A $1.6 million grant to help Alaska burn on purpose, before wildfire does

Alaska fire managers have a tool problem. The controlled burns that clear brush before a wildfire can reach it depend on forecasting when it's safe to light them, and no forecasting tool is built for Alaska's weather. A $1.6 million National Science Foundation grant to UAF aims to build one.

Prescribed burning stays underused here even though most Alaskans live in or near the wildland-urban interface, where homes meet the vegetation that carries fire. The project, led by UAF's Christine Waigl over four years, would adapt a smoke-and-burn planning tool already used in the Lower 48 to run on the Canadian fire-danger system Alaska managers rely on, then map where and when safe burning windows actually open across the state.

The technical work is only half of it. The team will also work with the municipal, federal, tribal and nonprofit bodies that share authority over Alaska's fire-prone land, and survey managers and the public on where they stand on burning, which is often the harder barrier than the forecast.

Better forecasting won't fix everything. A national wildfire commission noted in 2023 that expanding prescribed fire also runs into limited crews, smoke and public-health worries, liability, and the need for agencies to coordinate across jurisdictions. The grant also funds a new four-year wildland fire management degree.