Many scientists, forest managers, political leaders and concerned citizens are aware of the urgent need to protect communities from catastrophic wildfire and to restore natural fire regimes and ecosystem function in the ponderosa pine forests of the American Southwest. But given the high cost of using selective thinning and prescribed fire to restore even a few hundred acres, we may rightly question whether any given site-specific project is really the best use of the limited resources available. ForestERA (Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis) is a set of powerful tools that enables the public and professionals to work productively together to bring sound science and a landscape perspective to the management of forest ecosystems and protection of communities from catastrophic wildfire.

ForestERA processes and products are not plans in and of themselves. They are collaboratively developed recommendations and assessments that can be used by any and all stakeholders to develop plans. Forest conditions across large areas can be evaluated and alternative restoration strategies analyzed to permit direct comparison of their relative effects on wildlife distributions, fire threat, and other factors relevant to fire and forest ecology.

Field and remotely-sensed data are linked to powerful landscape models in a map-based ArcGIS environment. These "middle resolution" data and analyses are best employed for areas of several thousand to several million acres (1,000 - 2,000,000 ha). The process is currently being applied to three study areas in northern Arizona and New Mexico.

See also:
Study Areas
ForestERA Tools
Data and Maps
Workshops

Page last updated May 3, 2005