Helpful Links

Missouri Fire Needs Assessment

In the fall of 2024, Missouri conservationists and ecologists completed a comprehensive assessment, revealing critical insights into fire management across the state.

The assessment helps determine how much prescribed burning should be done in Missouri, and where. It found that burning a minimum of  2.6 million acres per year is necessary to replicate the historical occurrences of fire that much of Missouri’s landscape is adapted to. However, current reports from conservation professionals and private landowners estimate only 125,000-150,000 acres are burned each year.

Key findings emphasize the need for more training and resources for prescribed burns, better communication among stakeholders and stronger support for fire management initiatives. Understanding these needs will help Missouri implement strategies to reduce wildfire risks and improve ecological health.

This effort highlights the importance of prescribed fire in maintaining resilient landscapes and communities.

Fire in the Ozarks - a fire-science multimedia fire history presentation published by the Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium. 

Featuring photos, slideshows, maps, and short videos, Fire in the Ozarks tells how dendrochronologists — researchers who study the history revealed by tree rings and the fire scars embedded in them — have discovered a remarkable pattern of recurrent widespread fire over hundreds of years across North America, but particularly in the Ozarks. 

Beyond dendrochronology and fire scars, this StoryMap tells how fire has shaped Ozark ecosystems, influencing which plant and animal species are hindered or thrive. This narrative shows how humans have played a big role in applying fire, and suppressing fire, and how those actions have played out in the past and today.

Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils, Inc. -  The Coalition’s core mission is to promote the appropriate use of prescribed fire for enhancing public safety, managing resources, and sustaining environment quality. In addition, the Coalition encourages and facilitates the organization of prescribed fire councils in states that lack active councils. Partnering prescribed fire councils’ efforts, which collectively represent twelve million acres of annual prescribed fire use, has created a forum to voice and address issues of national concern. The Coalition’s work facilitates communication among interested parties in the field of prescribed fire, provides a focal point for sharing ideas and information, and creates opportunities for prescribed fire collaboration. 

Fire Science Exchange Network -  The Joint Fire Science Program funds scientific research on wildland fires and distributes results to help policymakers, fire managers and practitioners make sound decisions. 

Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium -  The Oak Woodlands & Forests Fire Consortium is an exchange for fire science information. Funded by the Joint Fire Science Program, our goal is to increase the availability and consideration of credible fire science information to those making land management decisions. 

Great Plains Fire Science Exchange -  The Great Plains Fire Science Exchange exists to assist land managers and the fire community to make sound decisions based on the best possible information. 

Tallgrass Prairie & Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium -  Resources from fire practitioners, scientists, outreach and extension specialists, volunteers, educators and enthusiasts from the Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Region. 

Southern Fire Exchange -  SFE is a fire science delivery program in the Southeast striving to improve access to and usefulness of southern fire science information and offer opportunities for the fire community to interact and learn from one another. 

Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance – NMSFA supports states in efforts to achieve joint forest management, conservation, and protection goals. Working closely with the Northeastern Area region of the USDA Forest Service and other partners, NMSFA facilitates regional efforts related to forest health, invasive insects and pests, wildland firefighting, urban forestry, development of best practices for the protection of lands near rivers and lakes, and a variety of other areas. 

Forest and Rangelands - Forests and Rangelands is an active, cooperative effort of the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and their land management agencies. Forests and Rangelands provides fire, fuels, and land management information for government officials, land and wildland fire management professionals, businesses, communities, and interested organizations and individuals. 

Fire Learning Network -  The FLN engages dozens of multi-agency, community-based projects to accelerate the restoration of landscapes that depend on fire to sustain native plant and animal communities. By restoring this balance, the ecological, economic and social values of the landscapes can be maintained, and the threat of catastrophic wildfire can be reduced. Collaborative planning, implementation, adaptive management and the sharing of lessons learned are at the core of the FLN. Workshops, peer learning and innovative fire training through Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges​ (TREX) are just a few of the mechanisms the network uses.

Firewise USA - The national Firewise USA® recognition program provides a collaborative framework to help neighbors in a geographic area get organized, find direction, and take action to increase the ignition resistance of their homes and community and to reduce wildfire risks at the local level. Any community that meets a set of voluntary criteria on an annual basis and retains an “In Good Standing Status” may identify itself as being a Firewise® Site.   The Firewise USA® program is administered by NFPA® and is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. While the NFPA® administers this program, individuals and communities participate on a voluntary basis.