April 3rd, 2025 from 11am to 12pm MST
Feedback from policymakers, land managers, and researchers led the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes (SWERI) to form the ReSHAPE program. ReSHAPE compiled and displayed existing data on forest treatments and wildfires at a national scale. We have developed the Treatment and Wildfire Interagency Geodatabase (TWIG) and are engaging relevant audiences to facilitate use of the tool. We understand that collection and use of data on the effects of treatments has lacked cohesion, and therefore have built a decision support tool which is user-friendly, collaborative, and open access. Through our research programs we are looking to gain feedback on the usability of the tool and better understand how we can meet the wildfire risk reduction goals that we set. The research program areas are: 1) CONNECT, using social science to advance understanding and practice of collaborative and collective decision-making, 2) Biophysical Effects, evaluating the effects of forest treatments on wildfire behavior, and 3) Data Science, to assess large datasets, such as those used in TWIG.
At this key juncture, the ReSHAPE program is actively facilitating the understanding and use of TWIG, gathering feedback from Beta testers, and inviting conversation on the initial information from our research programs.
Presenter: Aidan Franko, Northern Arizona University
