This report describes a new set of standard fire behavior fuel models for use with Rothermels surface fire spread model and the relationship of the new set to the original set of 13 fire behavior fuel models. To assist with transition to using the new fuel models, a fuel model selection guide, fuel model crosswalk, and set of fuel model photos are provided.

A series of syntheses were commissioned by the USDA Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. This synthesis focuses on research addressing aesthetic considerations of fuels management. A general finding is that fuels management activities can contribute to the visual quality of a landscape. Topics covered in the synthesis include research findings on visual preferences in forested ecosystems, strategies for maintaining or improving visual quality through fuels management, and the planning, implementation, and monitoring of resource management to improve visual quality.

A series of syntheses were commissioned by the USDA Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. This synthesis focuses on research for assessing the social acceptability of fuels treatments. The synthesis is structured around six important considerations for any social acceptability assessment: defining the fuels treatments being assessed; representing the fuels treatments to people; identifying whose opinion is being sought; deciding how people will be contacted; allowing people to express their judgments; and analyzing and synthesizing the data.

Fuels and Fuel Technology, Volume One: A Summarized Manual provides information pertinent to the fundamental aspects of fuels and fuel technology. This book presents a reasonably accurate summary of the existing knowledge and literature relating to fuel technology. Organized into two sections encompassing 72 data sheets, this volume begins with an overview of fuels as organic combustible substances used mainly or solely for the production of useful heat that are divided into three classes, namely, solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels. This text then examines the main chemical components of wood. This book discusses as well the commercial production of peat. The final section deals with the calculations of theoretical and actual air requirements, dry and wet flue gases, and carbon dioxide in flue gases. This book is a valuable resource for chemists and fuel technologists. Students who are interested to obtain a qualification in the subject of fuels or fuel technology will also find this book useful.

My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP) is a tool for calculating and displaying the financial costs and potential revenues associated with forest fuel reduction treatments. It was designed for fuel treatment planners including those with little or no background in economics, forest management, or timber sales. This guide provides the information needed to acquire, load, and begin to use MyFTP.

We report the results of a questionnaire and workshop that sought to gain a better and deeper understanding of the contemporary information needs of wildland fire and fuels managers. Results from the questionnaire indicated that the decision to suppress a wildland fire was most often influenced by factors related to safety and that the decision to allow a fire to burn was influenced by a variety of factors that varied according to land management objectives. We also found that managers anticipated an increase in the use of wildland fire, but that these increases will be moderate due to a variety of constraints that will continue to limit the use of wildland fire. From the workshop, we learned that managers will need to become increasingly strategic with their fire and fuels management planning, and that the information used to support tactical fire operations may prove to be insufficient. Furthermore, the managers participating in the workshop indicated the functional linkage between land management and fire management planning is lacking. We suggest that effective fire management planning requires information on the benefits and risks to a wide variety of values at landscape scales, integration with land management objectives, and a long-term perspective.