05/29/2026
A recent blog post from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center on "Best Practices Around Snakes for Wildland Firefighters" discusses the importance of situational awareness on the fireline, specific safety protocols for encountering venomous species, and immediate first-aid considerations for snakebites in remote areas.
Read the full blog post: https://wildfirelessons.wpcomstaging.com/2026/05/12/best-practices-around-snakes-for-wildland-firefighters/
05/28/2026
Upcoming workshop on wildlife management happening in Alamance County on Saturday, June 20th!
The workshop will include topics such as prescribed fire, aligning management with your objectives, helpful management techniques, and financial opportunities!
Register by June 12th for $15 (includes lunch!):
bit.ly/DeerTurkeyEventJune26
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
05/26/2026
NC State University Extension Forestry and Derrick Moore with the Down East Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) are hosting an upcoming webinar concentrating on burn plan prep review and mapping. 🔥
The webinar will review the important sections of writing a North Carolina burn plan and demonstrate how to utilize various applications to produce the required maps. This webinar aims to help landowners and PBA members overcome common planning challenges and build greater confidence in executing prescribed fires.
Register here: https://ncsu.zoom.us/meeting/register/f3Fd6kjTQYiZOnbNYtDbrQ #/registration
05/22/2026
NC State University Extension Forestry has recently updated their "Using Fire to Improve Wildlife Habitat" factsheet! 🔥🦌
The publication describes the importance of fire for wildlife, specific burn prescriptions for different wildlife species of interest, and ecosystem-specific considerations for burning for wildlife.
Read the full factsheet by scanning the QR Code or clicking the link below: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/using-fire-to-improve-wildlife-habitat
05/21/2026
The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook has been released for May 21-August 31 from the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
Drought is predicted to continued to either persist or remain (with improvement) across the Southeast.
Check it out here:
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.php
05/19/2026
Webinar by the Southern Fire Exchange happening TODAY! 🔥
🚨UPCOMING WEBINAR🚨
On May 19th, 1:00-2:00 pm ET, SFE will host “The Integrated Research Management Team (IRMT): A Novel Framework for Integrating Wildland Fire Research & Management”. This webinar will feature James Furman, Fire Management Specialist at the U.S. Forest Service, and Dan Gualtieri, Wildland Fire Science Coordinator at The Ember Alliance.
In the face of increasingly complex issues in wildland fire management, co-productive science appears as a pathway to innovation. However, hosting research on active incidents and operations can present its own suite of challenges. The IRMT is a team framework modeled after the ICS that facilitates collaborative research campaigns and bridges the gap between science and practice. This webinar introduces the IRMT, its history, and its current structure.
Register for free using the link below, and learn how the future of wildland fire is being paved through co-production!
https://ufl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IKbx069-RYSd4c26A4NOEA #/registration
🔥🔥🔥
05/15/2026
LANDFIRE has introduced the Fire Needs Assessment (FNA), a spatial analysis tool designed to help land managers determine where fire is needed to maintain ecosystem health.
The assessment compares current vegetation and fire regimes to historical reference conditions to identify areas of "fire deficit" or excessive fire. This data-driven approach allows practitioners to prioritize prescribed burns and fuel treatments more effectively across large, diverse landscapes.
Read more about the tool: https://landfire-tnc.github.io/LANDFIRE_FNA/
05/13/2026
Join the Piedmont Prescribed Burn Association for the BlueSky Playground Workshop in Huntersville, NC on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, from 8:30 AM–3:30 PM!
This workshop will provide hands-on training for the BlueSky Playground, VSMOKE, and PB Piedmont tools, which allow practitioners to compute complex fuel and emissions data while modeling plume rise and smoke dispersion. Participants will combine classroom instruction with a field session at Latta Nature Preserve to learn the identification of specific fuel types used in these models.
Register here: https://bit.ly/4ufp6MK
05/08/2026
Researchers at The Jones Center at Ichauway are utilizing terrestrial LiDAR to revolutionize how fire behavior and its effects on forest structure are measured. By scanning plots before and after a prescribed burn, the technology creates high-resolution 3D maps that precisely quantify fuel consumption and "scorch" patterns that were previously difficult to capture.
This data helps ecologists better understand the relationship between fire intensity and the survival of diverse groundcover species in longleaf pine ecosystems. The use of LiDAR provides a more objective, data-driven foundation for refining prescribed fire techniques to meet specific conservation goals.
Learn more: https://www.jonesctr.org/scanning-scorch-lidar-and-fire-ecology/
Photo from The Jones Center at Ichauway