Media tip sheet: CSU wildfire, air quality, emergency preparedness, weather experts

Note to reporters: As Colorado and the nation’s wildfire season continues, CSU is providing the following list of experts who can address a variety of topics related to wildfires. It can be found online at source.colostate.edu/wildfire_tipsheet_2020. The tip sheet is intended to provide resources to the media but not general contact information for the public.

Media contact: Jennifer Dimas, jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu or (970) 988-4265

CSU report models COVID-19 spread through firefighting camps

Jude Bayham, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Erin Belval, research scientist, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
To support fire agencies as they continue their mission-critical work, a team that includes Colorado State University experts has developed an epidemiological modeling exercise for the USDA Forest Service and other fire managers that demonstrates potential risks and various scenarios COVID-19 could pose for the fire management community. Their model is published in the journal Fire.

Wildfire economics, management, behavior and risk, recovery, mitigation, forest health and climate change

Jude Bayham, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Economics of wildfire management including estimating the impact of threatened homes on how resources are allocated across the country; understanding the factors that influence communities’ willingness to adopt wildfire mitigation; health and social consequences of wildfire smoke

Tony Cheng, professor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute
Strategies and challenges associated with managing forests and forest fires in Colorado and across the Western U.S., how organizations address wildfire threats, from national-level policy to local community wildfire mitigation and forest restoration efforts

Chad Hoffman, associate professor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Fire behavior and modeling, fuels management and wildfire hazard and risk reduction, disturbance ecology, fire and bark beetle interactions, fire and forest pathogen interactions

Linda Nagel, professor and head of the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Ecological recovery of plant communities following a wildfire

Courtney Peterson, research associate, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Climate change adaptation, environmental education, forestry, wildfire mitigation, collaboration across communities

Doug Rideout, professor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and director of the Western Forest Fire Research Center
Economics and management of wild and prescribed fires, the wildland-urban interface, strategic analysis and budgeting of fire programs, fuel management and initial attack systems

Monique Rocca, associate professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
Climate change and wildfires, forest recovery and long-term forest changes

Camille Stevens-Rumann, assistant professor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Climate change and forest resilience, fire ecology, fuels, plant ecology, natural resource management, former wildland firefighter

Jason Sibold, associate professor, Department of Anthropology
Fuels and bark-beetle altered fuels versus climate and weather in times of large wildfires and extreme fire years, natural fire regimes, how recent fires compare to natural fires, the influence of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins on climate and fire occurrence in the Rockies, what future climate likely means for wildfire risk in the Rockies

Dan Beveridge, Colorado State Forest Service Wildfire Mitigation Program Specialist
Fire mitigation near homes and communities; Community Wildfire Protection Plans in Colorado; the Firewise Communities USA program; Fire Adapted Communities; and questions about CSFS outreach programs that address fire mitigation.

Kristin Garrison, Colorado State Forest Service Manager of Fire, Fuels and Watersheds
Cooperative fire programs with other agencies and states and pile burning in winter to reduce fuels resulting from forest management actions.

Diana Selby, Colorado State Forest Service Manager of Program Delivery
CSFS-administered competitive grants that help recipients address wildfire risk in Colorado.

Amanda West Fordham, Colorado State Forest Service Manager of Science Information
Colorado Wildfire Risk Viewer and Risk Reduction Planner, two apps in the Colorado Forest Atlas that provide wildfire risk assessment information and planning tools, at https://coloradoforestatlas.org/

Health effects

Emily Fischer, associate professor, Department of Atmospheric Science
Air pollution sources, emissions, and health effects from smoke, particulate matter and combustion byproducts; occupational and environmental exposure and risk assessment

Kate O’Dell, graduate student researcher, Department of Atmospheric Science
Air pollution sources, emissions, and health effects from smoke, particulate matter and combustion byproducts; occupational and environmental exposure and risk assessment

Jeffrey Pierce, associate professor, Department of Atmospheric Science
Air pollution sources, emissions, and health effects from smoke, particulate matter and combustion byproducts; occupational and environmental exposure and risk assessment

John Volckens, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and CSU Energy Institute
Air pollution sources, emissions, and health effects from smoke, particulate matter and combustion byproducts; occupational and environmental exposure and risk assessment

Sheryl Magzamen, associate professor, Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
Potential health effects of wood smoke

Protecting pets, horses and livestock, including emergency preparedness

Ragan Adams, veterinarian, Department of Clinical Sciences
Animal disaster response planning in the context of general emergency preparedness on personal and community levels

Marvin Reynolds, Colorado State University Extension, Huerfano County Extension director
Emergency response planning and preparedness for agriculture and natural resources for CSU Extension

Weather

Russ Schumacher, Colorado State Climatologist and Becky Bolinger, Assistant State Climatologist
Short- and long-term Western weather conditions that cause or sustain wildfires, the outlook for potential new ignitions

Mental and emotional impacts of trauma

Shawn Whitney, assistant director of the CSU Center for Family and Couple Therapy
Mental and emotional impacts of trauma, such as the loss of a home to a wildfire