The northwestern U.S. Has many different landscapes with distinct fire risks, and thus distinct fire science needs

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region awarded a $664,442 cooperative agreement to Oregon State University on September 15, 2025, under the Joint Fire Science Program (CFDA 15.232) to establish and operate the Northwest Fire Science Consortium as a regional fire science exchange serving the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon State University will coordinate science engagement efforts across fire science producers, land and fire management institutions, and practitioners to address distinct fire risks and shifting fire regimes across northwestern landscapes. The consortium will provide information-sharing platforms, host convenings and field-based experiential learning tailored to local contexts, and engage collaborative forest management groups and all-lands partnerships. Three stated objectives guide the work: improve information accuracy, awareness, and delivery across end-users; increase engagement and co-production between research and field practitioners; and promote collaboration and co-learning that sustains resilient social and ecological systems.

Performance occurs in Oregon and extends through September 30, 2027. The University of Oregon and Washington State University serve as sub-recipients under the award, designated as CESU PANO FSEN (Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit Pacific Northwest Fire Science Exchange Network) sub-awardees with sub-award dates of November 19, 2025, and October 24, 2025, respectively.

Extreme wildfire events and shifting fire regimes further increase the complexity of decision making. Land and fire management institutions are implementing new policies and strategies and allocating funding but they also face increased workloads and a plethora of new knowledge and innovations. The northwest fire science consortium (nwfsc) proposes to serve as a regional fire science exchange that can respond to these issues by providing a corresponding suite of science engagement efforts and increasing relationships across science producers, managers, andpractitioners. To be effective, the nwfsc will coordinate with the regions many boundary spanning organizations with related goals for science application, engage collaborative forest management groups and all-lands partnerships, provide information sharing platforms that are both durable and flexible to changing needs, and host convenings and field-based, experiential learning tailored to local contexts. The nwfscs objectives are to 1) improve information, accuracy, awareness, and delivery across all end-users 2) increase engagement and CO-production between research and the field and 3) promote collaboration and CO-learning that sustains and conserves resilient social and ecological systems. Managers and practitioners need both timely information for ongoing decisions and support for longer term shifts in relationships and systems in an evolving wildland fire management system.