BOZEMAN, Mont. ­ In an era when wildfires are increasingly becoming more costly, dangerous, and out-of-control, new technologies for preventing and managing these fires will be tested in and around Yellowstone National Park.

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies (YES), Bozeman, Mont., recently signed an agreement to utilize remote sensing technologies to help evaluate fire hazard in wildland areas. Researchers from NASA and YES will use data from various satellite and aerial platforms, combined with field data, to assess fuel loading in selected wildland areas within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This agreement was brokered by TechLink, a NASA-funded technology transfer and commercialization organization in Bozeman, Mont., and the NASA Ames Commercial Technology Office.

"With the likely increase in warm and dry years combined with increased accumulation of fire fuels in the last half a century, this agreement is not only timely but of critical value to the West," said Dr. Robert Crabtree, science director for YES. "There is currently no method to measure and assess fire hazard and fuels over large areas. By developing remote sensing technologies, we may create improved tools for monitoring wildlands."

NASA has developed remote sensing technologies for a variety of purposes, including global monitoring of major fires and smoke. NASA's remote-sensing instruments are currently tracking the progress of large wildfires in the western U.S., which have consumed over 3.8 million acres thus far this year-nearly double the yearly average of the previous decade. In the new Yellowstone experiment, NASA and YES scientists will evaluate the ability of various remote sensing devices to detect and map fire-hazard parameters, such as downed timber and dead biomass. The goal is to develop remote sensing tools for cost-effective fuel mapping and fire management. Such tools could help wildland managers prevent fires-for example, by identifying priority areas for prescribed burns. The same tools will provide valuable information about wildlife habitat.

Yellowstone Ecosystem Sciences is a private scientific organization that specializes in long-term research on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It has been collaborating closely with several NASA centers on the use of remote sensing instruments for ecological analysis. NASA Ames Research Center specializes in the use of advanced airborne and satellite-based sensors to monitor fire. Since the historic fires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988, NASA Ames scientists have regularly deployed remote sensing instruments for analysis of the park. TechLink, at Montana State University in Bozeman, assists NASA and the Department of Defense in developing joint technology projects with companies throughout the Northwest.

Contacts:
Dr. Will Swearingen
MSU TechLink
(406) 994-7704
wds@montana.edu

Dr. Robert Crabtree
Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies
(406) 587-7758
crabtree@yellowstone.org

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