Software to simulate fire

Last year, forest fires consumed 7.2 million acres in the United States. The lives of 23 firefighters were lost and more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed.

UW researchers are working on a solution to the forest-fire problem in the form of a free, downloadable software program called the Landscape Management System. This software package, which is part of the UW's Rural Technology Initiative, uses programs supplied by the U.S. Forest Service to simulate the way a forest will develop under any given combination of conditions.

"We are attempting to restore these forest structures to what we think they were like hundreds of years ago," said professor Bruce Lippke, director of the Rural Technology Initiative.

An addition to the system makes it possible to simulate the destruction a forest fire would cause in the event that certain trees were removed from the forest. Treating forests with this form of fuel removal makes controlled burns possible and ensures that fires do not reach the crown -- the tallest trees. When "crown burning" occurs, fires can rage out of control.

A small group of protesters gathered on the campus Oct. 13 to show its disapproval of President George W. Bush's proposed Healthy Forest Initiative, which advocates the removal of some forest growth in order to prevent destructive forest fires. Protestors are concerned with the motives of the timber removal as well as with the welfare of the forests.

Larry Mason, Rural Technology Initiative coordinator, responded to the group of protestors, saying they are the result of "a combination of prejudice and misunderstanding." He said that selective fuel removal would save the forests, not destroy them. Mason said that the removal of some trees (usually trees with a diameter less than 12 inches) is necessary in order to prevent the kind of overcrowding that creates serious problems.

The Landscape Management System is being used on federal, state, tribal and privately owned lands. The chief concern of researchers seems to be the economics of the situation: the small trees removed in the process won't be valuable.

Lippke added that this is currently a factor in the usage of the system.

"If you remove more of the big trees, there is some point at which you can make a profit, but the current plan is not to take out those trees," said Lippke.

Lippke said he is optimistic, however, because forest-fire destruction is more costly than the simple removal of a select number of trees. He said that in most cases, "you can get into positive economics."

Beyond the obvious ability to model forest conditions and predict the state of woodland areas in the future, the Landscape Management System does serve another purpose. Since the software is free, the system is available to everyone.

"Part of the beauty of it is, since it's free, it can be used by poor or rich, so that it can then become the common reference for discussion," Mason said.