RAVG Presentation

I made it to Missoula yesterday. That's a flight I can handle. Only about an hour and a half, which makes flying in the tin cans with wings do-able. On the flight in, I could easily see the Sawmill Complex burning on the east side of the Bitterroot Valley. I could also see a ton (!) of smoke on the western side of the valley. Central Idaho has truly had a monumental fire season this year. I mean, we're talking 6 to 700,000 acres of land that has burned in a few hundred mile radius. Absolutely crazy.

I am attending the National Silviculture meeting this morning and will be a presenter. I will only be speaking for about 15 minutes, but then we'll have a discussion afterward to make changes / take suggestions about the operational aspect of RAVG. These folks -- the silviculturists -- are the main audience for this project. We're mapping fires in a rapid assessment time line and the maps show areas that have been deforested. These timber folks use them for various things, one being planning harvest units. After a fire burns through an area, they have an accelerated ability to make harvests on the dead trees that still have value. This window of opportunity doesn't last forever, however, so the rapid assessment is important.

I'm curious to see how I'm received and what / if any changes they suggest to the operational protocol I've set up.