ArcFuels: An ArcGIS Interface for Fuel Treatment Planning and Wildfire Risk Assessment

Alan Ager
Operations Research Analyst
Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center (WWETAC)
Prineville, Oregon
aager[at]fs.fed.us
541 969- 8683

John Anderson
Lead programmer
BalanceTech, LLC
534 Fairview Avenue,
Missoula, MT 59801

Upcoming workshops


Forest Service Region 1, Missoula Feb 2009 (Details forthcoming)
Pacific Coast Fire Conference Dec 1-4 (http://www.humboldt.edu/pcfire/ )

ArcFuels overview

ArcFuelsArcFuels is a library of ArcGIS macros developed to streamline fire behavior modeling and spatial analyses for fuel treatment planning. The macros link: 1) key wildfire behavior models; 2) fuels and vegetation data (e.g. Landfire, FVS databases); 3) MS Office, and 4) ArcGIS.

ArcFuels is used to rapidly design and test fuel treatments at the stand and landscape scale via linkages to models such as FVS-FFE, SVS, FARSITE, FlamMap, Nexus, and FVS within a spatial interface. The system was specifically designed to accelerate Fireshed/SPOTS analyses for fuel treatment planning. The ArcMap framework helps specialists leverage local data to address project-specific issues that typify many fuel treatment projects.

ArcFuels macros are executed via custom toolbars in ArcMap. Arcfuels is loaded by simply copying the ArcMap project file and the projects database from the links below. The projects database contains information for each fuel treatment project in an MS Access database.

ArcFuels was programmed in the VBA development environment incorporated into ArcMap. Macros can be customized or added by users having familiarity with VBA macro programming. Extensive macro libraries are available online at ESRI

Specific functionality of ArcFuels includes: (1) An interactive linkage between digital imagery, vegetation data, FVS-FFE, and SVS, providing a map-based tool for designing, simulating, and visualizing stand fuel treatments (2) Rapid scale-up of stand-specific treatments to simulate landscape packages of treatment alternatives, (3) Data linkages between FVS outputs and FlamMap to allow for simulation of landscape-scale fire behavior and evaluation of fuel treatment scenarios, and (4) full GIS functionality provided within ArcMap for data manipulation, ancillary analyses, mapping, and other GIS functionality.


The ArcFuels download includes demo data, a user’s manual, and key fire behavior models. ArcFuels was created with a grant from the Joint Fire Sciences Program, Project JFSP 03-4-1-04.

ArcFuels downloads and install instructions

1. Create directory c:\arcfuels and download arcfuels.mxd, arcfuels_ projects.mdb, and arcfuels.pdf

2. Download data.zip and programs.zip into the c:\arcfuels folder and unzip

3. Load arcfuels.mxd into Arcmap and select the mtemily table when the ArcFuels project manager form appears

4. Open arcfuels.pdf and follow the tutorial


Additional Downloads

Past ArcFuels workshops

RapidSpot Workshop—November 6-8, 2007, Portland, OR

 

Papers and presentations on ArcFuels

Case Study Papers

Related Links

Citations

Ager, A. Finney, Kerns, B., M., Maffei, H. 2007. Modeling Wildfire Risk to Late Successional Forest Reserves in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 246:45-56.

Finney, M.A., Seli, R.C., McHugh, C., Ager, A.A., Bahro, B., Agee, J.K. 2007. Simulation of long-term landscape-level fuel treatment effects on large wildfires. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16:712–727.

Ager, A.A., Finney, M. McMahan, D. 2006 A wildfire risk modeling system for evaluating landscape fuel treatment strategies. In: Andrews, P.L., Butler, B.W. (comp.), Fuels Management-How to Measure Success. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station Proceedings RMRS-P-41. p 149-162.

Ager, A.A., Finney, M., Bahro, B. 2006. Automating fireshed assessments and analyzing wildfire risk with ArcFuels. Forest Ecology and Management 234S:215.

Ager, A.A., Finney, M.A., Bahro, B. 2006. Using ArcObjects for automating fireshed assessments and analyzing wildfire risk. Proceedings of the International ESRI Users Conference, San Diego, August 7-11, 2006. http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc06/papers/papers/pap_1547.pdf

Ager, A.A., McMahan, A., Barrett, J., McHugh, C. 2006. A simulation study of forest restoration and fuels treatments on a wildland-urban interface. Landscape and Urban Planning 80:292-300.

Ager, A.A., McMahan, A., Hayes, J.L., Smith, E. 2006. Modeling framework for simulating the long-term effects of fuels management scenarios on bark beetles in Eastern Oregon. Landscape and Urban Planning 80:301-311.