pfx quarterly newsletter - volume 2, issue 1 - 2013 year in review
TRANSCRIPT
2 0 1 3 Y E A R I N R E V I E W
Volume 2, Issue 1 1
n the past 18 months, the Pacific Fire Exchange (PFX) has transitioned from laying the foundation for developing a
Pacific-‐focused knowledge exchange consortium to becoming a functional and productive entity. While still growing in both our partnerships and activities, we have achieved much in a short time. We built up our staffing and currently co-‐support three positions: UH Cooperative Extension Wildland Fire Specialist (Doug Cram, July 2012-‐March, 2013; Clay Trauernicht, June 2013-‐ present), PFX Coordination Assistant (Pablo Beimler), and PFX Coordinator and Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO) Executive Director (Elizabeth Pickett). Being fully staffed, combined with the diverse and passionate expertise of the PFX Leadership Team and Advisory Panel, has allowed us to reach a diverse and broad set of partners and stakeholders statewide and throughout the Pacific. In March 2013, PFX extended our efforts to include fire extension support in Guam, Palau, and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and secured funding for two fire fellowships that will be based in the FSM and Palau (pictured below) in 2014.
PFX staff continue to attend regular meetings with local and regional partners (including the Big Island Wildfire
Coordinating Group, pictured below) where we provide PFX updates and receive feedback on our activities from County, State, and Federal fire and natural resource managers, private entit ies , watershed partnerships , landowners, and concerned citizens.
HWMO and the Big Island Wildfire Coordinating Group assisted with our first PFX field trip (pictured at top) in July 2013 to Mauna Kea State Park in which Miles Nakahara facilitated a lessons learned presentation and discussion for a severe fire that occurred there in 2011. Army (Glen Timbal) and DOFAW (Jay Hatayama, Wayne Ching) firefighters described the month-‐long effort to contain the 1300-‐acre wildfire to 45 resource managers, researchers, ranchers, and private landowners in attendance. In terms of daily staff activities, Dr. Clay Trauernicht has enhanced PFX outreach efforts by forging new relationships with firefighters,
resource managers, landowners, and scientists on Oahu. Pablo Beimler revamped and relaunched our new PFX website, is connecting us to regional and national efforts via social media, and is paving the way for new informational products to be released in 2014. Elizabeth Pickett continues to weave science, technology, and information made available through PFX partnerships into ongoing wildfire planning and mitigation projects, enhancing statewide wildfire protection efforts through improved information and collaborations. PFX Principal Investigator Christian Giardina continues to ensure forward movement, pursue funding and collaboration opportunities, and support the staff through regular collaborative work sessions. Thanks to the staff and all PFX partners’ time, contributions, and expertise, the Pacific Fire Exchange is off to a strong and productive start!
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2 0 1 3 Y E A R I N R E V I E W
Volume 2, Issue 1 2
Internal Accomplishments• Worked by consensus to develop: new name & logo, website, mission & vision
• Developed a PFX work plan to include a logic model and plan for prioritized knowledge themes and products
• Secured funds and filled staff positions for a Coordination Assistant and a UH Manoa Wildland Fire Cooperative Extension Specialist
• Expanded efforts in Western pacific by organizing and hosting a workshop and meetings with representatives from federal, state and NGO land management groups in Palau and Guam.
• Expanded Advisory Panel to include Pacific Disaster Center, Guam NRCS, Kamehameha School, & The Nature Conservancy
• Completed two Joint Fire Science Program surveys
Take-‐Home MessageFrom the feedback we receive both informally and through formal surveys, the past 18 months have been very successful at bridging very diverse groups (researchers, agency leadership, fire and resource managers, extension specialists, land owners). As a result of PFX, there is increased trust across these groups, improved communication, expanded collaborative initiatives and calls for information, and substantially increased visibility of the fire issue in Hawaii.
External AccomplishmentsPFX Partnership Building
• 19 agencies, organizations, and large landowners now represented on Advisory Panel
• Presentations at numerous regional partnership meetings• Expanded PFX’s geographic reach with partners and efforts in Palau, Guam, and Federated States of Micronesia
• Presentation at Hawaii State Legislature Open House
Events
• Offered 3 webinars on fire science and management (Andrew Pierce and Lisa Ellsworth research-‐focused webinars, and live Lessons Learned webinar with Miles Nakahara, Wayne Ching, and Joe Molhoek).
• Led 1st fire-‐focused symposium at the Hawaii Conservation Conference, drawing over 100 participants and featuring 6 talks on fire related topics.
• Hosted Mauna Kea Fire Lessons Learned Field Tour -‐ 45 participants!
Product Creation• Creation of Mail Chimp and Twitter accounts for outreach• First PFX website launch in Dec. 2012 & upgrade/re-‐launch in Oct. 2013
• 1st landscape-‐scale, wall-‐to-‐wall fire mapping product for Palau {in partnership with USFS (PSW)}
• Support for digitizing all fire history records for 8 main HI islands {in partnership with HWMO, UH-‐Manoa, PSW}
• Support for application of MODIS fire-‐risk assessment tool for HI island {in partnership with UH-‐Manoa, PSW, Carnegie Institution of Science}
• Held 3 workshops on how Decision Support Tools can be used for addressing fire management issues in HI {in partnership with USFS (PNW & PSW)}
• Support for estimation of current and projected future fire-‐related greenhouse gas emissions for 8 main HI islands {in partnership with USGS, PSW, and UH-‐Manoa}
Lessons Learned Webinar with Wayne Ching,
Miles Nakahara, Doug Cram, and
Joe Molhoek (not pictured)
Developing PFX knowledge themes to focus on for future publications, with Advisory Panel -‐ Sept. 11, 2013
pacificfireexchange.org
Bart Lawrence and Anne Brook witness and discuss the high frequency of fire starts in Guam during a field tour