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Presentations from the May 4th Mountain Pine Beetle Forum
Biographies of the presenters are listed below as well as their Power Point presentations, some of which included video clips. Notations by the speaker's name will indicate if there is a Power Point and/or video. Videos may be viewed by going to the MPB Forum Video page.
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Biographical and Presentation Information
- Greg Archie, Fire Program Manager Central Land Office, Montana DNRC
- Greg began his career in 1988 on the Kalispell Unit, MT-DNRC, as an engine crewmember. Since that time, he has gained extensive wildland fire operational experience through his performance as a Fire Team Leader, Unit Fire Supervisor and Fire Program Manager. Greg is currently a member of one of the Northern Rockies Type 1 Incident Management Teams (Poncin). His current wildland fire qualifications are Division Supervisor, Type 3 Incident Commander and Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 2.
- Bob Harrington, Forestry Division Administrator and State Forester, Montana DNRC
- Bob Harrington's academic travels have taken him from the Bonner Springs, Kansas public school system, to Kansas State University (where he realized he wanted to be a forester), to the University of Montana, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resource Management in 1983. His work travels have take him from the Clearwater Mountains of North Idaho with the U.S. Forest Service to the areas surrounding Missoula, Whitefish, Helena, Bozeman, and Billings, Montana, where he has worked for the Montana Department of Natural Resources for the past 20 years. His desire to experience a wartime evacuation from foreign lands led him to Tanzania in the U.S. Peace Corps prior to the Gulf War. His personal interests have led him to travels in Nepal, Ecuador, England, Holland, and most importantly China, where he found two wonderful daughters to keep himself and his wife tired and happy. He has been the Montana State Forester since 2003.
- Jeff Hicke, Scientist, Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service (ppt)
- Jeff Hicke is a visiting scientist with the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USFS, and an assistant professor of geography and environmental science at the University of Idaho. He studies the impacts of global environmental change on plants and animals. He is especially interested in the interaction of climate change, forests, and disturbances such as insect outbreaks and wildfire. Jeff received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000, moved to the University of Idaho in August 2006, and began at WWETAC in January 2010.
- Dana Hicks, Regional Fire Management Specialist, Britissh Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range (ppt & video)
- Dana has been in the position of Regional Fire Management Specialist with BC Ministry of Forests and Range in Prince George since 2006. During this time he has spent his time revitalizing the fire management process in British Columbia. He has served as FBAN on several provincial Type I Incident Management teams. During the spring of 2009 Dana was exported to Victoria State, Australia to help with their fire situation. He worked as a FBAN on the Kilmore Murrindini fire which burned over 260,000 ha and killed 130+ people. He spent the summer of 2009 on several large interface fires in British Columbia. He is continuing to serve as an FBAN on Type IMTs and spent considerable time working with the MPB initiative and its interaction with fire. He also is an instructor on several national fire behavior courses in Canada. In the early part of the 2000's he served as a deputy IC on the NE compact's type 2 team.
- Matt Jolly, Ecologist, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service (ppt & video)
- Dr. W. Matt Jolly is an Ecologist in the Fire, Fuel and Smoke Science Program of the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT. Upon graduation from high school in Ronda, North Carolina in 1990, Matt served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Satellite Communications Technician. After his military service, he attended the University of Virginia where he received a BA with high distinction in Environmental Science in 2000. He later moved to Missoula, MT where he earned a PhD in Forestry from the University of Montana in 2004. His main research interests focus on linking plant physiological processes with combustion and fire behavior characteristics and understanding the roles that live fuels play in current, operational fire behavior prediction systems that are used throughout the world.
- Brad McBratney, Fire Management Officer, Lewis & Clark National Forest, USDA Forest Service
- Brad's work experience consists of 5 seasons working in recreation, fire, and range on the Rocky Mountain RD, Lewis and Clark NF, from 1978 until 1982. In the spring of 1982, he transferred to Nez Perce Smokejumper base in Grangeville Idaho, where he jumped until 1987. Two of the winters he was stationed in Grangeville, he detailed to the Missoula Technology and Development center as a technical writer working on the structural range improvement handbooks and other related projects. In June of 1987, he transferred back to the Rocky Mountain RD as a range technician. In 1990, he became a resource assistant on the Rocky Mountain RD with staff responsibility for the range, soil & water, lands, roads and fire programs. In 2002, Brad became the Fire Management Officer for the Rocky Mountain RD and in July 2007 he moved to the Lewis & Clark NF Supervisor's Office as the Forest Fire Management Officer. In June of 2010 Brad detailed into the Zone Forest Fire Management Officer for the Lewis & Clark and Helena National Forests. Brad recently became the Zone Fire Staff Officer for the recently combined Lewis & Clark and Helena National Forest fire zone. Brad has a BS degree in Forestry with an emphasis in range resource management from the University of Montana. He is a qualified FBAN, RXB1, OSC2 and ICT2. Brad is currently a member of the R1/R3 Wildland Fire Management Team.
- Russ Parsons, Researcher, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service (ppt & video)
- Russ Parsons received his B.S. in Forestry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1992, his M.S. in Forestry from the University of Idaho in 1999, and his Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Montana in 2007. Russ Parsons has worked in fire and resource management since 1992 in a variety of positions and with different agencies. Since 2000, Russ has worked at the Fire Sciences Lab, in Missoula, Montana, specializing in simulation modeling and spatial analysis. His current research integrates field work, laboratory experiments and simulation modeling to quantify fuel characteristics and improve our understanding of how fuels influence fire behavior.
- Paula Short, Program Specialist, Montana DNRC
- Paula Rosenthal Short is the facilitator for the Mountain Pine Beetle & Fire: The Science Behind the Risks, session. She serves as Planning and Public Affairs staff for the Forestry and Trust Land Management Divisions of the Montana DNRC. Paula has a BS in Forestry from the University of Montana and an MFA in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. She lives in the Bitterroot Valley with her husband, Lem, and their son Colter; a baby girl will join the family over the summer.
- Sonny Stiger, Fire Management Consultant and retired USDA Forest Service Fire & Fuels Management Specialist (ppt & video)
- Sonny retired after 26 years with the U.S. Forest Service as a Fire and Fuels Management Specialist, followed by ten years with Montana Prescribed Fire Services in the same capacity-a period of 36 years from 1956 to 1994. Sonny is still active as a Fire Management Consultant for the Tri-County FireSafe Working Group headquartered in Helena, MT., and as a Fire Behavior Analyst for the Lewis and Clark County Fire Council. He was a co-founder of the Tri-County Fire Working Group in 1984 and received the Keep Montana Green Association Fire Prevention Wildland Fuel Management Award in 2001 for his efforts in that arena. He is currently on the Board of Directors for Plan Helena, a Smart Growth advocate for planned development in the Greater Helena Area including the Wildland/Urban Interface and on the FireSafe Montana Board of Directors. Sonny has just recently received the first ever READY MONTANA award from the Governor's office for his volunteer service.
