Research by USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station
biometrician Bernie Parresol takes center stage in a special
issue of the journal Forest Ecology and Management due out in
June. Parresol is lead author of two of the five articlesand co-
author of two morein an issue that focuses on methods that
incorporate fine-scale data into the tools Southeastern forest
managers use to assess wildfire potential and plan mitigation
treatments. Most fire behavior analyses rely on sparse plot
inventories and data from satellites, and often do not address
the complexity found at the ground level where managers operate.
Parresol and fellow researchers demonstrated a statistical
approach that can incorporate hundreds to thousands of fuel
observations into models that managers can easily use to
prioritize areas to treat to reduce the wildfire hazard. Fire is
an important part of forest ecosystems in the southeastern
United States, especially in the Coastal Plain. European
settlers cleared most of the native longleaf pine