Here we go again

Fire season has begun.

I've already mapped two fires and both were in FS region 9: Pioneer in Cable, WI, and Ham Lake on the Superior NF. I actually wish we hadn't had any fires yet because I'm still super busy. MTBS is right in the thick of PNW mapping. We have nearly 700 fires mapped out of 1,600. Still lots of work to do, but we are moving along at a good clip.

Tony, Annette, and I just finished a training course this week. We held a webcast version and an instructor-led class where we teach BAER team members how to use and adjust BARC data. The webcast went surprisingly well. The really nice thing is that in the survey (only 8 out of 12 took it), all 8 gave us the highest ranking possible for "Instructor's knowledge of subject." Guess that means we know what we're talking about. Or that we can fake it well enough.

In the meantime, RAVG is lagging behind. I'm in the data collection mode right now in the 5 free minutes I have a day and am attempting to gather vegetation data from each individual forest across the West. What a mess. Once Tony gets married, he should be able to provide some assistance. That will be much needed and I'm just swamped!