New research maps local capacity and wildfire risk in Colorado: communities with high risk may have low capacity. Well-resourced areas often access more funding than others. Effective policy means meeting communities where they are. Storymap: tinyurl.com/3cfb9h8p
#Wildfire
Fuel treatments impact burn severity, even in extreme conditions. They moderate wildfire severity & boost forest resilience. But success depends on forest type, weather & history. #WildfireScience
Read the study here: cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
The Logging and Forest Roads Institute (LARI) continues a 40-year U.S. Forest Service tradition of providing hands-on training in sustainable timber harvesting and forest road design. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOTV...
23.10.2025 18:00 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Researchers at the Ecological Restoration Institute are exploring how biochar can boost land management, from restoring soils to capturing carbon. tinyurl.com/5y2555hk
14.10.2025 18:42 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Yesterday at the Flagstaff Festival of Science, we explored how LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) lets us see forests in 3D detail...from tree spacing and canopy layers to surface fuels.
24.09.2025 22:49 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Strong partnerships build strong forests. 🌲 Since 2021, the Ecological Restoration Institute and USDA Forest Service have teamed up on the Logging & Forest Roads Institute: training pros in logging systems, road engineering & sustainable forest management. #ForestRestoration #WorkingForests
16.09.2025 23:44 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
New in Scientific Data: TWIG, a nationwide open-access database linking fuel treatments with wildfire records. By making big data accessible, TWIG helps us ask bigger questions, and find smarter solutions, for forests and communities.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
tinyurl.com/2rkce67y
For 20+ years, we’ve tracked forest health on the San Francisco Peaks 🌲 This summer, students Lexi, Dan, and Caiden helped measure trees, compare decades of data, and gain hands-on experience—all supporting science-based forest management.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y99p...
Heading to the 17th Biennial Conference of Science & Management at NAU? Don’t miss ERI sessions on forest restoration, collaboration, biochar & more! 🌲 Science + partnerships shaping resilient Southwest forests. #ColoradoPlateau #ForestRestoration
05.09.2025 23:03 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Catch the Ecological Restoration Institute at the #FlagstaffFestivalofScience! Learn more: scifest.org/schedule-2025/
29.08.2025 18:51 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Listen to the Association for Fire Ecology podcast featuring ERI's Scott Franz. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg8N...
15.08.2025 03:29 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Oh my goodness, hello!
06.08.2025 16:28 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Ever seen lidar in action? Our folks this summer are using it to better guide fuel reduction, support community wildfire resilience, and provide better data for local land managers in pinyon-juniper woodlands.
youtu.be/ov2PEBrxUwo?...
To evaluate restoration effectiveness at a landscape scale, we monitored changes in forest structure and tree growth across a 5,224-acre ponderosa pine–Gambel oak forest.
21 years after treatment, total tree density had declined by 56%, and structural heterogeneity had increased
To evaluate restoration effectiveness at a landscape scale, ERI scientists monitored changes in forest structure and tree growth across a 5,224-acre ponderosa pine–Gambel oak forest in AZ.
21 years after treatment, total tree density had declined by 56%, and structural heterogeneity had increased.
Since 1995, researchers at the Ecological Restoration Institute (ERI) have been studying long-term forest restoration at Mt. Trumbull to understand how thinning and prescribed fire influence ponderosa pine ecosystems over time.
28.07.2025 22:10 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
Big penstemon fan? Do you know about the endemic species we've been studying for decades? Learn more with our student researcher, Jillian, as she describes what her fieldwork is like. youtu.be/dFin5mJtZH0
21.07.2025 20:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
How do we measure wildfire treatment effectiveness and support better decisions on the ground?
Join us for a webinar on July 23rd at 1pm MT!
📊 Geospatial tools
🧠 Social science
🔥 Effectiveness research
💵 ROI studies
Register: tnc.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
#WildfireScience #FireEcology
Crews are measuring different parameters, like diameter at breast height (DBH), tree diversity, canopy cover, and other data points that we can compare with data collected over twenty years ago! By contrasting these same plots, we can better understand changes happening through the decades.
13.06.2025 16:05 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
What’s a day in the life of our researchers during the summer? One of our crews is currently in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness area within Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks, collecting data to better understand our forests.
13.06.2025 16:04 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
... by making firewood available to the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, and local northern Arizona communities. Our needs assessment documented local firewood needs and capacities for distribution in wood banks – read more to see our results! eri.nau.edu/wood-for-life/
04.06.2025 16:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The Ecological Restoration Institute recently completed a needs assessment for the Wood For Life (WFL) partnership in Northern Arizona. WFL is a collaborative network supporting active forest management and restoration...
04.06.2025 16:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
“Don has been the quiet force behind so much of ERI’s success over the past two decades,” said ERI’s Executive Director Andrew Sanchez-Meador. “His unwavering dedication, care for our students, and steadfast belief in our mission have shaped the culture of this place."
27.05.2025 19:03 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
🌱In fire-adapted ecosystems, fire supports soil health by releasing and cycling nutrients and stimulating plant growth. Low-intensity burns clear debris and aid plant growth. In contrast, high-severity fires damage soil structure, kill beneficial organisms, and cause erosion and nutrient loss.
14.05.2025 19:01 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Tools and Resources to Reduce Home Wildfire Risk:
www.swfireconsortium.org/2024/04/17/h...
www.santafefireshed.org/prepareyourh...
extension.arizona.edu/sites/extens...
youtu.be/uJyCDweXrzc?...
Home with too much vegetation around it and a lot of pine needles, putting it at risk to wildfire. There are also trash bags and a rake, showing that they are trying to reduce risk.
This #WildfireAwarenessMonth, access trusted resources to protect what matters most. Creating defensible space and reducing wildfire risk around your home can start with a rake and a few bags. Check out the guides and tools linked to this post.
#WildfirePreparedness #FireSafeCommunities
Our sister institute CFRI works closely to implement PODs workshops for partners. Learn more: sweri.org/wildfire-ris...
30.04.2025 20:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
When wildfires break out, firefighters need to make fast, strategic decisions—often with limited crews and equipment. That’s where PODs (Potential Operational Delineations) come in. These pre-mapped zones use features like roads, rivers, and ridgelines to outline the best places to contain fire. 🔥
30.04.2025 19:33 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
We’re getting a lot of questions about the upcoming #wildfire season.
Check out the TWIG tool — it maps fuel treatments (completed + planned), current & past fires, and daily fire progressions since July 2024.
🌐 Explore: reshapewildfire.org/twig/layers
#ReSHAPE #TWIG #WildfirePreparedness
