| Throughout history, bold ideas would have faded and disappeared without the tools and technology transfer necessary to help advance them. Today, a variety of tools are critical to wildland fire and fuels management. They range from the Pulaski to the latest fire behavior model. These tools, many of them increasingly available via the Internet, are heavily used by wildland fire researchers, managers, policymakers, and the public. However, these tools are of no use if they are unknown or inaccessible to those who need them when they need them. Tool users need a “one-stop” source of objective information to compare, evaluate and obtain tools.
We are developing the Fire Research And Management Exchange System (FRAMES) to be the web-based system for ongoing information and technology transfer between the wildland fire management and research communities, and their publics. FRAMES will be the gateway website to access the science and technology that is at the foundation of informed decision-making. Our ambitious long-range goal is to be the EBay for wildland fire tools, the Google for wildland fire information, and the AOL for wildland fire communication. The FRAMES project is currently a partnership between the University of Idaho, USDA Forest Service Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service Riverside Fire Lab, University of Montana, and the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.
We are currently ending Phase I and entering into Phase II of a four phase project to develop the FRAMES Tools Database. FRAMES has currently assumed responsibility for managing the successful website Fire Management Tools Online (FMTO), created by the Fire Sciences Laboratory, an extension of the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. The FRAMES Tools Database will update the architecture of FMTO, add a new search engine, and create new web interface that will eventually replace FMTO. We will also vastly increase the number of tools available. Tool users and tool providers will be able to exchange and pass on information about specific tools through topic-oriented discussion groups, notice pages, surveys, and questionnaires. Once the FRAMES Tools Database is constructed we will begin Phase III to develop an expert system to help potential tool users find the tool best suited to their needs. In Phase IV we will identify tools, including fire history data, according the geographic area to which they are best suited and construct a series of scalable regionally-based maps to indicate where (e.g., nationally, regionally, state, administrative unit, landscape, or project-level) and in which geographic area(s) individual tools and data are applicable and available.
The FRAMES Tools Database will be the foundation upon which the FRAMES website will be built. However, the FRAMES staff is always looking for opportunities to provide information and technology transfer solutions for the wildland fire community. For example, the FRAMES staff has arranged to provide technology transfer for other research proposed projects including two different fire history databases for managers and researchers and a proposed project to establish a database of fire scars and other fire history data to be maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). FRAMES will continue to endeavor to create a collaborative environment where wildland fire researchers and managers join in partnership to develop and refine the tools needed in the 21st century.
For more information, please contact:
Greg Gollberg
FRAMES Project Manager
Forest Resources Dept, CNR, University of Idaho, Phinney Hall Rm. B-14
Moscow, ID 83843-1133
Phone: (208) 885-9756; Fax (208) 885-6226
E-mail: gollberg@uidaho.edu
Website: www.frames.gov
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