Page 4
Researchers
with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Utah State University (USU)
are developing guidance for fire managers on the effectiveness of
controlled browsing of goats to reduce fire fuels and fire hazards in the
Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). Although
goats have been used before for reducing fuels, Kathy Voth (BLM) points
out that goats have not achieved widespread acceptance by fire managers as
a tool for control of shrub dominated fuels, but initial results from the
study have shown that goat treatment is effective in stopping fire spread.
The
study is part of the Joint Fire Science Program, [http://www.nifc.gov/joint_fire_sci/
jointfiresci.html].
The researchers want to determine the degree to which goats can
modify fuel types and then managers might expect, given the
modification.
Information from the study will be used to
determine where the treatments will be most effective and also will
provide practical guidance to those who want to control livestock for
fuels reduction.
As
a demonstration, a herd of 40 goats was taken to an area that had been
mechanically thinned two years ago and was due to be thinned again.
The herd was managed as it would be in ordinary WUI situations to
discover problems and work out management solutions. All of this
information contributes to the guidance that eventually will be given to
fire managers.
An unexpected fire in the study area prevented the completion of the planned study, but it was helpful in answering questions about fire resistance that the fire modeling software could not.
In
the plots where the goats had worked, the fire ran to the boundaries of
the fences erected to control goat movement and stopped!
Even in areas where the regrowth had begun, the goat treatment held
the fire back. The unexpected
fire also gave an opportunity to compare the results of mechanical
thinning and goat treatment. The
week before the fire, wildland firefighters had mechanically thinned
oakbrush, by cutting immediately adjacent to one of the goat study areas.
The area that was thinned by firefighters burned over while the
goat treated area stopped the fire.
Results of this research have been used to produce a web based calculation tool for fire managers. The calculator estimates the cost of fire prevention employing the goat foraging strategy with user input need for local conditions.
It is found
at URL: www.math.usu.edu/~slm4h/goats/.
An informative and entertaining CD-ROM
summarizes recent project results and it is available from Kathy Voth who
can be contacted at ( 1 ) + 435-797-1279 or by e-mail: kvoth@cc.usu.edu.
A short video (26MB) showing mechanical thinning by Forest Service Hotshot Crews and alternate treatment by goats is available HERE.
This issue marks the beginning of the second year of FIRE.GOV. The best part of putting together information on research of interest to the fire service, specifically, and for the fire community in general, was how much I learned about activities world wide to enable better fire fighting and fire prevention. I hope that the readers have benefited equally. The initial goal of 1000 subscribers has been met.
Many have provided favorable comments about the content and also ideas about topics that needed to be addressed. Fire service activities are very broad in scope. The staff strives to report research activities that address as many as possible. Unfortunately, as we have come to find, research aimed specifically at the needs of the fire services is uncommon.
There are a few "hot spots" around the world where engineers and scientists are engaged in planning and performing research that will move the safety and effectiveness of fire service activities to new levels. We have heard that a few of our readers have taken the time to contact researchers featured in FIRE.GOV.
More
communication and new alliances are needed between a progressive fire
service and researchers providing the underpinning to advance fire service
practice. During the next
year let me hear about a dozen new research efforts that have started to
address the needs of the fire service!
DAVE EVANS – Editor
