions, the Service is removing the shooting hours restriction... Service, working with partners, developed measures in 2009 to further reduce the potential for shooting... shooting hours restriction, this regulation is similar to one in the State of Alaska's fall regulations...

Estimating the Impact of the 2004 Alaskan Forest Fires on Episodic Particulate Matter Pollution over the Eastern United States through Assimilation of Satellite Derived Aerosol Optical Depths in a Regional Air Quality Model

EPA Science Inventory

During the summer of 2004, extensive wildfires burned in Alaska and western Canada; the fires were the largest on record for Alaska. Smoke from these fires was observed over the continental United States in satellite images. Recent studies have quantified the impacts of the long-...

From strange bedfellows to natural allies: the shifting allegiance of fire service organisations in the push for federal fire-safe cigarette legislation

PubMed Central

Barbeau, E; Kelder, G; Ahmed, S; Mantuefel, V; Balbach, E

2005-01-01

Background: Cigarettes are the leading cause of fatal fires in the USA and are associated with one in four fire deaths. Although the technology needed to make fire-safe cigarettes has been available for many years, progress has been slow on legislative and regulatory fronts to require the tobacco industry to manufacture fire-safe cigarettes. Method and results: We conducted a case study, drawing on data from tobacco industry documents, archives, and key informant interviews to investigate tobacco industry strategies for thwarting fire-safe cigarette legislation in the US Congress. We apply a theoretical framework that posits that policymaking is the product of three sets of forces: interests, institutions, and ideas, to examine tobacco industry behaviour, with a special focus on their and others' attempts to court fire service organisations, including firefighters' unions as allies. We discuss the implications of our findings for future policy efforts related to fire-safe cigarettes and other tobacco control issues. Conclusions: Tobacco control advocates ought to: continue efforts to align key interest groups, including the firefighters unions; contest tobacco industry "diversionary" science tactics; and pursue a state based legislative strategy for fire-safe cigarettes, building towards national legislation. PMID:16183985

Drivers and implications of recent large fire years in boreal North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veraverbeke, S.; Rogers, B. M.; Goulden, M.; Jandt, R.; Miller, C. E.; Wiggins, E. B.; Randerson, J. T.

2016-12-01

High latitude ecosystems are rapidly transforming because of climate change. Boreal North America recently experienced two exceptionally large fire years: 2014 in the Northwest Territories, Canada, and 2015 in Alaska, USA. We used geospatial climate, lightning, fire, and vegetation datasets to assess the mechanisms contributing to these recent extreme years and to the causes of recent decadal-scale changes in fire dynamics. We found that the two events had a record number of lightning ignitions and unusually high levels of burning near the boreal treeline, contributing to emissions of 164 ± 32 Tg C in the Northwest Territories and 65 ± 13 Tg C in Interior Alaska. The annual number ignitions in both regions displayed a significant increasing trend since 1975, driven by an increase in lightning ignitions. We found that vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in June, lightning, and ignition events were significantly correlated on interannual timescales. Future climate-driven increases in VPD and lightning near the treeline ecotone may enable northward forest expansion within tundra ecosystems.

Effects of Lightning and Other Meteorological Factors on Fire Activity in the North American Boreal Forest: Implications for Fire Weather Forecasting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peterson, D.; Wang, J.; Ichoku, C.; Remer, L. A.

2010-01-01

The effects of lightning and other meteorological factors on wildfire activity in the North American boreal forest are statistically analyzed during the fire seasons of 2000-2006 through an integration of the following data sets: the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) level 2 fire products, the 3-hourly 32-kin gridded meteorological data from North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), and the lightning data collected by the Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) and the Alaska Lightning Detection Network (ALDN). Positive anomalies of the 500 hPa geopotential height field, convective available potential energy (CAPE), number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, and the number of consecutive dry days are found to be statistically important to the seasonal variation of MODIS fire counts in a large portion of Canada and the entirety of Alaska. Analysis of fire occurrence patterns in the eastern and western boreal forest regions shows that dry (in the absence of precipitation) lightning strikes account for only 20% of the total lightning strikes, but are associated with (and likely cause) 40% of the MODIS observed fire counts in these regions. The chance for ignition increases when a threshold of at least 10 dry strikes per NARR grid box and at least 10 consecutive dry days is reached. Due to the orientation of the large-scale pattern, complex differences in fire and lightning occurrence and variability were also found between the eastern and western sub-regions. Locations with a high percentage of dry strikes commonly experience an increased number of fire counts, but the mean number of fire counts per dry strike is more than 50% higher in western boreal forest sub-region, suggesting a geographic and possible topographic influence. While wet lightning events are found to occur with a large range of CAPE values, a high probability for dry lightning occurs only when 500 hPa geopotential heights are above 5700m and CAPE values are near the maximum

Fire prevention in Delaware: a case study of fire and life safety initiatives.

PubMed

Frattaroli, Shannon; Gielen, Andrea C; Piver-Renna, Jennifer; Pollack, Keshia M; Ta, Van M

2011-01-01

Injuries resulting from residential house fires are a significant public health issue. The fire service is engaged in fire prevention activities aimed at preventing fire-related morbidity and mortality. The fire service in Delaware is regarded by some leaders in the field as a model for fire and life safety education (FLSE). We identified 3 questions to guide this research. What is the culture and context of fire prevention in Delaware? What prevention programs and policies constitute Delaware's fire prevention efforts? What can be learned from select model programs regarding their impact, sustainability, strengths, limitations, and general applicability? A discussion of the lessons learned from Delaware's experience with FLSE initiatives concludes the article. We used a single case study design and collected and analyzed data from in-depth interviews, documents, and participant observation notes to address the research questions. Data were collected in Delaware. Interviewees included a purposeful sample of members of the Delaware fire service. Descriptions of the context in which fire prevention occurs, the initiatives underway, and the factors associated with successfully supporting fire prevention in the state. Data from 16 key informant interviews, relevant documents, and direct observations of FLSE events revealed a fire service rooted in tradition, dedication, and community. A compilation of state and local FLSE initiatives illustrates the diversity of FLSE in Delaware. Thematic analysis of the data emphasize the importance of a strategic, comprehensive, and coordinated approach to realizing success in Delaware's approach to FLSE. The fire service is an important part of the public health infrastructure. While their role as first responders is evident, their contributions to prevention are also significant. This research suggests ways to support fire service prevention efforts and more fully integrate their FLSE work into the public health infrastructure.

Collaborating for success: implementation of the interior Alaska inventory

Treesearch

Brendt Mueller; Dan Irvine

2015-01-01

Interior Alaska’s boreal forests are approximately 112 million acres in size, or 15 percent of the United States forest land. This is currently a very dynamic region with rising temperatures, melting permafrost, changes in vegetation, fire, carbon, and water cycles due to a warming climate. This is the last forested area in the United States where the national Forest...

Alaska Department of Revenue - Alaska Film Office

Science.gov Websites

State Employees Alaska Film Office Alaska Film Office State of Alaska HOME CREDIT PROGRAM PUBLIC REPORTING CPA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONTACT US State of Alaska > Department of Revenue > Alaska Film Office > Text Size: A+ | A- | A Text Only Effective July 1, 2015, the film production incentive

Afforestation, subsequent forest fires and provision of hydrological services: a model-based analysis for a Mediterranean mountainous catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nunes, João Pedro; Naranjo Quintanilla, Paula; Santos, Juliana; Serpa, Dalila; Carvalho-Santos, Cláudia; Rocha, João; Keizer, Jan Jacob; Keesstra, Saskia

2017-04-01

Mediterranean landscapes have experienced extensive abandonment and reforestation in recent decades, which should have improved the provision of hydrological services, such as flood mitigation, soil erosion protection and water quality regulation. However, these forests are fire-prone, and the post-fire increase in runoff, erosion and sediment exports could negatively affect service provision. This issue was assessed using the SWAT model for a small mountain agroforestry catchment, which was monitored between 2010 and 2014 and where some eucalypt stands burned in 2011 and were subsequently plowed for replanting. The model was calibrated and validated for streamflow, sediment yield and erosion in agricultural fields and the burnt hillslopes, showing that it can be adapted for post-fire simulation. It was then used to perform a decadal assessment of surface runoff, erosion, and sediment exports between 2004 and 2014. Results show that the fire did not noticeably affect flood mitigation but that it increased erosion by 3 orders of magnitude, which subsequently increased sediment yield. Erosion in the burnt forest during this decade was one order of magnitude above that in agricultural fields. SWAT was also used to assess different fire and land-use scenarios during the same period. Results indicate that the impacts of fire were lower without post-fire soil management, and when the fire occurred in pine forests (i.e. before the 1990s) or in shrublands (i.e. before afforestation in the 1930s). These impacts were robust to changes in post-fire weather conditions and to a lower fire frequency (20-year intervals). The results suggest that, in the long term, fire-prone forests might not provide the anticipated soil protection and water quality regulation services in wet Mediterranean regions.

Tactical Firefighter Teams: Pivoting Toward the Fire Service’s Evolving Homeland Security Mission

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

critical response command C-TECC Committee on Tactical Emergency Casualty Care EMS emergency medical services EMT emergency medical technician ESU...Interagency Tactical Response Model: Integrating Fire and EMS with Law Enforcement to Mitigate Mumbai-Style Terrorist Attacks (New York: FDNY Center...the assailants, several traditional fire and EMS activities must often occur simultaneously to successfully mitigate the threat. Although rare

Integrated services to support detection, prevention and planning of the agricultural-forest-rural land against fires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scipioni, A.; Tagliaferri, F.

2009-04-01

Objective of the document is to define lines of development and distribution of the services to support detection, prevention and planning of the agricultural-forest-rural land against fire. The services will be a valid support on hand of the Regional and National Administrations involved in the agricultural-forest-rural activities (Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies, National Forest Police, ecc..), through the employment of the SIAN "National Agricultural Informative System", that is the integrated national information system for the entire agriculture, forestry and fisheries Administration. The services proposals would be distributed through the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) of the SIAN: the GIS database is a single nation-wide digital graphic database consisting of: - Ortophotos: Aerial images of approz. 45 km2 each with ground resolution of 50 cm; - Cadastral maps: Land maps; - Thematic layers: Land use and crops identification The GIS services can take full advantage of the benefits of SIAN architectural model designed for best integration and interoperability with other Central and Local P.A. bodies whose main items are: - Integration of information from different sources; - Maintainance of the internal coeherence of any integrated information; - Flexibility with respect to technical or organizational changes The "innovative "services described below could be useful to support the development of institutional tasks of public Agencies and Administrations (es. Regions or Civil Protection agencies) according to than previewed from the D.Lgs. 173/98. Services of support to the management of the phenomenon of wildland fires The activities outlined in below figure, don't have a linear and defined temporal sequence, but a dynamic and time integration. It guarantees not only the integrated use of the various information, but also the value of every product, for level of accuracy, coherence and timeliness of the information. Description of four main

Analyzing the Need for Special Operations Teams Within the Fire Service

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

4. Military Special Operations Forces ....................................................7 5. Psychological Effects of Catastrophe...Security NYPD New York Police Department OSHA Occupational Safety & Health Administration PPE Personnel Protective Equipment PSA Psychological First...disregard for fire service life- safety standards within the community. Identifying and understanding the psychological implications, ethics, and

77 FR 47911 - Notice of a Change in Direction Finder Availability in Alaska

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-10

... no flight assists, nor usage of DF equipment for orientation services. Newer technologies such as... approaches in Alaska. DF usage for pilot orientation has become almost non-existent. Since 2004, the Alaska Flight Service Information Area Group (AFSIAG) has documented eight flight assists that involved lost or...

77 FR 24933 - Hydrographic Services Review Panel Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-26

... navigation services issues for the Alaska/Arctic region such as: (1) The importance and need for quality and timely delivery of NOAA's navigation products, services, and information for the Alaska/Arctic region; (2..., services and information for the Alaska/Arctic region; (3) the use and need of navigation services to...

Slow recovery of lichen on burned caribou winter range in Alaska tundra: potential influences of climate warming and other disturbance factors

Treesearch

Randi Jandt; Kyle Joly; C. Randy Meyers; Charles Racine

2008-01-01

Lichen regeneration timelines are needed to establish sound fire management guidelines for caribou (Rangifer tarandus) winter range. Paired burned and unburned permanent vegetative cover transects were established after 1981, 1977, and 1972 tundra fires in northwestern Alaska to document regrowth of tundra vegetation including caribou forage...

The Impact of Fire on Active Layer Thicknes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaefer, K. M.; Parsekian, A.; Natali, S.; Ludwig, S.; Michaelides, R. J.; Zebker, H. A.; Chen, J.

2016-12-01

Fire influences permafrost thermodynamics by darkening the surface to increase solar absorption and removing insulating moss and organic soil, resulting in an increase in Active Layer Thickness (ALT). The summer of 2015 was one of the worst fire years on record in Alaska with multiple fires in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta. To understand the impacts of fire on permafrost, we need large-scale, extensive measurements of ALT both within and outside the fire zones. In August 2016, we surveyed ALT across multiple fire zones in the YK Delta using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and mechanical probing. GPR uses pulsed, radio-frequency electromagnetic waves to noninvasively image the subsurface and is an effective tool to quickly map ALT over large areas. We supplemented this ALT data with measurements of Volumetric Water Content (VWC), Organic Layer Thickness (OLT), and burn severity. We quantified the impacts of fire by statistically comparing the measurements inside and outside the fire zones and statistically regressing ALT against VWC, change in OLT, and burn severity.

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Firefighters use a fire truck to put out a fire burning close to a mock-up of a small plane and a truck. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Promotes Pollinator Visitation: Implications for Ameliorating Declines of Pollination Services

PubMed Central

Van Nuland, Michael E.; Haag, Elliot N.; Bryant, Jessica A. M.; Read, Quentin D.; Klein, Robert N.; Douglas, Morgan J.; Gorman, Courtney E.; Greenwell, Trey D.; Busby, Mark W.; Collins, Jonathan; LeRoy, Joseph T.; Schuchmann, George; Schweitzer, Jennifer A.; Bailey, Joseph K.

2013-01-01

Pollinators serve critical roles for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, and have an estimated annual value of over $150 billion for global agriculture. Mounting evidence from agricultural systems reveals that pollinators are declining in many regions of the world, and with a lack of information on whether pollinator communities in natural systems are following similar trends, identifying factors which support pollinator visitation and services are important for ameliorating the effects of the current global pollinator crisis. We investigated how fire affects resource structure and how that variation influences floral pollinator communities by comparing burn versus control treatments in a southeastern USA old-field system. We hypothesized and found a positive relationship between fire and plant density of a native forb, Verbesina alternifolia, as well as a significant difference in floral visitation of V. alternifolia between burn and control treatments. V. alternifolia density was 44% greater and floral visitation was 54% greater in burned treatments relative to control sites. When the density of V. alternifolia was experimentally reduced in the burn sites to equivalent densities observed in control sites, floral visitation in burned sites declined to rates found in control sites. Our results indicate that plant density is a proximal mechanism by which an imposed fire regime can indirectly impact floral visitation, suggesting its usefulness as a tool for management of pollination services. Although concerns surround the negative impacts of management, indirect positive effects may provide an important direction to explore for managing future ecological and conservation issues. Studies examining the interaction among resource concentration, plant apparency, and how fire affects the evolutionary consequences of altered patterns of floral visitation are overdue. PMID:24265787

Can Fire and Rescue Services and the National Health Service work together to improve the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable older people? Design of a proof of concept study.

PubMed

Lowton, Karen; Laybourne, Anne H; Whiting, David G; Martin, Finbarr C

2010-12-03

Older adults are at increased risk both of falling and of experiencing accidental domestic fire. In addition to advanced age, these adverse events share the risk factors of balance or mobility problems, cognitive impairment and socioeconomic deprivation. For both events, the consequences include significant injury and death, and considerable socioeconomic costs for the individual and informal carers, as well as for emergency services, health and social care agencies.Secondary prevention services for older people who have fallen or who are identifiable as being at high risk of falling include NHS Falls clinics, where a multidisciplinary team offers an individualised multifactorial targeted intervention including strength and balance exercise programmes, medication changes and home hazard modification. A similar preventative approach is employed by most Fire and Rescue Services who conduct Home Fire Safety Visits to assess and, if necessary, remedy domestic fire risk, fit free smoke alarms with instruction for use and maintenance, and plan an escape route. We propose that the similarity of population at risk, location, specific risk factors and the commonality of preventative approaches employed could offer net gains in terms of feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability if activities within these two preventative approaches were to be combined. This prospective proof of concept study, currently being conducted in two London boroughs, (Southwark and Lambeth) aims to reduce the incidence of both fires and falls in community-dwelling older adults. It comprises two concurrent 12-month interventions: the integration of 1) fall risk assessments into the Brigade's Home Fire Safety Visit and 2) fire risk assessments into Falls services by inviting older clinic attendees to book a Visit. Our primary objective is to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of these interventions. Furthermore, we are evaluating their acceptability and value to key stakeholders and services

Can Fire and Rescue Services and the National Health Service work together to improve the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable older people? Design of a proof of concept study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Older adults are at increased risk both of falling and of experiencing accidental domestic fire. In addition to advanced age, these adverse events share the risk factors of balance or mobility problems, cognitive impairment and socioeconomic deprivation. For both events, the consequences include significant injury and death, and considerable socioeconomic costs for the individual and informal carers, as well as for emergency services, health and social care agencies. Secondary prevention services for older people who have fallen or who are identifiable as being at high risk of falling include NHS Falls clinics, where a multidisciplinary team offers an individualised multifactorial targeted intervention including strength and balance exercise programmes, medication changes and home hazard modification. A similar preventative approach is employed by most Fire and Rescue Services who conduct Home Fire Safety Visits to assess and, if necessary, remedy domestic fire risk, fit free smoke alarms with instruction for use and maintenance, and plan an escape route. We propose that the similarity of population at risk, location, specific risk factors and the commonality of preventative approaches employed could offer net gains in terms of feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability if activities within these two preventative approaches were to be combined. Methods/Design This prospective proof of concept study, currently being conducted in two London boroughs, (Southwark and Lambeth) aims to reduce the incidence of both fires and falls in community-dwelling older adults. It comprises two concurrent 12-month interventions: the integration of 1) fall risk assessments into the Brigade's Home Fire Safety Visit and 2) fire risk assessments into Falls services by inviting older clinic attendees to book a Visit. Our primary objective is to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of these interventions. Furthermore, we are evaluating their acceptability and value to key

The Affordable Care Act and Implications for Health Care Services for American Indian and Alaska Native Individuals

PubMed Central

Ross, Raven E.; Garfield, Lauren D.; Brown, Derek S.; Raghavan, Ramesh

2016-01-01

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations report poor physical and mental health outcomes while tribal health providers and the Indian Health Service (IHS) operate in a climate of significant under funding. Understanding how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) affects Native American tribes and the IHS is critical to addressing the improvement of the overall access, quality, and cost of health care within AI/AN communities. This paper summarizes the ACA provisions that directly and/or indirectly affect the service delivery of health care provided by tribes and the IHS. PMID:26548665

Estimating post-fire organic soil depth in the Alaskan boreal forest using the Normalized Burn Ratio

Treesearch

D. Verbyla; R. Lord

2008-01-01

As part of a long-term moose browse/fire severity study, we used the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) with historic Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery to estimate fire severity from a 1983 wildfire in interior Alaska. Fire severity was estimated in the field by measuring the depth of the organic soil at 57 sites during the summer of 2006. Sites were selected for field...

Dental caries in rural Alaska Native children--Alaska, 2008.

PubMed

2011-09-23

In April 2008, the Arctic Investigations Program (AIP) of CDC was informed by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) of a large number of Alaska Native (AN) children living in a remote region of Alaska who required full mouth dental rehabilitations (FMDRs), including extractions and/or restorations of multiple carious teeth performed under general anesthesia. In this remote region, approximately 400 FMDRs were performed in AN children aged <6 years in 2007; the region has approximately 600 births per year. Dental caries can cause pain, which can affect children's normal growth and development. AIP and Alaska DHSS conducted an investigation of dental caries and associated risk factors among children in the remote region. A convenience sample of children aged 4-15 years in five villages (two with fluoridated water and three without) was examined to estimate dental caries prevalence and severity. Risk factor information was obtained by interviewing parents. Among children aged 4-5 years and 12-15 years who were evaluated, 87% and 91%, respectively, had dental caries, compared with 35% and 51% of U.S. children in those age groups. Among children from the Alaska villages, those aged 4-5 years had a mean of 7.3 dental caries, and those aged 12-15 years had a mean of 5.0, compared with 1.6 and 1.8 dental caries in same-aged U.S. children. Of the multiple factors assessed, lack of water fluoridation and soda pop consumption were significantly associated with dental caries severity. Collaborations between tribal, state, and federal agencies to provide effective preventive interventions, such as water fluoridation of villages with suitable water systems and provision of fluoride varnishes, should be encouraged.

Publications - GMC 367 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

Science.gov Websites

. Minerals Management Service, and Core Laboratories Publication Date: Aug 2009 Publisher: Alaska Division of Bibliographic Reference U.S. Minerals Management Service, and Core Laboratories, 2009, Sidewall core analyses

Modeling the disturbance of vegetation by fire in the boreal forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crevoisier, C.; Shevliakova, E.; Gloor, M.; Wirth, C.

2006-12-01

Boreal regions are important for the global carbon cycle because it is the largest forested area on earth and there are large belowground carbon pools (~1000 PgC). It is also a region where largest warming trends on the globe over the last decades have been observed and changes of the land ecosystems have already started. A major factor that determines the structure and carbon dynamics of the boreal forest is fire. As fire frequency depends strongly on climate, increased fire occurrence and related losses to the atmosphere are likely, and have already been reported. In order to predict with more confidence the occurrence and effect of fire on forest ecosystems in the boreal region, we have developed a fire model that takes advantage of the large on-ground, remote sensing and climate data from Canada, Alaska and Siberia. This prognostic model estimates the monthly burned area in a grid cell of 2 by 2.5 degrees, from four climate (air temperature, air relative humidity, precipitation and soil water content) and one human-related (road density) variables. Parameters are estimated using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method applied to a dataset of observed burned area for Canada. The model is able to reproduce the seasonality of fire, the interannual variability, as well as the location of fire events, not only for Canada (on which data the model is based), but also for Siberia and Alaska, for which the results compare well with remote sensing observation, and are in the range of various current estimations of burned area. The fire model is being implemented in LM3V, the new vegetation model of GFDL earth system model, in order to make prediction of future fire behavior in boreal regions, and the related disturbance of the vegetation and carbon emissions.

Alaska Services for Children and Youth with Dual Sensory Impairments. Final Performance Report, October 1, 1992 to September 30, 1995.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, DiAnn; Gaar, Sara J.

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of Alaska's 3-year program on services for children and youth with dual sensory impairments. The project provided technical assistance to local education agencies, infant learning programs, and other educators. It also provided support and training to families of children with…

Fire service and first responder thermal imaging camera (TIC) advances and standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konsin, Lawrence S.; Nixdorff, Stuart

2007-04-01

Fire Service and First Responder Thermal Imaging Camera (TIC) applications are growing, saving lives and preventing injury and property damage. Firefighters face a wide range of serious hazards. TICs help mitigate the risks by protecting Firefighters and preventing injury, while reducing time spent fighting the fire and resources needed to do so. Most fire safety equipment is covered by performance standards. Fire TICs, however, are not covered by such standards and are also subject to inadequate operational performance and insufficient user training. Meanwhile, advancements in Fire TICs and lower costs are driving product demand. The need for a Fire TIC Standard was spurred in late 2004 through a Government sponsored Workshop where experts from the First Responder community, component manufacturers, firefighter training, and those doing research on TICs discussed strategies, technologies, procedures, best practices and R&D that could improve Fire TICs. The workshop identified pressing image quality, performance metrics, and standards issues. Durability and ruggedness metrics and standard testing methods were also seen as important, as was TIC training and certification of end-users. A progress report on several efforts in these areas and their impact on the IR sensor industry will be given. This paper is a follow up to the SPIE Orlando 2004 paper on Fire TIC usage (entitled Emergency Responders' Critical Infrared) which explored the technological development of this IR industry segment from the viewpoint of the end user, in light of the studies and reports that had established TICs as a mission critical tool for firefighters.

Connecting smoke plumes to sources using Hazard Mapping System (HMS) smoke and fire location data over North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brey, Steven J.; Ruminski, Mark; Atwood, Samuel A.; Fischer, Emily V.

2018-02-01

Fires represent an air quality challenge because they are large, dynamic and transient sources of particulate matter and ozone precursors. Transported smoke can deteriorate air quality over large regions. Fire severity and frequency are likely to increase in the future, exacerbating an existing problem. Using the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Hazard Mapping System (HMS) smoke data for North America for the period 2007 to 2014, we examine a subset of fires that are confirmed to have produced sufficient smoke to warrant the initiation of a U.S. National Weather Service smoke forecast. We find that gridded HMS-analyzed fires are well correlated (r = 0.84) with emissions from the Global Fire Emissions Inventory Database 4s (GFED4s). We define a new metric, smoke hours, by linking observed smoke plumes to active fires using ensembles of forward trajectories. This work shows that the Southwest, Northwest, and Northwest Territories initiate the most air quality forecasts and produce more smoke than any other North American region by measure of the number of HYSPLIT points analyzed, the duration of those HYSPLIT points, and the total number of smoke hours produced. The average number of days with smoke plumes overhead is largest over the north-central United States. Only Alaska, the Northwest, the Southwest, and Southeast United States regions produce the majority of smoke plumes observed over their own borders. This work moves a new dataset from a daily operational setting to a research context, and it demonstrates how changes to the frequency or intensity of fires in the western United States could impact other regions.

National Maps - Alaska - NOAA's National Weather Service

Science.gov Websites

select the go button to submit request City, St Go Sign-up for Email Alerts RSS Feeds RSS Feeds Warnings current Forecast for Alaska is produced by the NWS Anchorage Forecast Office. It is updated daily Skip Navigation Links weather.gov NOAA logo-Select to go to the NOAA homepage National Oceanic and

Risk management of emergency service vehicle crashes in the United States fire service: process, outputs, and recommendations.

PubMed

Bui, David P; Pollack Porter, Keshia; Griffin, Stephanie; French, Dustin D; Jung, Alesia M; Crothers, Stephen; Burgess, Jefferey L

2017-11-17

Emergency service vehicle crashes (ESVCs) are a leading cause of death in the United States fire service. Risk management (RM) is a proactive process for identifying occupational risks and reducing hazards and unwanted events through an iterative process of scoping hazards, risk assessment, and implementing controls. We describe the process, outputs, and lessons learned from the application of a proactive RM process to reduce ESVCs in US fire departments. Three fire departments representative of urban, suburban, and rural geographies, participated in a facilitated RM process delivered through focus groups and stakeholder discussion. Crash reports from department databases were reviewed to characterize the context, circumstances, hazards and risks of ESVCs. Identified risks were ranked using a risk matrix that considered risk likelihood and severity. Department-specific control measures were selected based on group consensus. Interviews, and focus groups were used to assess acceptability and utility of the RM process and perceived facilitators and barriers of implementation. Three to six RM meetings were conducted at each fire department. There were 7.4 crashes per 100 personnel in the urban department and 10.5 per 100 personnel in the suburban department; the rural department experienced zero crashes. All departments identified emergency response, backing, on scene struck by, driver distraction, vehicle/road visibility, and driver training as high or medium concerns. Additional high priority risks varied by department; the urban department prioritized turning and rear ending crashes; the suburban firefighters prioritized inclement weather/road environment and low visibility related crashes; and the rural volunteer fire department prioritized exiting station, vehicle failure, and inclement weather/road environment related incidents. Selected controls included new policies and standard operating procedures to reduce emergency response, cameras to enhance driver

The effect of fire and permafrost interactions on soil carbon accumulation in an upland black spruce ecosystem of interior Alaska: Implications for post-thaw carbon loss

USGS Publications Warehouse

O'Donnell, J. A.; Harden, J.W.; McGuire, A.D.; Kanevskiy, M.Z.; Jorgenson, M.T.; Xu, X.

2011-01-01

High-latitude regions store large amounts of organic carbon (OC) in active-layer soils and permafrost, accounting for nearly half of the global belowground OC pool. In the boreal region, recent warming has promoted changes in the fire regime, which may exacerbate rates of permafrost thaw and alter soil OC dynamics in both organic and mineral soil. We examined how interactions between fire and permafrost govern rates of soil OC accumulation in organic horizons, mineral soil of the active layer, and near-surface permafrost in a black spruce ecosystem of interior Alaska. To estimate OC accumulation rates, we used chronosequence, radiocarbon, and modeling approaches. We also developed a simple model to track long-term changes in soil OC stocks over past fire cycles and to evaluate the response of OC stocks to future changes in the fire regime. Our chronosequence and radiocarbon data indicate that OC turnover varies with soil depth, with fastest turnover occurring in shallow organic horizons (~60 years) and slowest turnover in near-surface permafrost (>3000 years). Modeling analysis indicates that OC accumulation in organic horizons was strongly governed by carbon losses via combustion and burial of charred remains in deep organic horizons. OC accumulation in mineral soil was influenced by active layer depth, which determined the proportion of mineral OC in a thawed or frozen state and thus, determined loss rates via decomposition. Our model results suggest that future changes in fire regime will result in substantial reductions in OC stocks, largely from the deep organic horizon. Additional OC losses will result from fire-induced thawing of near-surface permafrost. From these findings, we conclude that the vulnerability of deep OC stocks to future warming is closely linked to the sensitivity of permafrost to wildfire disturbance. ?? 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Historical and Projected Trends in Landscape Drivers Affecting Carbon Dynamics in Alaska

DOE PAGES

Pastick, Neal J.; Duffy, Paul; Genet, Hélène; ...

2017-04-08

Modern climate change in Alaska has resulted in widespread thawing of permafrost, increased fire activity, and extensive changes in vegetation characteristics that have significant consequences for socio-ecological systems. Despite observations of the heightened sensitivity of these systems to change, there has not been a comprehensive assessment of factors that drive ecosystem changes throughout Alaska. In this paper, we present research that improves our understanding of the main drivers of the spatiotemporal patterns of carbon dynamics using in situ observations, remote sensing data, and an array of modeling techniques. In the last 60 years, Alaska has seen a large increase inmore » mean annual air temperature (1.7 °C), with the greatest warming occurring over winter and spring. Warming trends are projected to continue throughout the 21st century and will likely result in landscape-level changes to ecosystem structure and function. Wetlands, mainly bogs and fens, which are currently estimated to cover 12.5% of the landscape, strongly influence exchange of methane between Alaska's ecosystems and the atmosphere and are expected to be affected by thawing permafrost and shifts in hydrology. Simulations suggest the current proportion of near-surface (within 1 m) and deep (within 5 m) permafrost extent will be reduced by 9–74% and 33–55% by the end of the 21st century, respectively. Since 2000, an average of 678,595 ha/yr was burned, more than twice the annual average during 1950–1999. The largest increase in fire activity is projected for the boreal forest, which could result in a reduction in late-successional spruce forest (8–44%) and an increase in early-succession deciduous forest (25–113%) that would mediate future fire activity and weaken permafrost stability in the region. Climate warming will also affect vegetation communities across arctic regions, where the coverage of deciduous forest could increase (223–620%), shrub tundra may increase (4�

Historical and projected trends in landscape drivers affecting carbon dynamics in Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pastick, Neal J.; Duffy, Paul A.; Genet, Hélène; Rupp, T. Scott; Wylie, Bruce K.; Johnson, Kristofer; Jorgenson, M. Torre; Bliss, Norman B.; McGuire, Anthony David; Jafarov, Elchin; Knight, Joseph F.

2017-01-01

Modern climate change in Alaska has resulted in widespread thawing of permafrost, increased fire activity, and extensive changes in vegetation characteristics that have significant consequences for socioecological systems. Despite observations of the heightened sensitivity of these systems to change, there has not been a comprehensive assessment of factors that drive ecosystem changes throughout Alaska. Here we present research that improves our understanding of the main drivers of the spatiotemporal patterns of carbon dynamics using in situ observations, remote sensing data, and an array of modeling techniques. In the last 60 yr, Alaska has seen a large increase in mean annual air temperature (1.7°C), with the greatest warming occurring over winter and spring. Warming trends are projected to continue throughout the 21st century and will likely result in landscape-level changes to ecosystem structure and function. Wetlands, mainly bogs and fens, which are currently estimated to cover 12.5% of the landscape, strongly influence exchange of methane between Alaska's ecosystems and the atmosphere and are expected to be affected by thawing permafrost and shifts in hydrology. Simulations suggest the current proportion of near-surface (within 1 m) and deep (within 5 m) permafrost extent will be reduced by 9–74% and 33–55% by the end of the 21st century, respectively. Since 2000, an average of 678 595 ha/yr was burned, more than twice the annual average during 1950–1999. The largest increase in fire activity is projected for the boreal forest, which could result in a reduction in late-successional spruce forest (8–44%) and an increase in early-successional deciduous forest (25–113%) that would mediate future fire activity and weaken permafrost stability in the region. Climate warming will also affect vegetation communities across arctic regions, where the coverage of deciduous forest could increase (223–620%), shrub tundra may increase (4–21%), and

NASA SPoRT JPSS PG Activities in Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berndt, Emily; Molthan, Andrew; Fuell, Kevin; McGrath, Kevin; Smith, Matt; LaFontaine, Frank; Leroy, Anita; White, Kris

2018-01-01

SPoRT (NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center) has collaboratively worked with Alaska WFOs (Weather Forecast Offices) to introduce RGB (Red/Green/Blue false color image) imagery to prepare for NOAA-20 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, JPSS (Joint Polar Satellite System) series-20 satellite) VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) and improve forecasting aviation-related hazards. Last R2O/O2R (Research-to-Operations/Operations-to-Research) steps include incorporating NOAA-20 VIIRS in RGB suite and fully transitioning client-side RGB processing to GINA (Geographic Information Network of Alaska) and Alaska Region. Alaska Region WFOs have been part of the successful R2O/O2R story to assess the use of NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) Snowfall Rate product in operations. SPoRT introduced passive microwave rain rate and IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement)) (IMERG) to Alaska WFOs for use in radar-void areas and assessing flooding potential. SPoRT has been part of the multi-organization collaborative effort to introduce Gridded NUCAPS (NOAA Unique CrIS/ATMS (Crosstrack Infrared Sounder/Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) Processing System) to the Anchorage CWSU (Center Weather Service Unit) to assess Cold Air Aloft events, [and as part of NOAA's PG (Product Generation) effort].

Effects of the earthquake of March 27, 1964, at Whittier, Alaska: Chapter B in The Alaska earthquake, March 27, 1964: effects on communities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kachadoorian, Reuben

1965-01-01

Whittier, Alaska, lying at the western end of Passage Canal, is an ocean terminal of The Alaska Railroad. The earthquake that shook south-central Alaska at 5:36 p.m. (Alaska Standard Time) on March 27, 1964, took the lives of 13 persons and caused more than $5 million worth of damage to Government and private property at Whittier. Seismic motion lasted only 2½-3 minutes, but when it stopped the Whittier waterfront was in shambles land the port facilities were inoperable. Damage was caused by (1) a 5.3-foot subsidence of the landmass, sufficient to put some of the developed land under water during high tides, (2) seismic shock, (3) fracturing of fill and unconsolidated sediments, (4) compaction of fill and unconsolidated deposits, (5) submarine landslides which generated waves that destroyed part of The Alaska Railroad roadbed and other property, (6) at least two, but probably three, waves generated by landslides, which completely wrecked the buildings of two lumber companies, the stub pier, the small-boat harbor, the car-barge slip dock, and several homes, and (7) fire that destroyed the fuel-storage tanks at the Whittier waterfront. Many buildings and other facilities were totally wrecked, others were damaged to lesser degrees. For example, the 14-story reinforced concrete Hodge Building, which rests upon at least 44 feet of sandy gravel, was moderately damaged by seismic shock, but the six-story reinforced-concrete Buckner Building, which rests upon bedrock, was only slightly damaged.

Retiree Health and Optional Benefits | Alaska Division of Retirement and

Science.gov Websites

Categories Health Long-Term Care Life Forms Publications FAQs Features Empower Retirement Account Info Online Retirement Benefits Employer Services AlaskaCare Easy Navigation Retiree Health AlaskaCare Retiree Health Retiree Tax Implications FAQs Administration > Division of Retirement and Benefits > Health and

The challenges to gender integration in the career fire services: a comparative case study of men in nursing

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

GENDER INTEGRATION IN THE CAREER FIRE SERVICES: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF MEN IN NURSING by Anna L. Schermerhorn-Collins March 2017...IN THE CAREER FIRE SERVICES: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF MEN IN NURSING 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S) Anna L. Schermerhorn-Collins 7... comparative case study of men in nursing. Research is based in academic and historical accounts, in addition to the use of participant-observation

Publications - GMC 215 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

Science.gov Websites

DGGS GMC 215 Publication Details Title: U.S. Minerals Management Service 1992 Lower Cook Inlet Mesozoic Field Program, Shelikof Strait, Alaska Authors: U.S. Minerals Management Service, and ARCO Publication Reference U.S. Minerals Management Service, and ARCO, 1993, U.S. Minerals Management Service 1992 Lower Cook

Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Science.gov Websites

Questions Public Information Center Contacts/Office Directory Jobs/Volunteer Opportunities Boards and Recreation Support Services Division Offices Commissioner's Office Public Information Center Alaska State Resources / Commissioner's Office DNR FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions Maps & Geographic Information

Functional profile of black spruce wetlands in Alaska

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Post, R.A.

1996-09-01

The profile describes the ecologic context and wetland functions of black spruce (Picea mariana) wetlands (BSWs) covering about 14 million ha of Alaska taiga. Ecologic descriptions include climate, permafrost, landforms, post-Pleistocene vegetation, fire, successional processes, black spruce community types and adaptations, and characteristics of BSWs. The profile describes human activities potentially affecting BSWs and identifies research literature and data gaps generally applicable to BSWs. Hydrologic, water quality, global biogeochemical, and ecologic functions of BSWs, as well as their socioeconomic uses, appear in the profile, along with potential functional indicators, expected sensitivities of functions to fill placement or weltand drainage, andmore » potential mitigation strategies for impacts. Functional analysis separately considers ombrotrophic and minerotrophic BSWs where appropriate. Depending on trophic status, Alaska`s BSWs perform several low-magnitude hydrologic (groundwater discharge and recharge, flow regulation, and erosion control) and ecologic (nutrient export, nutrient cycling, and food-chain support) functions and several substantial water quality (sediment retention, nutrient transformation, nutrient uptake, and contaminant removal), global biogeochemical (carbon cycling and storage), and ecologic (avian and mammalian habitat) functions. BSWs also provide important socioeconomic uses: harvested of wetland-dependent fish, wildlife, and plant resources and active winter recreation.« less

Lessons learned from an emergency medical services fire safety intervention.

PubMed

Pirrallo, Ronald G; Cady, Charles E

2004-01-01

The authors conducted a pilot study, finding that many households that experienced fires had received prior emergency medical services (EMS) visits, but few had operational smoke alarms. The study hypothesis is that dwellings that received smoke alarms and/or batteries during an EMS call were more likely to have an operational alarm, less property dollar loss, and decreased morbidity and mortality at the time of a subsequent fire. Smoke detectors and batteries were provided to an urban fire department for placement in unprotected homes at the time of an EMS call from March 1, 1999, through January 31, 2001. After addressing the reason for the 911 EMS call, verification or installation of an operational smoke alarm was performed. The authors examined records for dwellings that had a subsequent fire for outcomes of smoke alarm status, estimated property dollar loss, and number of injuries and fatalities. This program placed 1,335 smoke detectors. Of these, 99 dwellings were found to have a fire or smoke condition with 20 exclusions. Our final number was 79; 28 (35%) still had an operating smoke alarm. In homes with operational alarms, the mean dollar loss was 2,870 dollars (U.S. 2001) (95% confidence interval [CI], 143-5,596). In homes without operational alarms, mean loss was 10,468 dollars (U.S. 2001) (95% CI, 5,875-15,061). No injuries or fatalities occurred in either group. This program was successful in placing 1,335 smoke alarms in at-risk dwellings and reaffirmed that an operational smoke alarm significantly decreases property dollar loss. However, if the goal is to have all homes protected by smoke alarms, this program has long-term effectiveness limitations.

Effects of fire severity on plant nutrient uptake reinforce alternate pathways of succession in boreal forests

Treesearch

A. Shenoy; K. Kielland; J.F. Johnstone

2013-01-01

Fire activity in the North American boreal region is projected to increase under a warming climate and trigger changes in vegetation composition. In black spruce forests of interior Alaska, fire severity impacts residual organic layer depth which is strongly linked to the relative dominance of deciduous versus coniferous trees in early succession. These alternate...

Providing culturally competent services for American Indian and Alaska Native veterans to reduce health care disparities.

PubMed

Noe, Timothy D; Kaufman, Carol E; Kaufmann, L Jeanne; Brooks, Elizabeth; Shore, Jay H

2014-09-01

We conducted an exploratory study to determine what organizational characteristics predict the provision of culturally competent services for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health facilities. In 2011 to 2012, we adapted the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment (ORCA) for a survey of 27 VA facilities in the Western Region to assess organizational readiness and capacity to adopt and implement native-specific services and to profile the availability of AI/AN veteran programs and interest in and resources for such programs. Several ORCA subscales (Program Needs, Leader's Practices, and Communication) statistically significantly predicted whether VA staff perceived that their facilities were meeting the needs of AI/AN veterans. However, none predicted greater implementation of native-specific services. Our findings may aid in developing strategies for adopting and implementing promising native-specific programs and services for AI/AN veterans, and may be generalizable for other veteran groups.

Providing Culturally Competent Services for American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans to Reduce Health Care Disparities

PubMed Central

Kaufman, Carol E.; Kaufmann, L. Jeanne; Brooks, Elizabeth; Shore, Jay H.

2014-01-01

Objectives. We conducted an exploratory study to determine what organizational characteristics predict the provision of culturally competent services for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health facilities. Methods. In 2011 to 2012, we adapted the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment (ORCA) for a survey of 27 VA facilities in the Western Region to assess organizational readiness and capacity to adopt and implement native-specific services and to profile the availability of AI/AN veteran programs and interest in and resources for such programs. Results. Several ORCA subscales (Program Needs, Leader’s Practices, and Communication) statistically significantly predicted whether VA staff perceived that their facilities were meeting the needs of AI/AN veterans. However, none predicted greater implementation of native-specific services. Conclusions. Our findings may aid in developing strategies for adopting and implementing promising native-specific programs and services for AI/AN veterans, and may be generalizable for other veteran groups. PMID:25100420

Thermal degradation of fire-retardant -treated wood : predicting residual service life

Treesearch

Jerrold E. Winandy

2001-01-01

This paper presents a review of more than 10 years of research on the effects of fire-retardant treatments on wood properties and the potential of these treatments for in-service degradation when exposed to elevated temperatures. It presents an in-depth discussion of the findings and implications of a major wood engineering research program to assess the current...

Purchasing, Division of General Services, Department of Administration,

Science.gov Websites

State of Alaska Skip to main content State of Alaska alaska.gov myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska, Department of Administration, Division Search General Services State of Alaska State of Alaska > Departments > Administration > General

Alaska Dental Health Aide Program.

PubMed

Shoffstall-Cone, Sarah; Williard, Mary

2013-01-01

In 1999, An Oral Health Survey of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Dental Patients found that 79% of 2- to 5-year-olds had a history of tooth decay. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in collaboration with Alaska's Tribal Health Organizations (THO) developed a new and diverse dental workforce model to address AI/AN oral health disparities. This paper describes the workforce model and some experience to date of the Dental Health Aide (DHA) Initiative that was introduced under the federally sanctioned Community Health Aide Program in Alaska. These new dental team members work with THO dentists and hygienists to provide education, prevention and basic restorative services in a culturally appropriate manner. The DHA Initiative introduced 4 new dental provider types to Alaska: the Primary Dental Health Aide, the Expanded Function Dental Health Aide, the Dental Health Aide Hygienist and the Dental Health Aide Therapist. The scope of practice between the 4 different DHA providers varies vastly along with the required training and education requirements. DHAs are certified, not licensed, providers. Recertification occurs every 2 years and requires the completion of 24 hours of continuing education and continual competency evaluation. Dental Health Aides provide evidence-based prevention programs and dental care that improve access to oral health care and help address well-documented oral health disparities.

Alaska Dental Health Aide Program

PubMed Central

Shoffstall-Cone, Sarah; Williard, Mary

2013-01-01

Background In 1999, An Oral Health Survey of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Dental Patients found that 79% of 2- to 5-year-olds had a history of tooth decay. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in collaboration with Alaska's Tribal Health Organizations (THO) developed a new and diverse dental workforce model to address AI/AN oral health disparities. Objectives This paper describes the workforce model and some experience to date of the Dental Health Aide (DHA) Initiative that was introduced under the federally sanctioned Community Health Aide Program in Alaska. These new dental team members work with THO dentists and hygienists to provide education, prevention and basic restorative services in a culturally appropriate manner. Results The DHA Initiative introduced 4 new dental provider types to Alaska: the Primary Dental Health Aide, the Expanded Function Dental Health Aide, the Dental Health Aide Hygienist and the Dental Health Aide Therapist. The scope of practice between the 4 different DHA providers varies vastly along with the required training and education requirements. DHAs are certified, not licensed, providers. Recertification occurs every 2 years and requires the completion of 24 hours of continuing education and continual competency evaluation. Conclusions Dental Health Aides provide evidence-based prevention programs and dental care that improve access to oral health care and help address well-documented oral health disparities. PMID:23984306

The Burning of Surface and Deep Peat during Boreal Forest and Peatland Fires: Implications for Fire Behaviour and Global Carbon Cycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turetsky, M. R.

2015-12-01

Fire is increasingly appreciated as a threat to peatlands and their carbon stocks. The global peatland carbon pool exceeds that of global vegetation and is similar to the current atmospheric carbon pool. Under pristine conditions, most of the peat carbon stock is protected from burning, and resistance to fire has increased peat carbon storage in high latitude regions over long time scales. This, in part, is due to the high porosity and storage coefficient of surface peat, which minimizes water table variability and maintains wet conditions even during drought. However, higher levels of disturbance associated with warming and increasing human activities are triggering state changes and the loss of resiliency in some peatland systems. This presentation will summarize information on burn area and severity in peatlands under undisturbed scenarios of hydrologic self-regulation, and will assess the consequences of warming and drying on peatland vegetation and wildfire behaviour. Our goal is to predict where and when peatlands will become more vulnerable to deep smouldering, given the importance of deep peat layers to global carbon cycling, permafrost stability, and a variety of other ecosystem services in northern regions. Results from two major wildfire seasons (2004 in Alaska and 2014 in the Northwest Territories) show that biomass burning in peatlands releases similar amounts of carbon to the atmosphere as patterns of burning in upland forests, but that peatlands are less vulnerable to severe burning that tends to occur in boreal forests during late season fire activity.

Building Blocks: The Next Steps for Supporting Alaska's Young Children and Their Families.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alaska State Dept. of Education and Early Development, Juneau.

As part of the ongoing efforts in the state of Alaska to improve the health and well-being of the state's young children, the Alaska Departments of Education and Early Development and Health and Social Services are collaborating to develop a plan to address the critical outcomes and strategies that will support and improve the lives of Alaska's…

Preventing deaths in Alaska's commercial fishing industry.

PubMed

Conway, G A; Lincoln, J M; Jorgensen, S A; Klatt, M L; Manwaring, J C

1998-01-01

The arctic and sub-arctic waters of Alaska provide a very hazardous work setting, with special hazards posed by great distances, seasonal darkness, cold waters, high winds, brief fishing seasons, and icing. Our intent is to reduce the remarkably high occupational fatality rate (200/100,000/year in 1991-1992) among Alaska's commercial fishing workers. Over 90% of these deaths have been due to drowning or drowning plus hypothermia, primarily associated with vessel capsizings and sinkings. Comprehensive surveillance for commercial fishing occupational fatalities was established during 1991 in Alaska. During 1990 through 1994, the U.S. Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988 required the implementation of comprehensive prevention measures for all fishing vessels in offshore cold waters, including immersion suits and other personal flotation devices, survival craft (life rafts), emergency position-indicating radio beacons, and crew training in emergency response and first aid. Parallel to this, voluntary training efforts by nonprofit organizations have greatly increased. During 1990-1994, drowning was the leading cause of occupational death in Alaska. During this period, 117 fishers died, 101 of them from drowning or drowning/hypothermia. During 1991-1994, there was a substantial decrease in Alaskan commercial fishing-related deaths, from 34 in 1991 to 35 in 1992, 22 in 1993, and 10 in 1994. While man-overboard drownings and some other categories of deaths (falls, fires) have continued to occur, the most marked progress has been in vessel-related events. Specific measures tailored to prevent drowning in vessel capsizings and sinkings in Alaska's commercial fishing industry have been very successful so far. Additional efforts must be made to reduce the frequency of vessel events and to prevent man-overboard events and drownings associated with them.

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. A small fire is burning near a mock-up of a plane during the training exercise. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Firefighters, wearing protective gear, use hoses to put out a fire burning near the mock-up of a small plane. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Firefighters, wearing protective gear, use hoses to put out a fire burning on a mock-up of a small plane. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Firefighters use fire trucks and hoses to extinguish flames burning on and around a mock-up of a small plane. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Post-fire burn severity and vegetation response following eight large wildfires across the Western United States

Treesearch

Leigh B. Lentile; Penelope Morgan; Andrew T. Hudak; Michael J. Bobbitt; Sarah A. Lewis; Alistair M. S. Smith; Peter R. Robichaud

2007-01-01

Vegetation response and burn severity were examined following eight large wildfires that burned in 2003 and 2004: two wildfires in California chaparral, two each in dry and moist mixed-conifer forests in Montana, and two in boreal forests in interior Alaska. Our research objectives were: 1) to characterize one year post-fire vegetation recovery relative to initial fire...

77 FR 41754 - Fishing Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-16

... Capacity Reduction Program for the Southeast Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Fishery AGENCY: National Marine... program in the Southeast Alaska purse seine salmon fishery. NMFS conducted a referendum to approve the..., Chief, Financial Services Division, NMFS, Attn: SE Alaska Purse Seine Salmon Buyback, 1315 East-West...

7 CFR 318.13-21 - Avocados from Hawaii to Alaska.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Avocados from Hawaii to Alaska. 318.13-21 Section 318... INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE STATE OF HAWAII AND TERRITORIES QUARANTINE NOTICES Regulated Articles From Hawaii and the Territories § 318.13-21 Avocados from Hawaii to Alaska. Avocados may be moved...

Establishing a proactive safety and health risk management system in the fire service.

PubMed

Poplin, Gerald S; Pollack, Keshia M; Griffin, Stephanie; Day-Nash, Virginia; Peate, Wayne F; Nied, Ed; Gulotta, John; Burgess, Jefferey L

2015-04-19

Formalized risk management (RM) is an internationally accepted process for reducing hazards in the workplace, with defined steps including hazard scoping, risk assessment, and implementation of controls, all within an iterative process. While required for all industry in the European Union and widely used elsewhere, the United States maintains a compliance-based regulatory structure, rather than one based on systematic, risk-based methodologies. Firefighting is a hazardous profession, with high injury, illness, and fatality rates compared with other occupations, and implementation of RM programs has the potential to greatly improve firefighter safety and health; however, no descriptions of RM implementation are in the peer-reviewed literature for the North American fire service. In this paper we describe the steps used to design and implement the RM process in a moderately-sized fire department, with particular focus on prioritizing and managing injury hazards during patient transport, fireground, and physical exercise procedures. Hazard scoping and formalized risk assessments are described, in addition to the identification of participatory-led injury control strategies. Process evaluation methods were conducted to primarily assess the feasibility of voluntarily instituting the RM approach within the fire service setting. The RM process was well accepted by the fire department and led to development of 45 hazard specific-interventions. Qualitative data documenting the implementation of the RM process revealed that participants emphasized the: value of the RM process, especially the participatory bottom-up approach; usefulness of the RM process for breaking down tasks to identify potential risks; and potential of RM for reducing firefighter injury. As implemented, this risk-based approach used to identify and manage occupational hazards and risks was successful and is deemed feasible for U.S. (and other) fire services. While several barriers and challenges do exist

Influence of fire frequency on carbon consumption in Alaskan blackspruce forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoy, E.; Kasischke, E. S.

2014-12-01

Increasing temperatures and drier conditions within the boreal forests of Alaska have resulted in increases in burned area and fire frequency, which alter carbon storage and emissions. In particular, analyses of satellite remote sensing data showed that >20% of the area impacted by fires in interior Alaska occurred in areas that had previously burned since 1950 (e.g., short to intermediate interval fires). Field studies showed that in immature black spruce forests ~ 35 to 55 years old organic layers experienced deep burning regardless of topographic position or seasonality of burning, factors that control depth of burning in mature black spruce forests. Here, refinements were made to a carbon consumption model to account for variations in fuel loads and fraction of carbon consumed associated with fire frequency based on quantifying burned area in recently burned sites using satellite imagery. An immature black spruce (Picea mariana) fuel type (including stands of ~0-50 years) was developed which contains new ground-layer carbon consumption values in order to more accurately account for differences between various age classes of black spruce forest. Both versions of the model were used to assess carbon consumption during 100 fire events (over 4.4 x 10^6 ha of burned area) from two recent ultra-large fire years (2004 and 2005). Using the improved model to better attribute fuel type and consumption resulted in higher ground-layer carbon consumption (4.9% in 2004 and 6.8% in 2005) than previously estimated. These adjustments in ground-layer burning resulted in total carbon consumption within 2004 and 2005 of 63.5 and 42.0 Tg of carbon, respectively. Results from this research could be incorporated into larger scale modeling efforts to better assess changes in the climate-fire-vegetation dynamics in interior Alaskan boreal forests, and to understand the impacts of these changes on carbon consumption and emissions.

Resilience of Athabascan subsistence systems to interior Alaska's changing climate

Treesearch

Gary P. Kofinas; F. Stuart Chapin; Shauna BurnSilver; Jennifer I. Schmidt; Nancy L. Fresco; Knut Kielland; Stephanie Martin; Anna Springsteen; T. Scott Rupp

2010-01-01

Subsistence harvesting and wild food production by Athabascan peoples is part of an integrated social-ecological system of interior Alaska. We describe effects of recent trends and future climate change projections on the boreal ecosystem of interior Alaska and relate changes in ecosystem services to Athabascan subsistence. We focus primarily on moose, a keystone...

78 FR 10546 - Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; State of Alaska; Regional Haze State...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-14

... submittal identifies organic carbon emissions from natural wildfires as the primary contributor to... 20% worst days in Denali National Park were composed of organic carbon from natural fires. Alaska... Organic Matter Carbon (OMC) and Elemental Carbon (EC), it attributes all OMC and EC in the Denali region...

Alaska Consumer Laws - Consumer Protection Topic

Science.gov Websites

Attorney General and Department of Law staff may not provide legal advice to private citizens or organizations. Please contact an attorney if you need legal advice. The Alaska Lawyer Referral Service or your

Extensive mapping of coastal change in Alaska by Landsat time-series analysis, 1972-2013 (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macander, M. J.; Swingley, C. S.; Reynolds, J.

2013-12-01

The landscape-scale effects of coastal storms on Alaska's Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska coasts includes coastal erosion, migration of spits and barrier islands, breaching of coastal lakes and lagoons, and inundation and salt-kill of vegetation. Large changes in coastal storm frequency and intensity are expected due to climate change and reduced sea-ice extent. Storms have a wide range of impacts on carbon fluxes and on fish and wildlife resources, infrastructure siting and operation, and emergency response planning. In areas experiencing moderate to large effects, changes can be mapped by analyzing trends in time series of Landsat imagery from Landsat 1 through Landsat 8. ABR, Inc.--Environmental Research & Services and the Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative are performing a time-series trend analysis for over 22,000 kilometers of coastline along the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The archive of Landsat imagery covers the time period 1972-present. For a pilot study area in Kotzebue Sound, we conducted a regression analysis of changes in near-infrared reflectance to identify areas with significant changes in coastal features, 1972-2011. Suitable ice- and cloud-free Landsat imagery was obtained for 28 of the 40 years during the period. The approach captured several coastal changes over the 40-year study period, including coastal erosion exceeding the 60-m pixel resolution of the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data and migrations of coastal spits and estuarine channels. In addition several lake drainage events were identified, mostly inland from the coastal zone. Analysis of shorter, decadal time periods produced noisier results that were generally consistent with the long-term trend analysis. Unusual conditions at the start or end of the time-series can strongly influence decadal results. Based on these results the study is being scaled up to map coastal change for over 22,000 kilometers of coastline along the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska coast. The

The Role of Driving Factors in Historical and Projected Carbon Dynamics in Wetland Ecosystems of Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyu, Z.; Helene, G.; He, Y.; Zhuang, Q.; McGuire, A. D.; Bennett, A.; Breen, A. L.; Clein, J.; Euskirchen, E. S.; Johnson, K. D.; Kurkowski, T. A.; Pastick, N. J.; Rupp, S. T.; Wylie, B. K.; Zhu, Z.

2017-12-01

Wetlands are important terrestrial ecosystems in Alaska. It is important to understand and assess their role in the regional carbon dynamics in response to historical and projected environmental conditions. A coupled modeling framework that incorporates a fire disturbance model and two biogeochemical models was used to assess the relative influence of changing climate, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, and fire regime on the historical and future carbon balance in wetland ecosystems of the four main Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) of Alaska. Simulations were conducted for the historical period (1950-2009) and future projection period (2010-2099). These simulations estimate that the total carbon (C) storage in wetland ecosystems of Alaska is 5556 Tg C in 2009, with 89% of the C stored in soils. An estimated 175 Tg C was lost during the historical period, which is attributed to greater C lost from the Northwest Boreal LCC than C gained from the other three LCCs. The simulations for the projection period were conducted for six different scenarios driven by climate forcings from two different climate models for each of three CO2 emission scenarios. The mean total carbon storage increased 3.94 Tg C/yr by 2099, with variability among the simulations ranging from 2.02 Tg C/yr to 4.42 Tg C/yr. Across the four LCCs, the largest relative C storage increase occurred in the Arctic and North Pacific LCCs. These increases were primarily driven by increases in net primary production (NPP) that were greater than increases in heterotrophic respiration and fire emissions. Our analysis further indicates that NPP increase was primarily driven by CO2 fertilization ( 5% per 100 ppmv increase) as well as by increases in air temperature ( 1% per ° increase). Increases air temperature were estimated to be the primary cause for a projected 47.7% mean increase in wetlands biogenic CH4 emissions among the simulations ( 15% per ° increase). The combined effects of

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida review procedures after participating in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. During the training simulation, firefighters used fire trucks and hoses to extinguish flames burning on and around a mock-up of a small plane. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Firefighters, wearing protective gear, use hoses to put out a fire burning close to a mock-up of a small plane. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida participate in a training exercise at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Firefighters, wearing protective gear, use hoses to put out a fire burning near the mock-up of a small plane as another firefighter checks inside the plane. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - During a training exercise, Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida use hoses to put out a fire burning on a mock-up of a small plane at the Shuttle Landing Facility. They are wearing protective gear for the training exercise. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Demographic, Clinical, and Service Utilization Factors Associated with Suicide-Related Visits among Alaska Native and American Indian Adults.

PubMed

Dillard, Denise A; Avey, Jaedon P; Robinson, Renee F; Smith, Julia J; Beals, Janette; Manson, Spero M; Comtois, Katherine Anne

2017-02-01

Alaska Native and American Indian people (AN/AIs) are disproportionately affected by suicide. Within a large AN/AI health service organization, demographic, clinical, and service utilization factors were compared between those with a suicide-related health visit and those without. Cases had higher odds of a behavioral health diagnosis, treatment for an injury, behavioral health specialty care visits, and opioid medication dispensation in the year prior to a suicide-related visit compared to gender-, age-, and residence- (urban versus rural) matched controls. Odds of a suicide-related visit were lower among those with private insurance and those with non-primary care ambulatory clinic visits. © 2016 The American Association of Suicidology.

EarthScope's Transportable Array in Alaska and Western Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enders, M.; Miner, J.; Bierma, R. M.; Busby, R.

2015-12-01

EarthScope's Transportable Array (TA) in Alaska and Canada is an ongoing deployment of 261 high quality broadband seismographs. The Alaska TA is the continuation of the rolling TA/USArray deployment of 400 broadband seismographs in the lower 48 contiguous states and builds on the success of the TA project there. The TA in Alaska and Canada is operated by the IRIS Consortium on behalf of the National Science Foundation as part of the EarthScope program. By Sept 2015, it is anticipated that the TA network in Alaska and Canada will be operating 105 stations. During the summer 2015, TA field crews comprised of IRIS and HTSI station specialists, as well as representatives from our partner agencies the Alaska Earthquake Center and the Alaska Volcano Observatory and engineers from the UNAVCO Plate Boundary Observatory will have completed a total of 36 new station installations. Additionally, we will have completed upgrades at 9 existing Alaska Earthquake Center stations with borehole seismometers and the adoption of an additional 35 existing stations. As the array doubles in Alaska, IRIS continues to collaborate closely with other network operators, universities and research consortia in Alaska and Canada including the Alaska Earthquake Center (AEC), the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), the UNAVCO Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), the National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Canadian Hazard Information Service (CHIS), the Yukon Geologic Survey (YGS), the Pacific Geoscience Center of the Geologic Survey, Yukon College and others. During FY14 and FY15 the TA has completed upgrade work at 20 Alaska Earthquake Center stations and 2 AVO stations, TA has co-located borehole seismometers at 5 existing PBO GPS stations to augment the EarthScope observatory. We present an overview of deployment plan and the status through 2015. The performance of new Alaska TA stations including improvements to existing stations is described.

The western Kenai Peninsula: An opportunity to study fire and its effects on soils and trees

Treesearch

Theresa Jain; Tara M. Barrett

2011-01-01

Most of the coastal Alaska inventory unit is part of the temperate rain-forest biome, and fire is an extremely rare event. However, for the western side of the Kenai Peninsula and the Cook Inlet region, fire is a common source of natural disturbance (fig. 50). Although wildfires are a normal part of the disturbance regime for this region, urban growth and associated...

Home, Division of General Services, Department of Administration, State of

Science.gov Websites

Alaska Skip to main content State of Alaska alaska.gov myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska, Department of Administration, Division of General Services State of Alaska State of Alaska > Departments > Administration > General

76 FR 59997 - Newspapers To Be Used by the Alaska Region for Publication of Legal Notices of Proposed Actions...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-28

... Register. ADDRESSES: Robin Dale, Alaska Region Group Leader for Appeals, Litigation and FOIA; Forest Service, Alaska Region; P.O. Box 21628; Juneau, Alaska 99802-1628. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin...

Economic Impact of Fire Weather Forecasts

Treesearch

Don Gunasekera; Graham Mills; Mark Williams

2006-01-01

Southeastern Australia, where the State of Victoria is located is regarded as one of the most fire prone areas in the world. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology provides fire weather services in Victoria as part of a national framework for the provision of such services. These services range from fire weather warnings to special forecasts for hazard reduction burns....

Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Science.gov Websites

Asked Questions Public Information Center Contacts/Office Directory Jobs/Volunteer Opportunities Boards Recreation Support Services Division Offices Commissioner's Office Public Information Center Alaska State the collection, use and security of and access to information that may be obtained through use of the

Quantifying fire severity, carbon, and nitrogen emissions in Alaska's boreal forest

Treesearch

Leslie A. Boby; Edward A.G. Schuur; Michelle C. Mack; David Verbyla; Jill F. Johnstone

2010-01-01

The boreal region stores a large proportion of the world's terrestrial carbon (C) and is subject to high-intensity, stand-replacing wildfires that release C and nitrogen (N) stored in biomass and soils through combustion. While severity and extent of fires drives overall emissions, methods for accurately estimating fire severity are poorly tested in this unique...

Alaska Air National Guard

Science.gov Websites

Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska Symbol Visit 168th Wing Website State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska

Griddlestones from Adak Island, Alaska: Their provenance and the biological origins of organic residues from cooking

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Burned stone slabs, historically called griddlestones, were recovered from Components 1 (2390-2590 RCYPB) and 2 (170-415 RCYBP) at archaeological site ADK-011 on Adak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The griddlestones show evidence of fire exposure and have a dark, often greasy, matrix of decompose...

Vegetation and terrain mapping in Alaska using Landsat MSS and digital terrain data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shasby, Mark; Carneggie, David M.

1986-01-01

During the past 5 years, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center Field Office in Anchorage, Alaska has worked cooperatively with Federal and State resource management agencies to produce land-cover and terrain maps for 245 million acres of Alaska. The need for current land-cover information in Alaska comes principally from the mandates of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), December 1980, which requires major land management agencies to prepare comprehensive management plans. The land-cover mapping projects integrate digital Landsat data, terrain data, aerial photographs, and field data. The resultant land-cover and terrain maps and associated data bases are used for resource assessment, management, and planning by many Alaskan agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Applications addressed through use of the digital land-cover and terrain data bases range from comprehensive refuge planning to multiphased sampling procedures designed to inventory vegetation statewide. The land-cover mapping programs in Alaska demonstrate the operational utility of digital Landsat data and have resulted in a new land-cover mapping program by the USGS National Mapping Division to compile 1:250,000-scale land-cover maps in Alaska using a common statewide land-cover map legend.

The influence of fire exposure on austenitic stainless steel for pressure vessel fitness-for-service assessment: Experimental research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bo; Shu, Wenhua; Zuo, Yantian

2017-04-01

The austenitic stainless steels are widely applied to pressure vessel manufacturing. The fire accident risk exists in almost all the industrial chemical plants. It is necessary to make safety evaluation on the chemical equipment including pressure vessels after fire. Therefore, the present research was conducted on the influences of fire exposure testing under different thermal conditions on the mechanical performance evolution of S30408 austenitic stainless steel for pressure vessel equipment. The metallurgical analysis described typical appearances in micro-structure observed in the material suffered by fire exposure. Moreover, the quantitative degradation of mechanical properties was investigated. The material thermal degradation mechanism and fitness-for-service assessment process of fire damage were further discussed.

Alaska State Professional Teaching Practices Commission (PTPC). Annual Report. Fiscal Year 1996.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Sanna

This annual report of the Alaska State Professional Teaching Practices Commission (PTPC) cites activities and services of the PTPC as authorized by Alaska Statutes, Title 14, Chapter 20, Article 5, entitled "The Professional Teaching Practices Act." In general, the Commission deals with matters of ethical and professional standards of…

Alaska State Professional Teaching Practices Commission (PTPC). Annual Report. Fiscal Year 1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Sanna

This annual report of the Alaska State Professional Teaching Practices Commission (PTPC) cites activities and services of the PTPC as authorized by Alaska Statutes, Title 14, Chapter 20, Article 5, entitled "The Professional Teaching Practices Act." In general, the Commission handles matters of ethical and professional standards of…

75 FR 8396 - Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Cold Bay, Alaska

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-24

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS-R7-R-2009-N288; 70133-1265-0000-U4] Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Cold Bay, Alaska AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Revised Notice SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare an...

Climate science informs participatory scenario development and applications to decision making in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welling, L. A.; Winfree, R.; Mow, J.

2012-12-01

Climate change presents unprecedented challenges for managing natural and cultural resources into the future. Impacts are expected to be highly consequential but specific effects are difficult to predict, requiring a flexible process for adaptation planning that is tightly coupled to climate science delivery systems. Scenario planning offers a tool for making science-based decisions under uncertainty. The National Park Service (NPS) is working with the Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers (CSCs), the NOAA Regional Integrated Science and Assessment teams (RISAs), and other academic, government, non-profit, and private partners to develop and apply scenarios to long-range planning and decision frameworks. In April 2012, Alaska became the first region of the NPS to complete climate change scenario planning for every national park, preserve, and monument. These areas, which collectively make up two-thirds of the total area of the NPS, are experiencing visible and measurable effects attributable to climate change. For example, thawing sea ice, glaciers and permafrost have resulted in coastal erosion, loss of irreplaceable cultural sites, slope failures, flooding of visitor access routes, and infrastructure damage. With higher temperatures and changed weather patterns, woody vegetation has expanded into northern tundra, spruce and cedar diebacks have occurred in southern Alaska, and wildland fire severity has increased. Working with partners at the Alaska Climate Science Center and the Scenario Network for Alaska Planning the NPS integrates quantitative, model-driven data with qualitative, participatory techniques to scenario creation. The approach enables managers to access and understand current climate change science in a form that is relevant for their decision making. Collaborative workshops conducted over the past two years grouped parks from Alaska's southwest, northwest, southeast, interior and central areas. The emphasis was to identify and connect

29 CFR Appendix A to Subpart L of... - Fire Protection

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the International Fire Service Training Association, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA-1041), the International Society of Fire Service Instructors and other fire training sources be... planning, and safety practices. It is again suggested that fire service training sources be consulted for...

Wind adjustment factors for predicting fire behavior in three fuel types in Alaska.

Treesearch

Rodney A. Norum

1983-01-01

Factors for adjusting wind velocities from the 20-foot standard anemometer height down to an average wildfire midflame height (3.5 ft for the fuels studied) are given for exposed, partially sheltered, and sheltered fuels in Alaska. The values are suitable for predicting wildfire behavior.

A key for predicting postfire successional trajectories in black spruce stands of interior Alaska.

Treesearch

Jill F. Johnstone; Teresa N. Hollingsworth; F. Stuart Chapin

2008-01-01

Black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill) B.S.P) is the dominant forest cover type in interior Alaska and is prone to frequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Through impacts on tree recruitment, the degree of fire consumption of soil organic layers can act as an important determinant of whether black spruce forests regenerate to a forest composition similar...

Studies in the wilderness areas of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge: fire, bark beetles, human development, and climate change

Treesearch

Edward E. Berg

2000-01-01

Wilderness areas comprise 65% of the 1.92 million acre Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Fire history studies indicate that fire frequency increased substantially in both white and black spruce forests after European settlement. Dendrochronolgy studies indicate that regional-scale spruce bark beetle outbreaks occurred in the 1820s, 1880s, and 1970s. None of these...

Pediatric emergency care capabilities of Indian Health Service emergency medical service agencies serving American Indians/Alaska Natives in rural and frontier areas.

PubMed

Genovesi, A L; Hastings, B; Edgerton, E A; Olson, L M

2014-01-01

In the USA, the emergency medical services (EMS) system is vital for American Indians and Alaska Natives, who are disproportionately burdened by injuries and diseases and often live in rural areas geographically far from hospitals. In rural areas, where significant health disparities exist, EMS is often a primary source of healthcare providing a safety net for uninsured individuals or families who otherwise lack access to health-related services. EMS is frequently the first entry point for children and their families into the healthcare system. The Indian Health Service (IHS) supports the federally funded, tribally operated EMS agencies to help meet the affiliated American Indian and Alaska Natives' pre-hospital needs. While periodic assessments of state EMS agencies capabilities to care for children occur, it appears a systematic assessment of IHS EMS agencies in regards to children had not been previously conducted. A consensus process, involving stakeholders, was used to identify topic areas for a survey for assessing the pediatric capabilities of IHS EMS. The survey was sent to 75 of 88 IHS EMS agency contacts. Sixty-one agencies (81%) responded. Nine agencies (15%) did not have a medical director. Agencies without a medical director were less likely to report the availability of online (p=0.1) or offline (p<0.01) pediatric medical direction. Half (51%) of the agencies had a mass casualties plan; however, 29% reported responding to a mass casualty incident, involving a large number of pediatric patients, that overwhelmed their service. Most agencies were well integrated with their state EMS system with almost all (95%) collecting EMS patient care data and 47% using national standard data elements. In some areas, IHS EMS agencies did not have the infrastructure to treat pediatric patients during day-to-day operations as well as disasters. Similar to operational challenges faced by rural EMS agencies, the IHS agencies lacked a medical director, were unable to

GeoFORCE Alaska, A Successful Summer Exploring Alaska's Geology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wartes, D.

2012-12-01

Thirty years old this summer, RAHI, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute is a statewide, six-week, summer college-preparatory bridge program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for Alaska Native and rural high school juniors and seniors. This summer, in collaboration with the University of Texas Austin, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute launched a new program, GeoFORCE Alaska. This outreach initiative is designed to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing STEM degree programs and entering the future high-tech workforce. It uses Earth science to entice kids to get excited about dinosaurs, volcanoes and earthquakes, and includes physics, chemistry, math, biology and other sciences. Students were recruited from the Alaska's Arctic North Slope schools, in 8th grade to begin the annual program of approximately 8 days, the summer before their 9th grade year and then remain in the program for all four years of high school. They must maintain a B or better grade average and participate in all GeoFORCE events. The culmination is an exciting field event each summer. Over the four-year period, events will include trips to Fairbanks and Anchorage, Arizona, Oregon and the Appalachians. All trips focus on Earth science and include a 100+ page guidebook, with tests every night culminating with a final exam. GeoFORCE Alaska was begun by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, which has had tremendous success with GeoFORCE Texas. GeoFORCE Alaska is managed by UAF's long-standing Rural Alaska Honors Institute, that has been successfully providing intense STEM educational opportunities for Alaskan high school students for over 30 years. The program will add a new cohort of 9th graders each year for the next four years. By the summer of 2015, GeoFORCE Alaska is targeting a capacity of 160 students in grades 9th through 12th. Join us to find out more about this exciting new initiative, which is enticing young Alaska Native

Old Fire/Grand Prix Fire, California

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-11-19

On November 18, 2003, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite acquired this image of the Old Fire/Grand Prix fire east of Los Angeles. The image is being processed by NASA's Wildfire Response Team and will be sent to the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) which provides interpretation services to Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams to assist in mapping the severity of the burned areas. The image combines data from the visible and infrared wavelength regions to highlight the burned areas. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04879

Physical employment standards for U.K. fire and rescue service personnel.

PubMed

Blacker, S D; Rayson, M P; Wilkinson, D M; Carter, J M; Nevill, A M; Richmond, V L

2016-01-01

Evidence-based physical employment standards are vital for recruiting, training and maintaining the operational effectiveness of personnel in physically demanding occupations. (i) Develop criterion tests for in-service physical assessment, which simulate the role-related physical demands of UK fire and rescue service (UK FRS) personnel. (ii) Develop practical physical selection tests for FRS applicants. (iii) Evaluate the validity of the selection tests to predict criterion test performance. Stage 1: we conducted a physical demands analysis involving seven workshops and an expert panel to document the key physical tasks required of UK FRS personnel and to develop 'criterion' and 'selection' tests. Stage 2: we measured the performance of 137 trainee and 50 trained UK FRS personnel on selection, criterion and 'field' measures of aerobic power, strength and body size. Statistical models were developed to predict criterion test performance. Stage 3: matter experts derived minimum performance standards. We developed single person simulations of the key physical tasks required of UK FRS personnel as criterion and selection tests (rural fire, domestic fire, ladder lift, ladder extension, ladder climb, pump assembly, enclosed space search). Selection tests were marginally stronger predictors of criterion test performance (r = 0.88-0.94, 95% Limits of Agreement [LoA] 7.6-14.0%) than field test scores (r = 0.84-0.94, 95% LoA 8.0-19.8%) and offered greater face and content validity and more practical implementation. This study outlines the development of role-related, gender-free physical employment tests for the UK FRS, which conform to equal opportunities law. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Infectious Disease Hospitalizations Among American Indian/Alaska Native and Non–American Indian/Alaska Native Persons in Alaska, 2010-2011

PubMed Central

Holman, Robert C.; Seeman, Sara M.; Rarig, Alice J.; McEwen, Mary; Steiner, Claudia A.; Bartholomew, Michael L.; Hennessy, Thomas W.

2016-01-01

Objective: Reports about infectious disease (ID) hospitalization rates among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons have been constrained by data limited to the tribal health care system and by comparisons with the general US population. We used a merged state database to determine ID hospitalization rates in Alaska. Methods: We combined 2010 and 2011 hospital discharge data from the Indian Health Service and the Alaska State Inpatient Database. We used the merged data set to calculate average annual age-adjusted and age-specific ID hospitalization rates for AI/AN and non-AI/AN persons in Alaska. We stratified the ID hospitalization rates by sex, age, and ID diagnosis. Results: ID diagnoses accounted for 19% (6501 of 34 160) of AI/AN hospitalizations, compared with 12% (7397 of 62 059) of non-AI/AN hospitalizations. The average annual age-adjusted hospitalization rate was >3 times higher for AI/AN persons (2697 per 100 000 population) than for non-AI/AN persons (730 per 100 000 population; rate ratio = 3.7, P < .001). Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), which occurred in 38% (2486 of 6501) of AI/AN persons, was the most common reason for ID hospitalization. AI/AN persons were significantly more likely than non-AI/AN persons to be hospitalized for LRTI (rate ratio = 5.2, P < .001). Conclusions: A substantial disparity in ID hospitalization rates exists between AI/AN and non-AI/AN persons, and the most common reason for ID hospitalization among AI/AN persons was LRTI. Public health programs and policies that address the risk factors for LRTI are likely to benefit AI/AN persons. PMID:28005485

Identifying Best Practices in the Dissemination of Intelligence to First Responders in the Fire and EMS Services

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

claim that a daily brief may tend to desensitize the average first responder and they may not read it regularly. The consensus was that a weekly...they risked becoming ineffective and could lead to desensitization to the information provided. 41 Figure 6. Responses to Question 5...information sharing between fire service organizations. State fire chiefs associations, in collaboration with the FSIE, should advertise the benefits of

History and use of remote sensing for conservation and management of federal lands in Alaska, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Markon, Carl

1995-01-01

Remote sensing has been used to aid land use planning efforts for federal public lands in Alaska since the 1940s. Four federal land management agencies-the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, US. Bureau of Land Management, US. National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service-have used aerial photography and satellite imagery to document the extent, type, and condition of Alaska's natural resources. Aerial photographs have been used to collect detailed information over small to medium-sized areas. This standard management tool is obtainable using equipment ranging from hand-held 35-mm cameras to precision metric mapping cameras. Satellite data, equally important, provide synoptic views of landscapes, are digitally manipulatable, and are easily merged with other digital databases. To date, over 109.2 million ha (72%) of Alaska's land cover have been mapped via remote sensing. This information has provided a base for conservation, management, and planning on federal public lands in Alaska.

Wetland succession in a permafrost collapse: interations between fire and thermokarst

Treesearch

I.H. Myers-Smith; J.W. Harden; M. Wilmking; C.C. Fuller; A.D. McGuire; F.S. III Chapin

2008-01-01

To determine the influence of fire and thermokarst in a boreal landscape, we investigated peat cores within and adjacent to a permafrost collapse feature on the Tanana River Floodplain of Interior Alaska. Radioisotope dating, diatom assemblages, plant macrofossils, charcoal fragments, and carbon and nitrogen content of the peat profile indicate ~600 years of vegetation...

Home - Gold mining in Alaska - Libraries, Archives, & Museums at Alaska

Science.gov Websites

State Library Skip to main content State of Alaska myAlaska Departments State Employees Statewide Links × Upcoming Holiday Closure for Memorial Day The Alaska State Libraries, Archives, & Tuesday, May 29. Department of Education and Early Development Alaska State Libraries, Archives, and

The role of driving factors in historical and projected carbon dynamics of upland ecosystems in Alaska.

PubMed

Genet, Hélène; He, Yujie; Lyu, Zhou; McGuire, A David; Zhuang, Qianlai; Clein, Joy; D'Amore, David; Bennett, Alec; Breen, Amy; Biles, Frances; Euskirchen, Eugénie S; Johnson, Kristofer; Kurkowski, Tom; Kushch Schroder, Svetlana; Pastick, Neal; Rupp, T Scott; Wylie, Bruce; Zhang, Yujin; Zhou, Xiaoping; Zhu, Zhiliang

2018-01-01

It is important to understand how upland ecosystems of Alaska, which are estimated to occupy 84% of the state (i.e., 1,237,774 km 2 ), are influencing and will influence state-wide carbon (C) dynamics in the face of ongoing climate change. We coupled fire disturbance and biogeochemical models to assess the relative effects of changing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), climate, logging and fire regimes on the historical and future C balance of upland ecosystems for the four main Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) of Alaska. At the end of the historical period (1950-2009) of our analysis, we estimate that upland ecosystems of Alaska store ~50 Pg C (with ~90% of the C in soils), and gained 3.26 Tg C/yr. Three of the LCCs had gains in total ecosystem C storage, while the Northwest Boreal LCC lost C (-6.01 Tg C/yr) because of increases in fire activity. Carbon exports from logging affected only the North Pacific LCC and represented less than 1% of the state's net primary production (NPP). The analysis for the future time period (2010-2099) consisted of six simulations driven by climate outputs from two climate models for three emission scenarios. Across the climate scenarios, total ecosystem C storage increased between 19.5 and 66.3 Tg C/yr, which represents 3.4% to 11.7% increase in Alaska upland's storage. We conducted additional simulations to attribute these responses to environmental changes. This analysis showed that atmospheric CO 2 fertilization was the main driver of ecosystem C balance. By comparing future simulations with constant and with increasing atmospheric CO 2 , we estimated that the sensitivity of NPP was 4.8% per 100 ppmv, but NPP becomes less sensitive to CO 2 increase throughout the 21st century. Overall, our analyses suggest that the decreasing CO 2 sensitivity of NPP and the increasing sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration to air temperature, in addition to the increase in C loss from wildfires weakens the C sink from upland

The role of driving factors in historical and projected carbon dynamics of upland ecosystems in Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Genet, Hélène; He, Yujie; Lyu, Zhou; McGuire, A. David; Zhuang, Qianlai; Clein, Joy S.; D'Amore, David; Bennett, Alec; Breen, Amy; Biles, Frances; Euskirchen, Eugénie S.; Johnson, Kristofer; Kurkowski, Tom; Schroder, Svetlana (Kushch); Pastick, Neal J.; Rupp, T. Scott; Wylie, Bruce K.; Zhang, Yujin; Zhou, Xiaoping; Zhu, Zhiliang

2018-01-01

It is important to understand how upland ecosystems of Alaska, which are estimated to occupy 84% of the state (i.e., 1,237,774 km2), are influencing and will influence state‐wide carbon (C) dynamics in the face of ongoing climate change. We coupled fire disturbance and biogeochemical models to assess the relative effects of changing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), climate, logging and fire regimes on the historical and future C balance of upland ecosystems for the four main Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) of Alaska. At the end of the historical period (1950–2009) of our analysis, we estimate that upland ecosystems of Alaska store ~50 Pg C (with ~90% of the C in soils), and gained 3.26 Tg C/yr. Three of the LCCs had gains in total ecosystem C storage, while the Northwest Boreal LCC lost C (−6.01 Tg C/yr) because of increases in fire activity. Carbon exports from logging affected only the North Pacific LCC and represented less than 1% of the state's net primary production (NPP). The analysis for the future time period (2010–2099) consisted of six simulations driven by climate outputs from two climate models for three emission scenarios. Across the climate scenarios, total ecosystem C storage increased between 19.5 and 66.3 Tg C/yr, which represents 3.4% to 11.7% increase in Alaska upland's storage. We conducted additional simulations to attribute these responses to environmental changes. This analysis showed that atmospheric CO2 fertilization was the main driver of ecosystem C balance. By comparing future simulations with constant and with increasing atmospheric CO2, we estimated that the sensitivity of NPP was 4.8% per 100 ppmv, but NPP becomes less sensitive to CO2increase throughout the 21st century. Overall, our analyses suggest that the decreasing CO2 sensitivity of NPP and the increasing sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration to air temperature, in addition to the increase in C loss from wildfires weakens the C sink from upland

Risk perceptions and behavioral context: U.S. Forest Service fire management professionals

USGS Publications Warehouse

Taylor, Jonathan G.; Carpenter, Edwin H.; Cortner, Hanna J.; Cleaves, David A.

1989-01-01

Fire managers from the U.S. Forest Service were surveyed to determine which decision factors most strongly influenced their fire‐risk decisions. Safety, the resources at risk, public opinion, and the reliability of information were important influences on these decisions. This research allowed direct comparison between fire managers’ perceptions of factor importance and how their fire‐risk decisions changed in response to those factors. These risk decisions were highly responsive to changes in context (an escaped wildfire decision versus a prescribed burning decision) as well as to changing factors. The results demonstrate the utility of using scenarios in risk research and the vital importance of context in studying risk‐taking behavior. Research which attempts to remove risk decisions from their real‐world context may well distort the nature of risk‐taking behavior.

Forest Fire Mapping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

The Fire Logistics Airborne Mapping Equipment (FLAME) system, mounted in a twin-engine and airplane operated by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is an airborne instrument for detecting and pinpointing forest fires that might escape ground detection. The FLAME equipment rack includes the operator interface, a video monitor, the system's control panel and film output. FLAME's fire detection sensor is an infrared line scanner system that identifies fire boundaries. Sensor's information is correlated with the aircraft's position and altitude at the time the infrared imagery is acquired to fix the fire's location on a map. System can be sent to a fire locale anywhere in the U.S. at the request of a regional forester. USFS felt a need for a more advanced system to deliver timely fire information to fire management personnel in the decade of the 1990s. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) conducted a study, jointly sponsored by NASA and USDA, on what advanced technologies might be employed to produce an end-to-end thermal infrared fire detection and mapping system. That led to initiation of the Firefly system, currently in development at JPL and targeted for operational service beginning in 1992. Firefly will employ satellite-reference position fixing and provide performance superior to FLAME.

Hovercraft transportation in Alaska : CZM & NEPA hurdles.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-05-31

The United States Postal Service (USPS) received an unsolicited proposal from Alaska Hovercraft Joint Venture for a two-year demonstration program for the transport of : bypass and non-priority mail by Hovercraft on a year-round basis from the city o...

Alaska Tidal Datum Portal - Alaska Tidal Datum Calculator | Alaska Division

Science.gov Websites

Coastal Hazards Program Guide to Geologic Hazards in Alaska MAPTEACH Tsunami Inundation Mapping Energy Portal main content Alaska Tidal Datum Portal Unambiguous vertical datums in the coastal environment are projects to ensure protection of human life, property, and the coastal environment. January 2017 - Update

A model-based approach to wildland fire reconstruction using sediment charcoal records

USGS Publications Warehouse

Itter, Malcolm S.; Finley, Andrew O.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Higuera, Philip E.; Marlon, Jennifer R.; Kelly, Ryan; McLachlan, Jason S.

2017-01-01

Lake sediment charcoal records are used in paleoecological analyses to reconstruct fire history, including the identification of past wildland fires. One challenge of applying sediment charcoal records to infer fire history is the separation of charcoal associated with local fire occurrence and charcoal originating from regional fire activity. Despite a variety of methods to identify local fires from sediment charcoal records, an integrated statistical framework for fire reconstruction is lacking. We develop a Bayesian point process model to estimate the probability of fire associated with charcoal counts from individual-lake sediments and estimate mean fire return intervals. A multivariate extension of the model combines records from multiple lakes to reduce uncertainty in local fire identification and estimate a regional mean fire return interval. The univariate and multivariate models are applied to 13 lakes in the Yukon Flats region of Alaska. Both models resulted in similar mean fire return intervals (100–350 years) with reduced uncertainty under the multivariate model due to improved estimation of regional charcoal deposition. The point process model offers an integrated statistical framework for paleofire reconstruction and extends existing methods to infer regional fire history from multiple lake records with uncertainty following directly from posterior distributions.

Potential shifts in dominant forest cover in interior Alaska driven by variations in fire severity

Treesearch

K. Barrett; A.D. McGuire; E.E. Hoy; E.S. Kasischke

2011-01-01

Large fire years in which >1% of the landscape burns are becoming more frequent in the Alaskan (USA) interior, with four large fire years in the past 10 years, and 79000 km2 (17% of the region) burned since 2000. We modeled fire severity conditions for the entire area burned in large fires during a large fire year (2004) to determine the...

The impact of state fire safe cigarette policies on fire fatalities, injuries, and incidents.

PubMed

Folz, David H; Shults, Chris

Cigarettes are a leading cause of civilian deaths in home fires. Over the last decade, state fire service leaders and allied interest groups succeeded in persuading state lawmakers to require manufacturers to sell only low-ignition strength or "fire safe" cigarettes as a strategy to reduce these fatalities and the injuries and losses that stem from them. This article examines whether the states' fire safe cigarette laws actually helped to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce the incidence of home fires ignited by cigarettes left unattended by smokers. Controlling for the effects of key demographic, social, economic, and housing variables, this study finds that the states' fire-safe cigarette policies had significant impacts on reducing the rate of smoking-related civilian fire deaths and the incidence of fires started by tobacco products. The findings also suggest that the states' fire safe cigarette policies may have helped to reduce the rate of smoking-related fire injuries. The study shows that collective actions by leaders in the fire service across the states can result in meaningful policy change that protects lives and advances public safety even when a political consensus for action is absent at the national level.

Fire severity filters regeneration traits to shape community assembly in Alaska's boreal forest

Treesearch

Teresa N. Hollingsworth; Jill F. Johnstone; Emily L. Bernhardt; F. Stuart Chapin

2013-01-01

Disturbance can both initiate and shape patterns of secondary succession by affecting processes of community assembly. Thus, understanding assembly rules is a key element of predicting ecological responses to changing disturbance regimes. We measured the composition and trait characteristics of plant communities early after widespread wildfires in Alaska to assess how...

Fire in High Buildings. Fire Study No. 21.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galbreath, M.

Research into and measures of fire protection with regard to high building design are discussed with suggestions for proper building equipment, materials, and planning. The study outlines how smoke and toxic gases spread in high buildings through stairs, service shafts, air handling and heating equipment. The problems of basement fires, means of…

43 CFR 9239.3 - Grazing, Alaska.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.3 Grazing, Alaska. (a... other authorization from the Bureau of Land Management, is prohibited and constitutes trespass... in the notice will be deemed to have been willful. (3) Where the owner of the trespassing livestock...

43 CFR 9239.3 - Grazing, Alaska.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.3 Grazing, Alaska. (a... other authorization from the Bureau of Land Management, is prohibited and constitutes trespass... in the notice will be deemed to have been willful. (3) Where the owner of the trespassing livestock...

43 CFR 9239.3 - Grazing, Alaska.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.3 Grazing, Alaska. (a... other authorization from the Bureau of Land Management, is prohibited and constitutes trespass... in the notice will be deemed to have been willful. (3) Where the owner of the trespassing livestock...

43 CFR 9239.3 - Grazing, Alaska.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TECHNICAL SERVICES (9000) TRESPASS Kinds of Trespass § 9239.3 Grazing, Alaska. (a... other authorization from the Bureau of Land Management, is prohibited and constitutes trespass... in the notice will be deemed to have been willful. (3) Where the owner of the trespassing livestock...

77 FR 58492 - Prohibitions Governing Fire

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-21

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service 36 CFR Part 261 RIN 0596-AD08 Prohibitions Governing Fire AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Direct final rule. SUMMARY: The Forest Service is making purely... Fire. * * * * * (j) Operating or using any internal or external combustion engine without a spark...

The Significance of Fire Service Culture as an Impediment to Effective Leadership in the Homeland Security Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

somehow poignantly related to the topic at hand. Whether through charm, wit, or emotion, Brunacini knew how to get his desired messages across to his...2006, p. 9). 74 With such an overtly confident perspective we may begin to understand how firefighters may get themselves into trouble on the fire...elements epitomized by fire service culture. It then examines how both internal and external sociological factors contribute to the perpetuation of

Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska: a review

USGS Publications Warehouse

Douglas, Thomas A.; Jones, Miriam C.; Hiemstra, Christopher A.

2014-01-01

Boreal regions store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing current and potential carbon sources and sinks in the boreal soil and vegetation. The roles of fire, forest succession, and the presence (or absence) of permafrost on carbon cycle, vegetation, and hydrologic processes have been the focus of multidisciplinary research in this area for the past 20 years. However, projections of a warming future climate, an increase in fire severity and extent, and the potential degradation of permafrost could lead to major landscape process changes over the next 20 to 50 years. This provides a major challenge for predicting how the interplay between land management activities and impacts of climate warming will affect carbon sources and sinks in Interior Alaska. To assist land managers in adapting and managing for potential changes in the Interior Alaska carbon cycle we developed this review paper incorporating an overview of the climate, ecosystem processes, vegetation types, and soil regimes in Interior Alaska with a focus on ramifications for the carbon cycle. Our objective is to provide a synthesis of the most current carbon storage estimates and measurements to support policy and land management decisions on how to best manage carbon sources and sinks in Interior Alaska. To support this we have surveyed relevant peer reviewed estimates of carbon stocks in aboveground and belowground biomass for Interior Alaska boreal ecosystems. We have also summarized methane and carbon dioxide fluxes from the same ecosystems. These data have been converted into the same units to facilitate comparison across ecosystem compartments. We identify potential changes in the carbon cycle with climate change and human disturbance including how compounding disturbances can affect the boreal system. Finally, we provide

Home, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, State of Alaska

Science.gov Websites

State logo Alaska Department of Administration Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Administration AOGCC Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Javascript is required to run this webpage

Earthquakes in Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haeussler, Peter J.; Plafker, George

1995-01-01

Earthquake risk is high in much of the southern half of Alaska, but it is not the same everywhere. This map shows the overall geologic setting in Alaska that produces earthquakes. The Pacific plate (darker blue) is sliding northwestward past southeastern Alaska and then dives beneath the North American plate (light blue, green, and brown) in southern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands. Most earthquakes are produced where these two plates come into contact and slide past each other. Major earthquakes also occur throughout much of interior Alaska as a result of collision of a piece of crust with the southern margin.

Soils under fire: soils research and the Joint Fire Science Program.

Treesearch

Heather E. Erickson; Rachel White

2008-01-01

Soils are fundamental to a healthy and functioning ecosystem. Therefore, forest land managers can greatly benefit from a more thorough understanding of the ecological impacts of fire and fuel management activities on the vital services soils provide. We present a summary of new research on fire effects and soils made possible through the Joint Fire Science Program and...

Collaboration and Interconnectivity: Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services and Higher Education Institutions in Nottingham

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Peter; Greenhalgh, Kirsten; Parkin, Craig

2013-01-01

This article will describe the developing relationship between Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services and the two higher education institutions in Nottingham. It will chronicle how a very traditional relationship has been transformed, initially by a simple consultancy project, into a much closer working relationship characterised by a much…

Fire service instructor's undergarment choice to reduce Interleukin-6 and minimise physiological and perceptual strain.

PubMed

Watkins, Emily R; Richardson, Alan J

2017-01-01

Fire Service Instructors frequently experience high levels of physiological and perceptual strain during live fire exposures. Instructors are also at risk of cardiovascular illnesses, with cardiac death being the greatest cause of fire fighter death. Current practice for UK instructors is to select undergarment type based on personal preference, between a boiler suit (BOILER) and a wicking base layer (WBL). Research suggests that shorts and t-shirt (SHORTS) may also be a beneficial alternative undergarment choice. The UK South East Fire Service requested an investigation to identify if undergarment selection can lessen the strain experienced by instructors, and reduce the acute inflammatory response to fire exposures. Eight males completed three 45min sessions in a heat chamber (49.5±1.4°C and 16.9±4.3% RH) whilst performing intermittent walking. At the end of heat exposure change in heart rate was not effected by garment type (p=0.061, ηp 2 =0.373). Change in rectal temperature was different between garments (p=0.009, η p 2 =0.271), with trends suggesting that BOILER resulted in a greater change (1.03±0.60°C) than SHORTS (0.76±0.37°C, p=0.589, d=0.21) and WBL (0.72±0.33°C, p=0.545, d=0.25). Interleukin-6 post exposure was greater for BOILER (6.96±0.28pgmL -1 ) than both SHORTS (6.59±0.30pgmL -1 , p=0.043, d=0.42) and WBL (6.45±0.43pgmL -1 , p=0.031, d=0.51). Overall, undergarment type had little impact on physiological or perceptual strain. However, wearing WBL or SHORTS may reduce the inflammatory response, and consequently decrease the risk of cardiovascular events. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fire Rescue Exercise

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-03-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Special Rescue Operations firefighters with NASA Fire Rescue Services in the Protective Services Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida practice firefighting skills at the Shuttle Landing Facility. A firefighter dons protective gear to prepare for the training simulation. Kennedy’s firefighters recently achieved Pro Board Certification in aerial fire truck operations and completed vehicle extrication training using the Jaws of Life. The Protective Services Office is one step closer to achieving certification in vehicle machinery extrication and other rescue skills. Kennedy’s firefighters are with G4S Government Solutions Inc., on the Kennedy Protective Services Contract. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

2006 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-01-01

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves Alaskan communities by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

2008 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves Alaskan communities by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

2007 Annual Traffic Volume Report : Alaska Marine Highway System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) serves Alaskan communities by transporting passengers and vehicles between coastal communities. This service helps meet the social, educational, health and economic needs of Alaskans.

Publications - GMC 332 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

Science.gov Websites

DGGS GMC 332 Publication Details Title: X-Ray Diffraction analysis and flow testing of Hemlock information. Quadrangle(s): Alaska Statewide Bibliographic Reference BJ Services Company , 2006, X-Ray

76 FR 3044 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Sculpins, Sharks, Squid, and Octopus in the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-19

..., Squid, and Octopus in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National... prohibiting directed fishing for sculpins, sharks, squid, and octopus in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action..., and octopus in the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), January 13, 2011...

Alaska and the Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-08-01

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The original document contains color images. 14. ABSTRACT The intent of the Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership is to expand clinical and... intent of the Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership is to expand clinical and support capabilities of the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC), Third...the formation of the Partnership. Although lengthy, the information is essential to appreciate the magnitude of the Partnership and the intent behind

Publications - GMC 349 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

Science.gov Websites

'-4710') from the Tenneco OCS Y-0338-1 (Phoenix #1) well Authors: Humble Geochemical Services Publication cuttings samples (4650'-4710') from the Tenneco OCS Y-0338-1 (Phoenix #1) well: Alaska Division of

Alaska Volcano Observatory

USGS Publications Warehouse

Venezky, Dina Y.; Murray, Tom; Read, Cyrus

2008-01-01

Steam plume from the 2006 eruption of Augustine volcano in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Explosive ash-producing eruptions from Alaska's 40+ historically active volcanoes pose hazards to aviation, including commercial aircraft flying the busy North Pacific routes between North America and Asia. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) monitors these volcanoes to provide forecasts of eruptive activity. AVO is a joint program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO is one of five USGS Volcano Hazards Program observatories that monitor U.S. volcanoes for science and public safety. Learn more about Augustine volcano and AVO at http://www.avo.alaska.edu.

Regional District Attorney's Offices - Alaska Department of Law

Science.gov Websites

not provide legal advice to private citizens or organizations. Please contact an attorney if you need legal advice. The Alaska Lawyer Referral Service or your local bar association may be able to assist you

Fire and Smoke Monitoring at NOAA' Satellite Service; Applications to Smoke Forecasting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephens, G.; Ruminski, M.

2005-12-01

The Hazard Mapping System (HMS), developed and run operationally by NOAA's Satellite Services Division (SSD), is a multiplatform remote sensing approach to detecting fires and smoke over the US and adjacent areas of Canada and Mexico. The system utilizes sensors on 7 different NOAA and NASA satellites. Automated detection algorithms are employed for each of the satellites for the fire detects while smoke is delineated by an image analyst. Analyses are quality control by an analyst who inspects all available imagery and automated fire detects, deleting suspected false detects and adding fires that the automated routines miss. Graphical, text, and GIS compatible analyses are posted to a web site as soon as updates are performed, and a final product for a given day is posted early the following morning. All products are archived at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. Areal extent of detectable smoke is outlined using animated visible imagery, for input to a dispersion and transport model, the HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT), developed by NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory (ARL). Resulting smoke forecasts will soon be used as input to NOAA's Air Quality forecasts. The GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP) is an experimental GOES imagery based aerosol optical depth (AOD) product developed by the NESDIS Office of Research and Applications, being implemented for evaluation by the NESDIS Satellite Analysis Branch for use in smoke and volcanic ash monitoring. Currently, research is underway in NESDIS' Office of Research and Applications to objectivize smoke delineation using GASP and MODIS AOD retrievals. NOAA's Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI) program processes satellite imagery of environmentally significant events, including fire, smoke and volcanic ash, visible in operational satellite data. This imagery is often referred to by fire managers and air quality agencies. Future plans include the integration of high resolution

Static and dynamic controls on fire activity at moderate spatial and temporal scales in the Alaskan boreal forest

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barrett, Kirsten; Loboda, Tatiana; McGuire, A. David; Genet, Hélène; Hoy, Elizabeth; Kasischke, Eric

2016-01-01

Wildfire, a dominant disturbance in boreal forests, is highly variable in occurrence and behavior at multiple spatiotemporal scales. New data sets provide more detailed spatial and temporal observations of active fires and the post-burn environment in Alaska. In this study, we employ some of these new data to analyze variations in fire activity by developing three explanatory models to examine the occurrence of (1) seasonal periods of elevated fire activity using the number of MODIS active fire detections data set (MCD14DL) within an 11-day moving window, (2) unburned patches within a burned area using the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity fire severity product, and (3) short-to-moderate interval (<60 yr) fires using areas of burned area overlap in the Alaska Large Fire Database. Explanatory variables for these three models included dynamic variables that can change over the course of the fire season, such as weather and burn date, as well as static variables that remain constant over a fire season, such as topography, drainage, vegetation cover, and fire history. We found that seasonal periods of high fire activity are associated with both seasonal timing and aggregated weather conditions, as well as the landscape composition of areas that are burning. Important static inputs to the model of seasonal fire activity indicate that when fire weather conditions are suitable, areas that typically resist fire (e.g., deciduous stands) may become more vulnerable to burning and therefore less effective as fire breaks. The occurrence of short-to-moderate interval fires appears to be primarily driven by weather conditions, as these were the only relevant explanatory variables in the model. The unique importance of weather in explaining short-to-moderate interval fires implies that fire return intervals (FRIs) will be sensitive to projected climate changes in the region. Unburned patches occur most often in younger stands, which may be related to a greater deciduous fraction

Resident, State of Alaska

Science.gov Websites

Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska Search Home Quick Links Departments Commissioners Employee Whitepages State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting

Visitor, State of Alaska

Science.gov Websites

Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska State Employees State of Alaska Search Home Quick Links Departments Commissioners Employee Whitepages State Government Jobs Federal Jobs Starting a Small Business Living Get a Driver License Get a Hunting

2013 Annual Report: Fire Modeling Institute

Treesearch

Robin J. Innes; Faith Ann Heinsch; Kristine M. Lee

2014-01-01

The Fire Modeling Institute (FMI) of the U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), is a national and international resource for fire managers. Located within the Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Fire Lab) in Montana, FMI helps managers utilize fire and fuel science and technology developed throughout the...

Robotic weather balloon launchers spread in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosen, Julia

2018-04-01

Last week, things began stirring inside the truck-size box that sat among melting piles of snow at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska. Before long, the roof of the box yawned open and a weather balloon took off into the sunny afternoon, instruments dangling. The entire launch was triggered with the touch of a button, 5 kilometers away at an office of the National Weather Service (NWS). The flight was smooth, just one of hundreds of twice-daily balloon launches around the world that radio back crucial data for weather forecasts. But most of those balloons are launched by people; the robotic launchers, which are rolling out across Alaska, are proving to be controversial. NWS says the autolaunchers will save money and free up staff to work on more pressing matters. But representatives of the employee union question their reliability, and say they will hasten the end of Alaska's remote weather offices, where forecasting duties and hours have already been slashed.

77 FR 12477 - Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska-Subpart C-Board Determinations...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-01

....gov . For questions specific to National Forest System lands, contact Steve Kessler, Regional... or more on the economy or adversely affect an economic sector, productivity, jobs, the environment...; Jerry Berg, Alaska Regional Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Steve Kessler, Alaska Regional...

Modeling carbon-nutrient interactions during the early recovery of tundra after fire.

PubMed

Jiang, Yueyang; Rastetter, Edward B; Rocha, Adrian V; Pearce, Andrea R; Kwiatkowski, Bonnie L; Shaver, Gaius R

2015-09-01

Fire frequency has dramatically increased in the tundra of northern Alaska, USA, which has major implications for the carbon budget of the region and the functioning of these ecosystems, which support important wildlife species. We investigated the postfire succession of plant and soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) fluxes and stocks along a burn severity gradient in the 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire scar in northern Alaska. Modeling results indicated that the early regrowth of postfire tundra vegetation was limited primarily by its canopy photosynthetic potential, rather than nutrient availability, because of the initially low leaf area and relatively high inorganic N and P concentrations in soil. Our simulations indicated that the postfire recovery of tundra vegetation was sustained predominantly by the uptake of residual inorganic N (i.e., in the remaining ash), and the redistribution of N and P from soil organic matter to vegetation. Although residual nutrients in ash were higher in the severe burn than the moderate burn, the moderate burn recovered faster because of the higher remaining biomass and consequent photosynthetic potential. Residual nutrients in ash allowed both burn sites to recover and exceed the unburned site in both aboveground biomass and production five years after the fire. The investigation of interactions among postfire C, N, and P cycles has contributed to a mechanistic understanding of the response of tundra ecosystems to fire disturbance. Our study provided insight on how the trajectory of recovery of tundra from wildfire is regulated during early succession.

50 years of service: The Missoula Fire Sciences Lab

Treesearch

Jane Kapler Smith; Diane Smith; Colin Hardy

2011-01-01

In September 12, 1960, the brand new Northern Forest Fire Laboratory was dedicated in Missoula, MT. The fire lab’s mission was - and is - to improve scientific understanding of wildland fire so it can be managed more safely and effectively in the field. The first scientists to work at the fire lab initiated research that continues to be used, refined, and extended....

Fire Prevention Inspection Procedures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

Lesson plans are provided for a fire prevention inspection course of the Wisconsin Fire Service Training program. Objectives for the course are to enable students to describe and conduct fire prevention inspections, to identify and correct hazards common to most occupancies, to understand the types of building construction and occupancy, and to…

Monitoring of wildfires in boreal forests using large area AVHRR NDVI composite image data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kasischke, E.S.; French, N.H.F.; Harrell, P.

1993-06-01

Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) composite image data, produced from AVHRR data collected in 1990, were evaluated for locating and mapping the areal extent of wildfires in the boreal forests of Alaska during that year. A technique was developed to map forest fire boundaries by subtracting a late-summer AVHRR NDVI image from an early summer scene. The locations and boundaries of wildfires within the interior region of Alaska were obtained from the Alaska Fire Service, and compared to the AVHRR-derived fire-boundary map. It was found that AVHRR detected 89.5% of all fires with sizes greater than 2,000ha with no falsemore » alarms and that, for most cases, the general shape of the fire boundary detected by AVHRR matched those mapped by field observers. However, the total area contained within the fire boundaries mapped by AVHRR were only 61% of those mapped by the field observers. However, the AVHRR data used in this study did not span the entire time period during which fires occurred, and it is believed the areal estimates could be improved significantly if an expanded AVHRR data set were used.« less

Monitoring of wildfires in boreal forests using large area AVHRR NDVI composite image data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kasischke, Eric S.; French, Nancy H. F.; Harrell, Peter; Christensen, Norman L., Jr.; Ustin, Susan L.; Barry, Donald

1993-01-01

Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) composite image data, produced from AVHRR data collected in 1990, were evaluated for locating and mapping the areal extent of wildfires in the boreal forests of Alaska during that year. A technique was developed to map forest fire boundaries by subtracting a late-summer AVHRR NDVI image from an early summer scene. The locations and boundaries of wildfires within the interior region of Alaska were obtained from the Alaska Fire Service, and compared to the AVHRR-derived fire-boundary map. It was found that AVHRR detected 89.5 percent of all fires with sizes greater than 2000 ha with no false alarms and that, for most cases, the general shape of the fire boundary detected by AVHRR matched those mapped by field observers. However, the total area contained within the fire boundaries mapped by AVHRR were only 61 percent of those mapped by the field observers. However, the AVHRR data used in this study did not span the entire time period during which fires occurred, and it is believed the areal estimates could be improved significantly if an expanded AVHRR data set were used.

Evidence and Implications of Frequent Fires in Ancient Shrub Tundra

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Higuera, P E; Brubaker, L B; Anderson, P M

2008-03-06

Understanding feedbacks between terrestrial and atmospheric systems is vital for predicting the consequences of global change, particularly in the rapidly changing Arctic. Fire is a key process in this context, but the consequences of altered fire regimes in tundra ecosystems are rarely considered, largely because tundra fires occur infrequently on the modern landscape. We present paleoecological data that indicate frequent tundra fires in northcentral Alaska between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago. Charcoal and pollen from lake sediments reveal that ancient birchdominated shrub tundra burned as often as modern boreal forests in the region, every 144 years on average (+/- 90more » s.d.; n = 44). Although paleoclimate interpretations and data from modern tundra fires suggest that increased burning was aided by low effective moisture, vegetation cover clearly played a critical role in facilitating the paleo-fires by creating an abundance of fine fuels. These records suggest that greater fire activity will likely accompany temperature-related increases in shrub-dominated tundra predicted for the 21st century and beyond. Increased tundra burning will have broad impacts on physical and biological systems as well as land-atmosphere interactions in the Arctic, including the potential to release stored organic carbon to the atmosphere.« less

Carbon, fire, and fuels: The importance of fuels and fuel characterization and the status of wildland fire fuels data for the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, N. H. F.; Prichard, S.; McKenzie, D.; Kennedy, M. C.; Billmire, M.; Ottmar, R. D.; Kasischke, E. S.

2016-12-01

Quantification of emissions of carbon during combustion relies on knowing three general variables: how much landscape is impacted by fire (burn area), how much carbon is in that landscape (fuel loading), and fuel properties that determine the fraction that is consumed (fuel condition). These variables also determine how much carbon remains at the site in the form of unburned organic material or char, and therefore drive post-fire carbon dynamics and pools. In this presentation we review the importance of understanding fuel type, fuel loading, and fuel condition for quantifying carbon dynamics properly during burning and for measuring and mapping fuels across landscapes, regions, and continents. Variability in fuels has been shown to be a major driver of uncertainty in fire emissions, but has had little attention until recently. We review the current state of fuel characterization for fire management and carbon accounting, and present a new approach to quantifying fuel loading for use in fire-emissions mapping and for improving fire-effects assessment. The latest results of a study funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) are presented, where a fuel loading database is being built to quantify variation in fuel loadings, as represented in the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS), across the conterminous US and Alaska. Statistical assessments of these data at multiple spatial scales will improve tools used by fire managers and scientists to quantify fire's impact on the land, atmosphere, and carbon cycle.

Potential shifts in dominant forest cover in interior Alaska driven by variations in fire severity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barrett, K.; McGuire, A. David; Hoy, E.E.; Kasischke, E.S.

2011-01-01

Large fire years in which >1% of the landscape burns are becoming more frequent in the Alaskan (USA) interior, with four large fire years in the past 10 years, and 79 000 km2 (17% of the region) burned since 2000. We modeled fire severity conditions for the entire area burned in large fires during a large fire year (2004) to determine the factors that are most important in estimating severity and to identify areas affected by deep‐burning fires. In addition to standard methods of assessing severity using spectral information, we incorporated information regarding topography, spatial pattern of burning, and instantaneous characteristics such as fire weather and fire radiative power. Ensemble techniques using regression trees as a base learner were able to determine fire severity successfully using spectral data in concert with other relevant geospatial data. This method was successful in estimating average conditions, but it underestimated the range of severity.This new approach was used to identify black spruce stands that experienced intermediate‐ to high‐severity fires in 2004 and are therefore susceptible to a shift in regrowth toward deciduous dominance or mixed dominance. Based on the output of the severity model, we estimate that 39% (∼4000 km2) of all burned black spruce stands in 2004 had <10 cm of residual organic layer and may be susceptible a postfire shift in plant functional type dominance, as well as permafrost loss. If the fraction of area susceptible to deciduous regeneration is constant for large fire years, the effect of such years in the most recent decade has been to reduce black spruce stands by 4.2% and to increase areas dominated or co‐dominated by deciduous forest stands by 20%. Such disturbance‐driven modifications have the potential to affect the carbon cycle and climate system at regional to global scales.

Potential shifts in dominant forest cover in interior Alaska driven by variations in fire severity.

PubMed

Barrett, K; McGuire, A D; Hoy, E E; Kasischke, E S

2011-10-01

Large fire years in which >1% of the landscape burns are becoming more frequent in the Alaskan (USA) interior, with four large fire years in the past 10 years, and 79 000 km2 (17% of the region) burned since 2000. We modeled fire severity conditions for the entire area burned in large fires during a large fire year (2004) to determine the factors that are most important in estimating severity and to identify areas affected by deep-burning fires. In addition to standard methods of assessing severity using spectral information, we incorporated information regarding topography, spatial pattern of burning, and instantaneous characteristics such as fire weather and fire radiative power. Ensemble techniques using regression trees as a base learner were able to determine fire severity successfully using spectral data in concert with other relevant geospatial data. This method was successful in estimating average conditions, but it underestimated the range of severity. This new approach was used to identify black spruce stands that experienced intermediate- to high-severity fires in 2004 and are therefore susceptible to a shift in regrowth toward deciduous dominance or mixed dominance. Based on the output of the severity model, we estimate that 39% (approximately 4000 km2) of all burned black spruce stands in 2004 had <10 cm of residual organic layer and may be susceptible a postfire shift in plant functional type dominance, as well as permafrost loss. If the fraction of area susceptible to deciduous regeneration is constant for large fire years, the effect of such years in the most recent decade has been to reduce black spruce stands by 4.2% and to increase areas dominated or co-dominated by deciduous forest stands by 20%. Such disturbance-driven modifications have the potential to affect the carbon cycle and climate system at regional to global scales.

LANDFIRE: Collaboration for National Fire Fuel Assessment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhu, Zhi-Liang

2006-01-01

The implementation of national fire management policies, such as the National Fire Plan and the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, requires geospatial data of vegetation types and structure, wildland fuels, fire risks, and ecosystem fire regime conditions. Presently, no such data sets are available that can meet these requirements. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service and the Department of the Interior's land management bureaus (Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS)) have jointly sponsored LANDFIRE, a new research and development project. The primary objective of the project is to develop an integrated and repeatable methodology and produce vegetation, fire, and ecosystem information and predictive models for cost-effective national land management applications. The project is conducted collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the USDA Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy.

Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission

Science.gov Websites

State Employees ASHSC State of Alaska search Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission View of Anchorage and Commissions Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission (ASHSC) main contant Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission logo Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission (ASHSC) - Mission The Alaska Seismic

Comprehensive Health Care Program for American Indians & Alaska Natives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Indian Health Service (PHS/HSA), Rockville, MD.

This booklet summarizes programs of the Indian Health Service (IHS). The IHS was created in 1954 as part of the Public Health Service when responsibility for American Indian and Alaska Native health care was transferred from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The goal of…

Committee opinion no. 515: Health care for urban American Indian and Alaska Native women.

PubMed

2012-01-01

Sixty percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women live in metropolitan areas. Most are not eligible for health care provided by the federal Indian Health Service (IHS). The IHS partly funds 34 Urban Indian Health Organizations, which vary in size and services. Some are small informational and referral sites that are limited even in the scope of outpatient services provided. Compared with other urban populations, urban American Indian and Alaska Native women have higher rates of teenaged pregnancy, late or no prenatal care, and alcohol and tobacco use in pregnancy. Their infants have higher rates of preterm birth, mortality, and sudden infant death syndrome than infants in the general population. Barriers to care experienced by American Indian and Alaska Native women should be addressed. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists encourages Fellows to be aware of the risk profile of their urban American Indian and Alaska Native patients and understand that they often are not eligible for IHS coverage and may need assistance in gaining access to other forms of coverage. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also recommends that Fellows encourage their federal legislators to support adequate funding for the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, permanently authorized as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Canadian and Siberian Boreal Fire Activity during ARCTAS Spring and Summer Phases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stocks, B. J.; Fromm, M. D.; Soja, A. J.; Servranckx, R.; Lindsey, D.; Hyer, E.

2009-12-01

The summer phase of ARCTAS (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites) was designed specifically around forest fire activity in the Canadian boreal forest, and located in areas of northern Canada where summer forest fires are ubiquitous. Lightning fires are most often allowed to burn naturally in these regions, and a number of large free-burning fires in northern Saskatchewan in late June/early July 2008 provided excellent targets during the summer phase of ARCTAS. Smoke generated by a large number of early spring fires in Kazakhstan and southern Siberia unexpectedly made a significant contribution to arctic haze during the Alaska-based spring phase of ARCTAS, Numerous smoke plumes were sampled during the spring phase of ARCTAS, creating interest in the origin and characteristics of the fires in the source regions of East Asia. This presentation is designed to connect aircraft and satellite smoke chemistry/transport measurements with ground-based measurements of fire activity during the spring and summer phases of ARCTAS. The Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) is used to determine forest fire danger conditions in regions of fire activity, and these measurements are in turn used to project fire behavior characteristics. Fuel consumption, spread rates, and frontal fire intensity are calculated using the CFFDRS. Energy release rates at ground level are related to convection/smoke column development and smoke injection heights.

75 FR 6199 - TransCanada Alaska Company LLC; Notice of Request for Approval of Plan for Conducting an Open Season

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-08

... governing Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects, TransCanada Alaska Company LLC (TC... firm natural gas transportation service and optional firm gas treatment service to be provided by TC... , or call (866) 208-3676 (toll free). For TTY, call (202) 502-8659. Please note that the review of TC...

Effect of Tundra Fires on Stream Chemistry in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jimmie, J. A.; Mann, P. J.; Schade, J. D.; Natali, S.; Fiske, G.; Holmes, R. M.

2017-12-01

Surface air temperatures in the Arctic have been increasing at approximately twice the global average, contributing to myriad changes including shifting vegetation, thawing permafrost, and altered surface and groundwater hydrology. Wildfire frequency and intensity has also been increasing, and in summer 2015, more area burned in the Yukon-Kuskowkwim Delta than in the previous 64 years combined. We investigated the impact of tundra fire on stream water chemistry, and by extension, on the movement of nutrients and organic matter between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Using a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model, we characterized the contributing sub-watershed area at each of our stream water sampling locations and calculated the percent of each sub-watershed that was burned in summer 2015. We found that nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate concentrations increased with burn area in a watershed, indicating that terrestrial inputs of these constituents to aquatic systems increased following fire. Patterns were less striking for dissolved organic carbon and dissolved organic nitrogen, but there was a positive relationship between burn area and the concentration of these constituents as well. These results highlight the significant impact of tundra fires on terrestrial-aquatic linkages in the Arctic, and suggest that these impacts may increase in the future if fire in Arctic and boreal regions continues to become more common.

78 FR 17886 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-25

... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 22, 2013...

76 FR 11393 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-02

... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... catch (TAC) of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time...

76 FR 10779 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-28

... Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 610 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... pollock in Statistical Area 610 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

29 CFR 1910.156 - Fire brigades.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... training schools as the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute; Iowa Fire Service Extension; West Virginia Fire... University, Lamar University, Reno Fire School, or the Delaware State Fire School.) (4) The employer shall... laboratory oven at a temperature of 500 °F (260 °C) for a period of five minutes. After cooling to ambient...

The Vegetation Greenness Trend in Canada and US Alaska from 1984-2012 Landsat Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ju, Junchang; Masek, Jeffrey G.

2016-01-01

To assess the North American high-latitude vegetation response to the rising temperature, we derived NDVI end for 91.2% of the non-water, non-snow land area of Canada and Alaska using the peak-summer Landsat surface reflectance data of 19842012. Our analysis indicated that 29.4% and 2.9 of the land area of Canada and Alaska showed statistically significant positive (greening) and negative (browning) trends respectively, at significance level p b 0.01, after burned forest areas were masked out. The area with greening trend dominated over that with browning trend for all land cover types. The greening occurred primarily in the tundra of western Alaska, along the north coast of Canada and in northeastern Canada; the most intensive and extensive greening occurred in Quebec and Labrador. The browning occurred mostly in the boreal forests of eastern Alaska. The Landsat-based greenness trend is broadly similar to the 8-km GIMMS AVHRR-based trend for all vegetation zones. However, for tundra, the Landsat data indicated much less extensive greening in Alaska North Slope and much more extensive greening in Quebec and Labrador, and substantially less extensive browning trend in the boreal forests that were free of fire disturbances. These differences call for further validation of the Landsat reflectance and the AVHRR NDVI datasets. Correlation study with local environmental factors, such as topography, glacial history and soil condition, will be needed to understand the heterogeneous greenness change at the Landsat scale.

Alaska exceptionality hypothesis: Is Alaska wilderness really different?

Treesearch

Gregory Brown

2002-01-01

The common idiom of Alaska as “The Last Frontier” suggests that the relative remoteness and unsettled character of Alaska create a unique Alaskan identity, one that is both a “frontier” and the “last” of its kind. The frontier idiom portrays the place and people of Alaska as exceptional or different from the places and people who reside in the Lower Forty- Eight States...

Warm summer nights and the growth decline of shore pine in Southeast Alaska

Treesearch

Patrick F Sullivan; Robin L Mulvey; Annalis H Brownlee; Tara M Barrett; Robert R Pattison

2015-01-01

Shore pine, which is a subspecies of lodgepole pine, was a widespread and dominant tree species in Southeast Alaska during the early Holocene. At present, the distribution of shore pine in Alaska is restricted to coastal bogs and fens, likely by competition with Sitka spruce and Western hemlock. Monitoring of permanent plots as part of the United States Forest Service...

Vulnerability and adaptation to climate-related fire impacts in rural and urban interior Alaska

Treesearch

Sarah F. Trainor; Monika Calef; David Natcher; F. Stuart Chapin; A. David McGuire; Orville Huntington; Paul Duffy; T. Scott Rupp; La' Ona DeWilde; Mary Kwart; Nancy Fresco; Amy Lauren Lovecraft

2009-01-01

We have learned that although urban and rural communities in interior Alaska face similar increased exposure to wildfire as a result of climate change, important differences exist in their sensitivity to these biophysical, climate-induced changes. In particular, reliance on wild foods, delayed suppression response, financial resources, and institutional connections...

77 FR 16950 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-23

... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... catch of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t...

76 FR 13097 - Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-10

... Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic.... SUMMARY: NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA... pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA. DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 7...

Data report for onshore-offshore wide-angle seismic recordings in the Bering-Chukchi Sea, Western Alaska and eastern Siberia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brocher, Thomas M.; Allen, Richard M.; Stone, David B.; Wolf, Lorraine W.; Galloway, Brian K.

1995-01-01

This report presents fourteen deep-crustal wide-angle seismic reflection and refraction profiles recorded onland in western Alaska and eastern Siberia from marine air gun sources in the Bering-Chukchi Seas. During a 20-day period in August, 1994, the R/V Ewing acquired two long (a total of 3754 km) deep-crustal seismic-reflection profiles on the continental shelf of the Bering and Chukchi Seas, in a collaborative project between Stanford University and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The Ewing's 137.7 liter (8355 cu. in.) air gun array was the source for both the multichannel reflection and the wide-angle seismic data. The Ewing, operated by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, steamed northward from Nunivak Island to Barrow, and returned, firing the air gun array at intervals of either 50 m or 75 m. About 37,700 air gun shots were fired along the northward directed Lines 1 and 2, and more than 40,000 air gun shots were fired along the southward directed Line 3. The USGS and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), deployed an array of twelve 3-component REFTEK and PDAS recorders in western Alaska and eastern Siberia which continuously recorded the air gun signals fired during the northward bound Lines 1 and 2. Seven of these recorders also continuously recorded the southward bound Line 3. These wide-angle seismic data were acquired to: (1) image reflectors in the upper to lower crust, (2) determine crustal and upper mantle refraction velocities, and (3) provide important constraints on the geometry of the Moho along the seismic lines. In this report, we describe the land recording of wide-angle data conducted by the USGS and the UAF, describe in detail how the wide-angle REFTEK and PDAS data were reduced to common receiver gather seismic sections, and illustrate the wide-angle seismic data obtained by the REFTEKs and PDAS's. Air gun signals were observed to ranges in excess of 400 km, and crustal and upper /mantle refractions indicate substantial

2005 Volcanic Activity in Alaska, Kamchatka, and the Kurile Islands: Summary of Events and Response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory

USGS Publications Warehouse

McGimsey, R.G.; Neal, C.A.; Dixon, J.P.; Ushakov, Sergey

2008-01-01

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptive activity or suspected volcanic activity at or near 16 volcanoes in Alaska during 2005, including the high profile precursory activity associated with the 2005?06 eruption of Augustine Volcano. AVO continues to participate in distributing information about eruptive activity on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, and in the Kurile Islands of the Russian Far East, in conjunction with the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) and the Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT), respectively. In 2005, AVO helped broadcast alerts about activity at 8 Russian volcanoes. The most serious hazard posed from volcanic eruptions in Alaska, Kamchatka, or the Kurile Islands is the placement of ash into the atmosphere at altitudes traversed by jet aircraft along the North Pacific and Russian Trans East air routes. AVO, KVERT, and SVERT work collaboratively with the National Weather Service, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers to provide timely warnings of volcanic eruptions and the production and movement of ash clouds.

Evidence of Emperor Geese breeding in Russia and staging in Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schmutz, Joel A.; Kondratyev, Alexander V.

1995-01-01

Emperor Geese (Chen canagica) breed primarily on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska (Eisenhauer and Kirkpatrick 1977), but a small, poorly quantified proportion of the world's population is known to breed in the Russia Far East (Kistchinski 1976, 1988, Portenko 1981). Eisenhauer and Kirkpatrick (1977) stated that 80 to 90% of all Emperor Geese breed on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, and current estimates for numbers of breeding pairs in this area are 20,000 to 25,000 (R. A. Stehn, National Biological Service, Anchorage, Alaska, unpubl. data). In Russia, Emperor Geese are distributed primarily along the north coast of the Chukotka Peninsula between Kolyuchin Bay and Cape Shmidt, and in the Anadyr Lowlands along the coast of Anadyr Bay (Fig. 1; Kistchinski 1988, Kondratyev 1992, 1993), Kistchinski (1976) noted that up to 80% of these geese are nonbreeding birds. Recent aerial surveys of Emperor Goose habitats along the eastern coast of Russia indicated a minimum of 3,000 to 5,000 geese, although very few were on nests or with young, and only 127 total broods were seen during these surveys (J. I. Hodges, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Juneau, Alaska, unpubl. data) It is not known if these two continental distributions of breeding Emperor Geese commingle and use similar areas during migration and for winter. Aerial surveys of the Alaska Peninsula during spring and fall indicate that lagoons on the northern coast are the primary staging areas for this species, and it is presumed that virtually all Emperor Geese use the Alaska Peninsula during migration (Petersen and Gill 1982). Emperor Geese winter throughout the Aleutian and Kommandorsky islands (Byrd et al., 1974). In the late fall, geese arrive in the western and eastern Aleutian Islands before arriving in the central Aleutians, thus suggesting that geese may be coming to this wintering area from both continents (G. V. Byrd pers, comm.). Speculations of previous investigators that Emperor Geese breeding in

76 FR 35221 - Epidemiology Program for American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes and Urban Indian Communities...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-16

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Indian Health Service Epidemiology Program for American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes and Urban Indian Communities; Correction AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS. ACTION: Notice; correction. SUMMARY: The Indian Health Service published a document in the Federal...

Fire, Climate, and Human Activity: A Combustive Combination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kehrwald, N. M.; Battistel, D.; Argiriadis, E.; Barbante, C.; Barber, L. B.; Fortner, S. K.; Jasmann, J.; Kirchgeorg, T.; Zennaro, P.

2017-12-01

Ice and lake core records demonstrate that fires caused by human activity can dominate regional biomass burning records in the Common Era. These major increases in fires are often associated with extensive land use change such as an expansion in agriculture. Regions with few humans, relatively stable human populations and/or unvarying land use often have fire histories that are dominated by climate parameters such as temperature and precipitation. Here, we examine biomass burning recorded in ice cores from northern Greenland (NEEM, (77°27'N; 51°3.6'W), Alaska (Juneau Icefield, 58° 35' N; 134° 29'W) and East Antarctica (EPICA DOME C; 75°06'S; 123°21'E), along with New Zealand lake cores to investigate interactions between climate, fire and human activity. Biomarkers such as levoglucosan, and its isomers mannosan and galactosan, can only be produced by cellulose combustion and therefore are specific indicators of past fire activity archived in ice and lake cores. These fire histories add another factor to climate proxies from the same core, and provide a comparison to regional fire syntheses from charcoal records and climate models. For example, fire data from the JSBACH-Spitfire model for the past 2000 years demonstrates that a climate-only scenario would not increase biomass burning in high northern latitudes for the past 2000 years, while NEEM ice core and regional pollen records demonstrate both increased fire activity and land use change that may be ascribed to human activity. Additional biomarkers such as fecal sterols in lake sediments can determine when people were in an area, and can help establish if an increased human presence in an area corresponds with intensified fire activity. This combination of specific biomarkers, other proxy data, and model output can help determine the relative impact of humans versus climate factors on regional fire activity.

Comparing the costs of agency and contract fire crews.

Treesearch

G.H. Donovan

2007-01-01

This paper compares the cost of using Forest Service fire crews versus contract fire crews. Results suggest that if sufficient work is available to keep a Forest Service crew productively employed throughout a fire season, then the daily cost of a Forest Service type II crew is lower than the daily cost of a contract crew.

Developing standardized strategic response categories for fire management units

Treesearch

Matthew P. Thompson; Crystal S. Stonesifer; Robert C. Seli; Marlena Hovorka

2013-01-01

Federal wildland fire policy requires that publicly owned lands with burnable vegetation have a fire management plan (FMP); this applies to the five primary Federal fire agencies (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service). FMPs are based on land and resource management plans and are...

A Decade of Experience: Which Network Structures Maximize Fire Service Capacity for Homeland Security Incidents in Metropolitan Regions?

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency QHSR Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Report RCP Regional Catastrophic Preparedness SAA State...service has evolved from a single-purpose service focused on controlling fires to a multidimensional response element responsible for pre- hospital ... hospital preparedness program Preparedness Training for all personnel; training and network activities during prior year assist in preparedness

Utilizing multi-sensor fire detections to map fires in the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Howard, Stephen M.; Picotte, Joshua J.; Coan, Michael

2014-01-01

In 2006, the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project began a cooperative effort between the US Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) to map and assess burn severity all large fires that have occurred in the United States since 1984. Using Landsat imagery, MTBS is mandated to map wildfire and prescribed fire that meet specific size criteria: greater than 1000 acres in the west and 500 acres in the east, regardless of ownership. Relying mostly on federal and state fire occurrence records, over 15,300 individual fires have been mapped. While mapping recorded fires, an additional 2,700 “unknown” or undocumented fires were discovered and assessed. It has become apparent that there are perhaps thousands of undocumented fires in the US that are yet to be mapped. Fire occurrence records alone are inadequate if MTBS is to provide a comprehensive accounting of fire across the US. Additionally, the sheer number of fires to assess has overwhelmed current manual procedures. To address these problems, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Applied Sciences Program is helping to fund the efforts of the USGS and its MTBS partners (USFS, National Park Service) to develop, and implement a system to automatically identify fires using satellite data. In near real time, USGS will combine active fire satellite detections from MODIS, AVHRR and GOES satellites with Landsat acquisitions. Newly acquired Landsat imagery will be routinely scanned to identify freshly burned area pixels, derive an initial perimeter and tag the burned area with the satellite date and time of detection. Landsat imagery from the early archive will be scanned to identify undocumented fires. Additional automated fire assessment processes will be developed. The USGS will develop these processes using open source software packages in order to provide freely available tools to local land managers providing them with the capability to assess fires at the local level.

Utilizing Multi-Sensor Fire Detections to Map Fires in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, S. M.; Picotte, J. J.; Coan, M. J.

2014-11-01

In 2006, the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project began a cooperative effort between the US Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) to map and assess burn severity all large fires that have occurred in the United States since 1984. Using Landsat imagery, MTBS is mandated to map wildfire and prescribed fire that meet specific size criteria: greater than 1000 acres in the west and 500 acres in the east, regardless of ownership. Relying mostly on federal and state fire occurrence records, over 15,300 individual fires have been mapped. While mapping recorded fires, an additional 2,700 "unknown" or undocumented fires were discovered and assessed. It has become apparent that there are perhaps thousands of undocumented fires in the US that are yet to be mapped. Fire occurrence records alone are inadequate if MTBS is to provide a comprehensive accounting of fire across the US. Additionally, the sheer number of fires to assess has overwhelmed current manual procedures. To address these problems, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Applied Sciences Program is helping to fund the efforts of the USGS and its MTBS partners (USFS, National Park Service) to develop, and implement a system to automatically identify fires using satellite data. In near real time, USGS will combine active fire satellite detections from MODIS, AVHRR and GOES satellites with Landsat acquisitions. Newly acquired Landsat imagery will be routinely scanned to identify freshly burned area pixels, derive an initial perimeter and tag the burned area with the satellite date and time of detection. Landsat imagery from the early archive will be scanned to identify undocumented fires. Additional automated fire assessment processes will be developed. The USGS will develop these processes using open source software packages in order to provide freely available tools to local land managers providing them with the capability to assess fires at the local level.

Estimation of carbon emissions from wildfires in Alaskan boreal forests using AVHRR data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kasischke, E.S.; French, N.H.F.; Bourgeau-Chavez, L.L

1993-06-01

The objectives of this research study were to evaluate the utility of using AVHRR data for locating and measuring the areal extent of wildfires in the boreal forests of Alaska and to estimate the amount of carbon being released during these fires. Techniques were developed to using the normalized difference vegetation signature derived from AVHRR data to detect and measure the area of fires in Alaska. A model was developed to estimate the amount of biomass/carbon being stored in Alaskan boreal forests, and the amount of carbon released during fires. The AVHRR analysis resulted in detection of > 83% ofmore » all forest fires greater than 2,000 ha in size in the years 1990 and 1991. The areal estimate derived from AVHRR data were 75% of the area mapped by the Alaska Fire Service for these years. Using fire areas and locations for 1954 through 1992, it was determined that on average, 13.0 gm-C-m-2 of boreal forest area is released during fires every year. This estimate is two to six times greater than previous reported estimates. Our conclusions are that the analysis of AVHRR data represents a viable means for detecting and mapping fires in boreal regions on a global basis.« less

76 FR 56109 - Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska-Subpart B, Federal Subsistence Board

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-12

... questions specific to National Forest System lands, contact Steve Kessler, Subsistence Program Leader, USDA..., productivity, jobs, the environment, or other units of the government. (b) Whether the rule will create...; Jerry Berg, Alaska Regional Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Steve Kessler, Alaska Regional...

78 FR 53137 - Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC, BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-28

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket Nos. OR13-31-000] Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC, BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, Inc., ExxonMobil... (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska, Inc., and ExxonMobil Pipeline Company (collectively...

Substance Testing in the Fire Service: Making Public Safety a Matter of National Policy

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

25). Leshner (1999) submits that virtually every addictive substance—be it cocaine, marijuana , methamphetamine, heroin, or nicotine— appears to...safety sensitive. The DOT test panel tests for five classifications of drugs: amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana , opiates, and phencyclidine. When the...methods are laws, political/socio-cultural, pricing of services, and individual fire departments. Marijuana has been legalized in a number of states

Shifts in microbial communities and soil nutrients along a fire chronosequence in Alaskan boreal forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Treseder, K. K.; Mack, M. C.; Cross, A.

2002-12-01

Fires are important pathways of carbon loss from boreal forests, while microbial communities form equally important mechanisms for carbon accumulation between fires. We used a chronosequence in Alaska to examine shifts in microbial abundance and community composition in the several decades following severe fire, and then related these responses to soil characteristics in the same sites. The sites are located in upland forests near Delta Junction, Alaska, and represent stages at 3-, 15-, 45-, and over 100-yr following fire. Plant communities shift from herbaceous species in the youngest site, to deciduous shrubs and trees (e.g. Populus tremuloides and Salix) in the intermediate sites, to black spruce (Picea mariana) forest in the oldest site. Soil organic matter accumulated 2.8-fold over time. Potential mineralization was highest in the intermediate-aged sites, as was nitrification and standing pools of inorganic nitrogen. In contrast, inorganic phosphorus pools were highest immediately following fire, and then decreased nine-fold with age. As measured with BiologTM plates, bacterial diversity and abundance were greatest in the oldest sites. Plant roots in the intermediate-aged sites displayed higher colonization by ecto- and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi than those in the youngest and oldest sites. Likewise, glomalin, a glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, was most abundant in the 14-yr old site. Glomalin is believed to contribute to the formation of water-stable aggregates in the soil. However, water stable aggregates were most abundant in the younger sites and did not follow the pattern of glomalin or arbuscular mycorrhizal abundance. Our results indicate that fire may maintain landscape-level diversity of microbial functional groups, and that carbon sequestration in microbial tissues (e.g. glomalin and fungal biomass) may be greatest in areas that have burned several decades earlier. Changes in soil structure may not be directly attributable to

National fire-danger rating system fine-fuel moisture content tables—an Alaskan adaptation.

Treesearch

Richard J. Barney

1969-01-01

Fine-fuel moisture content tables, using dry bulb and dewpoint temperatures as entry data, have been developed for use with the National Fire-Danger Rating System in Alaska. Comparisons have been made which illustrate differences resulting from danger-rating calculations based on these new fine-fuel moisture content tables for the cured, transition, and green...

The Perfect Fire? Aging Stands in the Alaskan Boreal Forest Encounter Global Warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mann, D.; Rupp, S.; Duffy, P.

2008-12-01

The ecological responses of the boreal forest to climate change have global significance because of the large amount of carbon stored in its soils and biomass. Fire, mostly ignited by lightning, is the keystone disturbance agent in this forest. It triggers cycles of forest succession in its wake, and burning is the main avenue for carbon release back to the atmosphere. We studied the interactions between climate, fires, forest succession, and the age distributions of forest stands in a 60-million hectare region of Interior Alaska over the past 150 years. First we developed a statistical model relating climate to area burned over the period of record (1950-2005). Next we combined this model with climate reconstructions to extend the estimates of area burned back to A.D. 1860. We checked the resultant fire history against stand-age data from 5000 living trees sampled in the study region. Then we fed the history of area burned into a computer model that simulates forest succession on real landscapes. Results show striking changes in the means and variances of stand ages over the last 150 years in response to interactions between climate change and the successional dynamics of the boreal forest. Average stand age increased steadily between 1880 and 1940 and has fluctuated at high levels since then, indicating a historically unusual abundance of flammable stands. This accumulation of old stands has created the potential for unusually large fires. Some support for this conclusion comes from the unprecedented large sizes of the areas burned in 2004 and 2005. Further support comes when we add to the analysis the forecasts made by global climate models for Alaska over the next twenty years. Bracketing estimates for climate warming and precipitation change suggest that warmer, drier summers combined with aging forest stands will cause a series of unusually large fires, the like of which have not occurred in the region for >150 years. We infer that the enhanced burning of the

Senior and Disabilities Services

Science.gov Websites

Agencies Alaska Pioneer Homes Behavioral Health Office of Children's Services Office of the Commissioner Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention Finance & Management Services Health Care Services Juvenile Justice Public Assistance Public Health Seniors & Disabilities Services Boards

Forest fire laboratory at Riverside and fire research in California: past, present, and future

Treesearch

Carl C. Wilson; James B. Davis

1988-01-01

The need for protection from uncontrolled fire in California was identified by Abbott Kinney, Chairman of the State Board of Forestry, more than 75 years before the construction of the Riverside Forest Fire Laboratory. With the organization of the USDA Forest Service the need for an effective fire protection organization became apparent. In response, a...

Alaska Energy Inventory Project: Consolidating Alaska's Energy Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papp, K.; Clough, J.; Swenson, R.; Crimp, P.; Hanson, D.; Parker, P.

2007-12-01

Alaska has considerable energy resources distributed throughout the state including conventional oil, gas, and coal, and unconventional coalbed and shalebed methane, gas hydrates, geothermal, wind, hydro, and biomass. While much of the known large oil and gas resources are concentrated on the North Slope and in the Cook Inlet regions, the other potential sources of energy are dispersed across a varied landscape from frozen tundra to coastal settings. Despite the presence of these potential energy sources, rural Alaska is mostly dependent upon diesel fuel for both electrical power generation and space heating needs. At considerable cost, large quantities of diesel fuel are transported to more than 150 roadless communities by barge or airplane and stored in large bulk fuel tank farms for winter months when electricity and heat are at peak demands. Recent increases in the price of oil have severely impacted the price of energy throughout Alaska, and especially hard hit are rural communities and remote mines that are off the road system and isolated from integrated electrical power grids. Even though the state has significant conventional gas resources in restricted areas, few communities are located near enough to these resources to directly use natural gas to meet their energy needs. To address this problem, the Alaska Energy Inventory project will (1) inventory and compile all available Alaska energy resource data suitable for electrical power generation and space heating needs including natural gas, coal, coalbed and shalebed methane, gas hydrates, geothermal, wind, hydro, and biomass and (2) identify locations or regions where the most economic energy resource or combination of energy resources can be developed to meet local needs. This data will be accessible through a user-friendly web-based interactive map, based on the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Land Records Information Section's (LRIS) Alaska Mapper, Google Earth, and Terrago Technologies' Geo

Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence in the conterminous United States and Alaska, 2009

Treesearch

Kevin M. Potter

2013-01-01

Wildland fire represents an important ecological mechanism in many forest ecosystems. It shapes the distributions of species, maintains the structure and function of fire-prone communities, and is a significant evolutionary force (Bond and Keeley 2005). At the same time, fire outside the historic range of frequency and intensity can have extensive economic and...

InSAR detects increase in surface subsidence caused by an Arctic tundra fire

USGS Publications Warehouse

Liu, Lin; Jafarov, Elchin E.; Schaefer, Kevin M.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Zebker, Howard A.; Williams, Christopher A.; Rogan, John; Zhang, Tingjun

2014-01-01

Wildfire is a major disturbance in the Arctic tundra and boreal forests, having a significant impact on soil hydrology, carbon cycling, and permafrost dynamics. This study explores the use of the microwave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique to map and quantify ground surface subsidence caused by the Anaktuvuk River fire on the North Slope of Alaska. We detected an increase of up to 8 cm of thaw-season ground subsidence after the fire, which is due to a combination of thickened active layer and permafrost thaw subsidence. Our results illustrate the effectiveness and potential of using InSAR to quantify fire impacts on the Arctic tundra, especially in regions underlain by ice-rich permafrost. Our study also suggests that surface subsidence is a more comprehensive indicator of fire impacts on ice-rich permafrost terrain than changes in active layer thickness alone.

Evidence for nonuniform permafrost degradation after fire in boreal landscapes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Minsley, Burke J.; Pastick, Neal J.; Wylie, Bruce K.; Brown, Dana R.N.; Kass, M. Andy

2016-01-01

Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resilience of different landscapes to permafrost degradation are needed. We present a combination of multiscale remote sensing, geophysical, and field observations that reveal details of both near-surface (<1 m) and deeper (>1 m) impacts of fire on permafrost. Along 11 transects that span burned-unburned boundaries in different landscape settings within interior Alaska, subsurface electrical resistivity and nuclear magnetic resonance data indicate locations where permafrost appears to be resilient to disturbance from fire, areas where warm permafrost conditions exist that may be most vulnerable to future change, and also areas where permafrost has thawed. High-resolution geophysical data corroborate remote sensing interpretations of near-surface permafrost and also add new high-fidelity details of spatial heterogeneity that extend from the shallow subsurface to depths of about 10 m. Results show that postfire impacts on permafrost can be variable and depend on multiple factors such as fire severity, soil texture, soil moisture, and time since fire.

Airborne forest fire research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mattingly, G. S.

1974-01-01

The research relating to airborne fire fighting systems is reviewed to provide NASA/Langley Research Center with current information on the use of aircraft in forest fire operations, and to identify research requirements for future operations. A literature survey, interview of forest fire service personnel, analysis and synthesis of data from research reports and independent conclusions, and recommendations for future NASA-LRC programs are included.

Emission Factors for CO2, CO, CH4, and C2 - C4 Hydrocarbons from the 2011 Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia Fire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, S.; Soja, A. J.; Richardson, M. J.

2012-12-01

With a warming climate, increased dry conditions and drought periods are likely to result in higher fire activity in the wetlands of the eastern and southeastern US. Fires in this fuel type can smolder for months producing significant carbon release and major impacts on air quality. While a comprehensive set of emission factors has been established for most US fuel types, a less complete set is available for emissions where deep layers of organic matter can consume and smolder for days, weeks and months. Lightning started the Lateral West fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia on August 4, and it burned slowly through drought-stressed hardwood forest and dry peat soil. The fire produced dense plumes of smoke that mostly dispersed over the Atlantic Ocean, but also affected air quality as far away as Washington, D.C. Fire emissions were sampled August 26, 2011. The fire had burned 6,358 acres. and was smoldering along in the peat, with some brush still igniting. The average emission factors (EF) we measured from the sampling were 1441 g/kg CO2, 192 g/kg CO; and 16.5 g/kg CH4.. Modified combustion efficiency (MCE) was 0.83, produced by the small amount of flaming combustion mixed with smoldering combustion of the peat. The CO2 EF values are similar to those measured from smoldering duff in Alaska in 2003 (1436 g/kg), and the CO EF was lower than Alaska (244 g/kg CO), while the CH4 EF was much higher than Alaska (8.4 g/kg CH4). We will present our complete set of emission factors from the Great Dismal Swamp for CO2, CO, CH4, and C2 - C4 hydrocarbons, and contrast these results with other fuel types. Linear regressions of C1- C4 hydrocarbons vs. CO concentration will presented and compared with other emissions results.

Diversity in Southwesterners' views of Forest Service fire management

Treesearch

P.L. Winter; G.T. Cvetkovich

2007-01-01

The risk of wildland fires is of significant concern in the southwestern United States. Although the Southwest has a long hi story as a fire· prone ecosystem, years of drought and insect infestation have increased fire risk. Paired with these ecological forces is the increased risk caused by the concentration of populations in the wildland urban interface (WUl),...

The Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory: A 50-year dedication to understanding wildlands and fire

Treesearch

Diane M. Smith

2012-01-01

In 1960, the USDA Forest Service established the Northern Forest Fire Laboratory (now the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory) to find scientific solutions for better managing the nation's wildland resources and to research ways to improve forest fire prevention and suppression. This new state-of-the-art research facility did not emerge from a vacuum, however. This...

Retiree benefit mailing dates | Alaska Division of Retirement and Benefits

Science.gov Websites

Employee Retiring Retiree Disabled Survivor Features Empower Retirement Account Info Online myRnB Member Scheduler Empower Retirement Account Info Online myRnB Member Services Seminars AlaskaCare Wellness Forms

Geologic framework of the Alaska Peninsula, southwest Alaska, and the Alaska Peninsula terrane

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilson, Frederic H.; Detterman, Robert L.; DuBois, Gregory D.

2015-01-01

The boundaries separating the Alaska Peninsula terrane from other terranes are commonly indistinct or poorly defined. A few boundaries have been defined at major faults, although the extensions of these faults are speculative through some areas. The west side of the Alaska Peninsula terrane is overlapped by Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks and Quaternary deposits.

Alaska: A twenty-first-century petroleum province

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bird, K.J.

2001-01-01

Alaska, the least explored of all United States regions, is estimated to contain approximately 40% of total U.S. undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and natural-gas resources, based on the most recent U.S. Department of the Interior (U.S. Geological Survey and Minerals Management Service) estimates. Northern Alaska, including the North Slope and adjacent Beaufort and Chukchi continental shelves, holds the lion's share of the total Alaskan endowment of more than 30 billion barrels (4.8 billion m3) of oil and natural-gas liquids plus nearly 200 trillion cubic feet (5.7 trillion m3) of natural gas. This geologically complex region includes prospective strata within passive-margin, rift, and foreland-basin sequences. Multiple source-rock zones have charged several regionally extensive petroleum systems. Extensional and compressional structures provide ample structural objectives. In addition, recent emphasis on stratigraphic traps has demonstrated significant resource potential in shelf and turbidite systems in Jurassic to Tertiary strata. Despite robust potential, northern Alaska remains a risky exploration frontier - a nexus of geologic complexity, harsh economic conditions, and volatile policy issues. Its role as a major petroleum province in this century will depend on continued technological innovations, not only in exploration and drilling operations, but also in development of huge, currently unmarketable natural-gas resources. Ultimately, policy decisions will determine whether exploration of arctic Alaska will proceed.

Social and economic issues of the Hayman Fire

Treesearch

Brian Kent; Krista Gebert; Sarah McCaffrey; Wade Martin; David Calkin; Ervin Schuster; Ingrid Martin; Holly Wise Bender; Greg Alward; Yoshitaka Kumagai; Patricia J. Cohn; Matt Carroll; Dan Williams; Carol Ekarius

2004-01-01

On June 26, 2002, U.S. Representative Mark Udall wrote the US Forest Service Chief, requesting that the Forest Service conduct an analysis of the Hayman Fire. In response to the Congressman's letter, five teams were established in August, 2002 to analyze various aspects of the Hayman Fire experience. This report describes the Hayman Fire analysis work conducted by...

Alternatives to clearcutting in the old-growth forests of southeast Alaska: study plan and establishment report.

Treesearch

Michael H. McClellan; Douglas N. Swanston; Paul E. Hennon; Robert L. Deal; Toni L. de Santo; Mark S. Wipfli

2000-01-01

Much is known about the ecological effects, economics, and social impacts of clearcutting, but little documented experience with other silvicultural systems exists in southeast Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Research Station and the Alaska Region of the USDA Forest Service have cooperatively established an interdisciplinary study of ecosystem and social responses to...

48 CFR 452.236-78 - Fire Suppression and Liability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Fire Suppression and Liability. As prescribed in § 436.578, the following clause may be inserted in contracts awarded for Integrated Resource Service Contracts (IRSC) awarded for the Forest Service. Fire... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Fire Suppression and...

Generating Multispectral VIIRS Imagery in Near Real-Time for Use by the National Weather Service in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broderson, D.; Dierking, C.; Stevens, E.; Heinrichs, T. A.; Cherry, J. E.

2016-12-01

The Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) uses two direct broadcast antennas to receive data from a number of polar-orbiting weather satellites, including the Suomi National Polar Partnership (S-NPP) satellite. GINA uses data from S-NPP's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to generate a variety of multispectral imagery products developed with the needs of the National Weather Service operational meteorologist in mind. Multispectral products have two primary advantages over single-channel products. First, they can more clearly highlight some terrain and meteorological features which are less evident in the component single channels. Second, multispectral present the information from several bands through just one image, thereby sparing the meteorologist unnecessary time interrogating the component single bands individually. With 22 channels available from the VIIRS instrument, the number of possible multispectral products is theoretically huge. A small number of products will be emphasized in this presentation, with the products chosen based on their proven utility in the forecasting environment. Multispectral products can be generated upstream of the end user or by the end user at their own workstation. The advantage and disadvantages of both approaches will be outlined. Lastly, the technique of improving the appearance of multispectral imagery by correcting for atmospheric reflectance at the shorter wavelengths will be described.

Accidental fires in clinical laboratories.

PubMed

Hoeltge, G A; Miller, A; Klein, B R; Hamlin, W B

1993-12-01

The National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Mass, estimates that 169 fires have occurred annually in health care, medical, and chemical laboratories. On the average, there are 13 civilian injuries and $1.5 million per year in direct property damage. Most fires in which the cause or ignition source can be identified originate in malfunctioning electrical equipment (41.6%) or in the facility's electrical distribution system (14.7%). The prevalence of fire safety deficiencies was measured in the College of American Pathologists Laboratory Accreditation Program. Of the 1732 inspected laboratories, 5.5% lacked records of electrical receptacle polarity and ground checks in the preceding year. Of these inspected laboratories, 4.7% had no or incomplete documentation of electrical safety checks on laboratory instruments. There was no evidence of quarterly fire exit drills in 9% of the laboratories. Deficiencies were also found in precautionary labeling (6.8%), in periodic review of safe work practices (4.2%), in the use of safety cans (3.7%), and in venting of flammable liquid storage areas (2.8%). Fire preparedness would be improved if all clinical laboratories had smoke detectors and automatic fire-extinguishing systems. In-service training courses in fire safety should be targeted to the needs of specific service areas.

Multisensor Fire Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boquist, C.

2004-01-01

This DVD includes animations of multisensor fire observations from the following satellite sources: Landsat, GOES, TOMS, Terra, QuikSCAT, and TRMM. Some of the animations are included in multiple versions of a short video presentation on the DVD which focuses on the Hayman, Rodeo-Chediski, and Biscuit fires during the 2002 North American fire season. In one version of the presentation, MODIS, TRMM, GOES, and QuikSCAT data are incorporated into the animations of these wildfires. These data products provided rain, wind, cloud, and aerosol data on the fires, and monitored the smoke and destruction created by them. Another presentation on the DVD consists of a panel discussion, in which experts from academia, NASA, and the U.S. Forest Service answer questions on the role of NASA in fighting forest fires, the role of the Terra satellite and its instruments, including the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), in fire fighting decision making, and the role of fire in the Earth's climate. The third section of the DVD features several animations of fires over the years 2001-2003, including animations of global and North American fires, and specific fires from 2003 in California, Washington, Montana, and Arizona.

U.S. Global Climate Change Impacts Report, Alaska Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGuire, D.

2009-12-01

The assessment of the Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States includes analyses of the potential climate change impacts in Alaska. The resulting findings are discussed in this presentation, with the effects on water resources discussed separately. Major findings include: Summers are getting hotter and drier, with increasing evaporation outpacing increased precipitation. Climate changes are already affecting water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems, and health. These impacts are different from region to region and will grow under projected climate change. Wildfires and insect problems are increasing. Climate plays a key role in determining the extent and severity of insect outbreaks and wildfire. The area burned in North America’s northern forest that spans Alaska and Canada tripled from the 1960s to the 1990s. During the 1990s, south-central Alaska experienced the largest outbreak of spruce bark beetles in the world because of warmer weather in all seasons of the year. Under changing climate conditions, the average area burned per year in Alaska is projected to double by the middle of this century10. By the end of this century, area burned by fire is projected to triple under a moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario and to quadruple under a higher emissions scenario. Close-bodied lakes are declining in area. A continued decline in the area of surface water would present challenges for the management of natural resources and ecosystems on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska. These refuges, which cover over 77 million acres (21 percent of Alaska) and comprise 81 percent of the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System, provide a breeding habitat for millions of waterfowl and shorebirds that winter in the lower 48 states. Permafrost thawing will damage public and private infrastructure. Land subsidence (sinking) associated with the thawing of permafrost presents substantial challenges to engineers attempting to preserve infrastructure in

Fossils and fire: a study on the effects of fire on paleontological resources at Badlands National Park

Treesearch

Rachel Benton; James Reardon

2006-01-01

National Park Service policies stipulate that each park with vegetation capable of burning will prepare a fire management plan. Badlands National Park completed its fire management plan in 2004. Fossils are a principle resource of the park and the fire sensitivity of fossils is the focus of this study. The surface temperatures of fossil specimens and fire behavior...

Alaska GeoFORCE, A New Geologic Adventure in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wartes, D.

2011-12-01

RAHI, the Rural Alaska Honors Institute is a statewide, six-week, summer college-preparatory bridge program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for Alaska Native and rural high school juniors and seniors. A program of rigorous academic activity combines with social, cultural, and recreational activities. Students are purposely stretched beyond their comfort levels academically and socially to prepare for the big step from home or village to a large culturally western urban campus. This summer RAHI is launching a new program, GeoFORCE Alaska. This outreach initiative is designed to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing STEM degree programs and entering the future high-tech workforce. It uses Earth science as the hook because most kids get excited about dinosaurs, volcanoes and earthquakes, but it includes physics, chemistry, math, biology and other sciences. Students will be recruited, initially from the Arctic North Slope schools, in the 8th grade to begin the annual program of approximately 8 days, the summer before their 9th grade year and then remain in the program for all four years of high school. They must maintain a B or better grade average and participate in all GeoFORCE events. The carrot on the end of the stick is an exciting field event each summer. Over the four-year period, events will include trips to Fairbanks, Arizona, Oregon and the Appalachians. All trips are focused on Earth science and include a 100+ page guidebook, with tests every night culminating with a final exam. GeoFORCE Alaska is being launched by UAF in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin, which has had tremendous success with GeoFORCE Texas. GeoFORCE Alaska will be managed by UAF's long-standing Rural Alaska Honors Insitute (RAHI) that has been successfully providing intense STEM educational opportunities for Alaskan high school students for almost 30 years. The Texas program, with adjustments for differences in culture and environment, will be

Fire Protection for Rural Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hagevig, William A.

Fire protection in rural Alaskan communities depends on individual home fire prevention and protection rather than on the services offered by a centralized fire department. Even when help is summoned to extinguish a blaze, aid does not come in the form of a cadre of highly trained firefighters; it comes instead from whomever happens to be in the…

Remote sensing of Alaskan boreal forest fires at the pixel and sub-pixel level: multi-sensor approaches and sensitivity analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waigl, C.; Stuefer, M.; Prakash, A.

2013-12-01

Wildfire is the main disturbance regime of the boreal forest ecosystem, a region acutely sensitive to climate change. Large fires impact the carbon cycle, permafrost, and air quality on a regional and even hemispheric scale. Because of their significance as a hazard to human health and economic activity, monitoring wildfires is relevant not only to science but also to government agencies. The goal of this study is to develop pathways towards a near real-time assessment of fire characteristics in the boreal zones of Alaska based on satellite remote sensing data. We map the location of active burn areas and derive fire parameters such as fire temperature, intensity, stage (smoldering or flaming), emission injection points, carbon consumed, and energy released. For monitoring wildfires in the sub-arctic region, we benefit from the high temporal resolution of data (as high as 8 images a day) from MODIS on the Aqua and Terra platforms and VIIRS on NPP/Suomi, downlinked and processed to level 1 by the Geographic Information Network of Alaska at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. To transcend the low spatial resolution of these sensors, a sub-pixel analysis is carried out. By applying techniques from Bayesian inverse modeling to Dozier's two-component approach, uncertainties and sensitivity of the retrieved fire temperatures and fractional pixel areas to background temperature and atmospheric factors are assessed. A set of test cases - large fires from the 2004 to 2013 fire seasons complemented by a selection of smaller burns at the lower end of the MODIS detection threshold - is used to evaluate the methodology. While the VIIRS principal fire detection band M13 (centered at 4.05 μm, similar to MODIS bands 21 and 22 at 3.959 μm) does not usually saturate for Alaskan wildfire areas, the thermal IR band M15 (10.763 μm, comparable to MODIS band 31 at 11.03 μm) indeed saturates for a percentage, though not all, of the fire pixels of intense burns. As this limits the

Barriers to Implementation of Workplace Wellness Programs in Career Fire Service Organizations: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrington, Jillian

2017-01-01

Firefighter wellness has become a concern across the country, in large part because a combination of poor fitness levels, excess weight, and a high-intensity work environment contributes to chronic illness as well as line-of-duty deaths. Workplace wellness programs are effective in career fire service organizations, but nationwide implementation…

A Survey of Timber Impacted Schools and Communities in Southeast Alaska.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

South East Regional Resource Center, Juneau, AK.

This survey examines the impact of reduced timber harvests and mill closures by the U.S. Forest Service on timber-dependent schools and communities in the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. One purpose was to recommend educational programs and services that are necessary to remediate these impacts on children. Between 1990 and 1995,…

Fire technology abstracts, volume 4. Cumulative indexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1982-03-01

Cumulative subject, author, publisher, and report number indexes referencing articles, books, reports, and patents are provided. The dynamics of fire, behavior and properties of materials, fire modeling and test burns, fire protection, fire safety, fire service organization, apparatus and equipment, fire prevention suppression, planning, human behavior, medical problems, codes and standards, hazard identification, safe handling of materials, and insurance economics of loss and prevention are among the subjects covered.

High-resolution records detect human-caused changes to the boreal forest wildfire regime in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gaglioti, Benjamin V.; Mann, Daniel H.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Wooller, Matthew J.; Finney, Bruce P.

2016-01-01

Stand-replacing wildfires are a keystone disturbance in the boreal forest, and they are becoming more common as the climate warms. Paleo-fire archives from the wildland–urban interface can quantify the prehistoric fire regime and assess how both human land-use and climate change impact ecosystem dynamics. Here, we use a combination of a sedimentary charcoal record preserved in varved lake sediments (annually layered) and fire scars in living trees to document changes in local fire return intervals (FRIs) and regional fire activity over the last 500 years. Ace Lake is within the boreal forest, located near the town of Fairbanks in interior Alaska, which was settled by gold miners in AD 1902. In the 400 years before settlement, fires occurred near the lake on average every 58 years. After settlement, fires became much more frequent (average every 18  years), and background charcoal flux rates rose to four times their preindustrial levels, indicating a region-wide increase in burning. Despite this surge in burning, the preindustrial boreal forest ecosystem and permafrost in the watershed have remained intact. Although fire suppression has reduced charcoal influx since the 1950s, an aging fuel load experiencing increasingly warm summers may pose management problems for this and other boreal sites that have similar land-use and fire histories. The large human-caused fire events that we identify can be used to test how increasingly common megafires may alter ecosystem dynamics in the future.

From Alaska: A 21st Century Story of Indigenous Self-Determination in Urban American Public Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinstein, Gail L. Israel

2014-01-01

For Alaskan Indigenous people, an acute clash of cultures occurs daily in U.S. public school education. The dynamics used to implement and improve the well-being and graduation outcomes for Alaska Native youth in urban public school are presented. A partnership between Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., an Alaska Native social service nonprofit, and…

Social and economic issues of the Hayman Fire

Treesearch

Brian Kent; Krista Gebert; Sarah McCaffrey; Wade Martin; David Calkin; Ervin Schuster; Ingrid Martin; Holly Wise Bender; Greg Alward; Yoshitaka Kumagai; Patricia J. Cohn; Matt Carroll; Daniel Williams; Carol Ekarius

2003-01-01

On June 26, 2002, U.S. Representative Mark Udall wrote the US Forest Service Chief, requesting that the Forest Service conduct an analysis of the Hayman Fire. In response to the Congressman’s letter, five teams were established in August, 2002 to analyze various aspects of the Hayman Fire experience. This report describes the Hayman Fire analysis work conducted by the...

Bridging the Great Divide: Connecting Alaska Native Learners and Leaders via "High Touch-High Tech" Distance Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkshire, Steven; Smith, Gary

The Rural Alaska Native Adult program of Alaska Pacific University is specifically designed for adult Native learners. Courses in business administration, human services, and teacher education are offered to rural Native adult students via an interactive Internet-based format after an initial 1-week residency. The Internet component is facilitated…

The Role of Environmental Driving Factors in Historical and Projected Carbon Dynamics of Wetland Ecosystems in Alaska.

PubMed

Lyu, Zhou; Genet, Hélène; He, Yujie; Zhuang, Qianlai; McGuire, A David; Bennett, Alec; Breen, Amy; Clein, Joy; Euskirchen, Eugénie S; Johnson, Kristofer; Kurkowski, Tom; Pastick, Neal J; Rupp, T Scott; Wylie, Bruce K; Zhu, Zhiliang

2018-05-29

Wetlands are critical terrestrial ecosystems in Alaska, covering ~177,000 km 2 , an area greater than all the wetlands in the remainder of the United States. To assess the relative influence of changing climate, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration, and fire regime on carbon balance in wetland ecosystems of Alaska, a modeling framework that incorporates a fire disturbance model and two biogeochemical models was used. Spatially explicit simulations were conducted at 1 km-resolution for the historical period (1950-2009) and future projection period (2010-2099). Simulations estimated that wetland ecosystems of Alaska lost 175 Tg carbon (C) in the historical period. Ecosystem C storage in 2009 was 5556 Tg, with 89% of the C stored in soils. The estimated loss of C as CO 2 and biogenic methane (CH 4 ) emissions resulted in wetlands of Alaska increasing the greenhouse gas forcing of climate warming. Simulations for the projection period were conducted for six climate change scenarios constructed from two climate models forced under three CO 2 emission scenarios. Ecosystem C storage averaged among climate scenarios increased 3.94 TgC/yr by 2099, with variability among the simulations ranging from 2.02 to 4.42 TgC/yr. These increases were driven primarily by increases in net primary production (NPP) that were greater than losses from increased decomposition and fire. The NPP increase was driven by CO 2 fertilization (~5% per 100 ppmv increase) and by increases in air temperature (~1% per °C increase). Increases in air temperature were estimated to be the primary cause for a projected 47.7% mean increase in biogenic CH 4 emissions among the simulations (~15% per °C increase). Ecosystem CO 2 sequestration offset the increase in CH 4 emissions during the 21 st century to decrease the greenhouse gas forcing of climate warming. However, beyond 2100, we expect that this forcing will ultimately increase as wetland ecosystems transition from being a sink to a source

Use of the evidence base in substance abuse treatment programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives: pursuing quality in the crucible of practice and policy.

PubMed

Novins, Douglas K; Aarons, Gregory A; Conti, Sarah G; Dahlke, Dennis; Daw, Raymond; Fickenscher, Alexandra; Fleming, Candace; Love, Craig; Masis, Kathleen; Spicer, Paul

2011-06-16

A variety of forces are now shaping a passionate debate regarding the optimal approaches to improving the quality of substance abuse services for American Indian and Alaska Native communities. While there have been some highly successful efforts to meld the traditions of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes with that of 12-step approaches, some American Indian and Alaska Natives remain profoundly uncomfortable with the dominance of this Euro-American approach to substance abuse treatment in their communities. This longstanding tension has now been complicated by the emergence of a number of evidence-based treatments that, while holding promise for improving treatment for American Indian and Alaska Natives with substance use problems, may conflict with both American Indian and Alaska Native and 12-step healing traditions. We convened a panel of experts from American Indian and Alaska Native communities, substance abuse treatment programs serving these communities, and researchers to discuss and analyze these controversies in preparation for a national study of American Indian and Alaska Native substance abuse services. While the panel identified programs that are using evidence-based treatments, members still voiced concerns about the cultural appropriateness of many evidence-based treatments as well as the lack of guidance on how to adapt them for use with American Indians and Alaska Natives. The panel concluded that the efforts of federal and state policymakers to promote the use of evidence-based treatments are further complicating an already-contentious debate within American Indian and Alaska Native communities on how to provide effective substance abuse services. This external pressure to utilize evidence-based treatments is particularly problematic given American Indian and Alaska Native communities' concerns about protecting their sovereign status. Broadening this conversation beyond its primary focus on the use of evidence-based treatments to other

Use of the evidence base in substance abuse treatment programs for American Indians and Alaska natives: pursuing quality in the crucible of practice and policy

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background A variety of forces are now shaping a passionate debate regarding the optimal approaches to improving the quality of substance abuse services for American Indian and Alaska Native communities. While there have been some highly successful efforts to meld the traditions of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes with that of 12-step approaches, some American Indian and Alaska Natives remain profoundly uncomfortable with the dominance of this Euro-American approach to substance abuse treatment in their communities. This longstanding tension has now been complicated by the emergence of a number of evidence-based treatments that, while holding promise for improving treatment for American Indian and Alaska Natives with substance use problems, may conflict with both American Indian and Alaska Native and 12-step healing traditions. Discussion We convened a panel of experts from American Indian and Alaska Native communities, substance abuse treatment programs serving these communities, and researchers to discuss and analyze these controversies in preparation for a national study of American Indian and Alaska Native substance abuse services. While the panel identified programs that are using evidence-based treatments, members still voiced concerns about the cultural appropriateness of many evidence-based treatments as well as the lack of guidance on how to adapt them for use with American Indians and Alaska Natives. The panel concluded that the efforts of federal and state policymakers to promote the use of evidence-based treatments are further complicating an already-contentious debate within American Indian and Alaska Native communities on how to provide effective substance abuse services. This external pressure to utilize evidence-based treatments is particularly problematic given American Indian and Alaska Native communities' concerns about protecting their sovereign status. Summary Broadening this conversation beyond its primary focus on the use of evidence