wildfire@manchester - Wildfire Policy and Fire Ecology In the USA, Prof Brian Oswald

The third was the third of three half-day wildfire@manchester knowledge exchange events organised under Knowledge for Wildfire NERC KE fellowship project.

The keynote presentation was followed by replies from invited discussants representing different practitioner sectors (e.g. Fire officers, moorland land managers, Forestry Commission), and then by discussion from the floor. The Keynote was given by Brian Oswald, the Joe C Denman and Regents Professor from Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas. Professor Oswald is President of the Association for Fire Ecology.

The keynote was in two parts: Wildfire Policy and Fire Ecology In the USA and Wildfire Fuel Assessment in the Netherlands. Nienke Brouwer also spoke about the Dutch work. The keynote was followed by replies from invited discussants representing different practitioner sectors and then by discussion from the floor. The discussants were Mark Jones (Chief Fire Officer, Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service) and Jon Walker (Moors for the Future Partnership, Peak District National Park). We produced report for the Knowledge for Wildfire project website (www.kfwf.org.uk).

Two related events were organised: a field visit to see wildfire risk management issues in the Peak District National Park, kindly hosted by Park rangers and United Utilities; and an informal seminar on wildfire research at Manchester hosted by Jonathan Aylen.

The series builds on stakeholder engagement experience from coordinating the ESRC/NERC-funded FIRES seminar series (four 2-day events, 2007-1009).