Fire Learning Network Resources

2019 Central Appalachians / Potomac Headwaters Fire Learning Network Workshop -- McHenry, MD 

Partners from multple agencies attended the 2019 Fire Learning Network workshop held at Garrett College, where forests, land managers, scientists and many other shared knowledge and experiences to promote interagency cooperatin around controlled burns in the region.

• Prescribed Fire in Catoctin Mountain Park
• Prescribed Fire on the Monongahela National Forest (John Fry and Doug Manning, US Forest Service)
• Prescribed Fire on the Scotia Barrens
• Fire Learning Network: Cooperative Planning
• History of Fire and Oak Forests: Native Americans, Smokey Bear and the Rise and Fall of Eastern Oak Forests (Marc D. Abrams, Penn State University)
• Burning misMatches in Firescapes in the Mid-Atlantic (Erica Smithwick,  Katherine Zipp, Hong Wu, Margot Kaye, Alan Taylor, Zach Miller, Anthony Zhao, Cody Dems, Peter Newman, Penn State University; Yau-Huo Shr, Iowa State University)
• Telling Your Fire Story
• Fire Effects Monitoring (Jean Lorber, The Nature Conservancy) 

2018 Potomac Headwaters Fire Learning Network Workshop, Catoctin National Park, MD

Partners from 15 different agencies attended the 2018 Potomac Headwater Fire Learning Network workshop held at Catoctin National Park, where forests, land managers, scientists and many other shared knowledge and experiences to promote interagency cooperatin around controlled burns in the region.

• Heart of the Appalachians: Fire Effects Monitoring Breakout 
  
• Fire Effects Monitoring: Why Monitor
  
• Relationships Between Fire, Plant Invasions, and Tick-Borne Disease (Whalen Dillon, University of Florida)
  
• Managing Wildland Fire in a Time of Global Change (Mark A. Cochrane, Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science)
  
• Preliminary Results of a Fire History Study at Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland (Lauren F. Howard, Arcadia University)
  
• Collaborative Planning and Implementation in the Fire Learning Network: Tools and Innovations that Help Partners Get to Scale

2017 Potomac Headwaters Fire Learning Network Workshop, Frostburg, MD

60 participants attended the kick-off workshop for the Central Appalachian’s new Potomac Headwaters landscape in western Maryland and parts of West Virginia.  State, federal and academic partners from Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia discussed the importance of fire in the region as it pertains to wildlife, resilience, and forest health.  The workshop included a visit to a fire scar study site, where trees recording wildfires from as far back as the 1800’s have been sampled and dated.

• Building Capacity to Use Prescribed Fire for Wildlife Conservation and Resilient Landscapes (Benjamin C. Jones, Habitat Division Chief, Pennsylvania Game Commission)
• Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers and Scientists (Helen Mohr, CAFMS/USFS)
  
• Fire History of Western Maryland and Surrounding Areas (Melissa Thomas‐Van Gundy, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station​)
• Frederick City Watershed Pitch Pine Burn (Sean Weaver, (MD DNR)
• History of the Central Appalachians Fire Learning Network: Collaborating for Landscape Resiliency (Marek Smith, The Nature Conservancy)
• Synthesis of Fire in Eastern Oak Forests (Helen Mohr, CAFMS/USFS)
  
• Wildfires in Maryland Program Overview (Monte Mitchell, State Fire Supervisor Maryland Forest Service)

Missed presentation by Jim Smith, LANDFIRE - Understanding Regional Scale Data and Its Applications

2014 Mid-Atlantic Fire Ecology and Management Workshop, Salisbury, MD

The 2014 Mid-Atlantic Fire Ecology and Management Workshop offered discussions on a range of topics relevant to the use of prescribed fire on the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, including fire ecology and its impacts on plants, animals, and native communities, as well as the ins and outs of controlled burning and its use in our area. 

• Keynote: Fire on the Atlantic Coastal Plain (Dale Wade)
• TNC Maryland Controlled Burn Program: Past, Present, and Why (Deborah Landau, The Nature Conservancy)
• Fire Management Program Overview (Sam Lindblom, The Nature Conservancy)
• Maryland Forest Service Prescribed Fire Program Overview (Chris Robertson, Maryland Forest Service)
• Fire Adapted Plants and Plant Communities on the Delmarva Peninsula (William A. McAvoy, Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife)
• Role of Fire in Serpentine Savanna (Barrens) Restoration (Wayne Tyndall, Maryland DNR Natural Heritage Program)
• The Intersection of Forest Management and Prescribed Fire (David Ray, The Nature Conservancy)
  
• Smoke Management: Strategies and Technique (Sam Lindblom, The Nature Conservancy)
• Overview of Fire Effects on Avian Communities: A Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Perspective (Ron Gutberlet, Salisbury University) 
  

60 participants attended the one-day workshop held at Salisbury University.  Participants and presenters included controlled burn practitioners and advisors from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Virginia Department of Recreation and Conservation, the Delaware Natural Heritage Program, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Maryland Department of the Environment, Salisbury University, and staff from the Maryland/DC and Virginia chapters of The Nature Conservancy.