In 2005, the United States Forest Service (USFS) conducted strategic placement of treatment assessments in eight pilot areas across the country to test its utility in a variety of topographic settings, climates, ownership patterns and vegetation types. The pilot projects established the common seven step SPOTS framework and identified some challenges to be addressed. Those challenges include:

Skills Gaps: A lack of specialized technical skills required for implementation of the SPOTS process exists

• The Fire Modeling Institute at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory has qualified analysts available to consult with groups interested in using the SPOTS approach. You can learn more about services through the Fire Modeling Institute at http://www.fs.fed.us/fmi/index.html
• A RapidSpots workshop is being offered in Portland, Oregon in November of 2007. Teams from around the country will meet to learn concepts and practice new skills on their own data sets using ArcFuels software.
• The National Interagency Fuels Technology Team (NIFTT) is conducting workshops to train managers in fuel assessment techniques using ArcGIS spatial application tools. The title of the workshop course is FOR-438 Basic Integrated Fuels Planning Using LANDFIRE Data. More information is available at http://www.landfire.gov/training_workshops.php

Data Issues: Pilot teams in 2005 found that geospatial data was not consistently available, with some land managers holding well developed data sets and others none whatsoever, often within the same analysis area.

• LANDFIRE national data has been completed for the western US, providing consistent geospatial data needed to complete a SPOTS assessment. The Eastern US should be completed in 2008, and Alaska in 2009.

Model Issues: There are a confusing number of models available with wide ranging assumptions, utility and applicability. Land managers have expressed frustration at the dozens of analysis tools and apparent lack of a unified, interconnecting suite of models.

• There is some promise toward progress on this issue with ArcFuels, which integrates data and fire models within ArcGIS. ArcFuels macros link vegetation and wildfire behavior models with MS-Access, Excel, and Forest Service vegetation databases, greatly improving the capability for real-time modeling and evaluation of proposed fuel treatments. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/wwetac/arcfuels

Other Opportunities:

SPOTS analysis approaches should dovetail with Fire Program Analysis (FPA) system and could be critical in supporting land and resource management planning and assessment of treatment effectiveness.

The SPOTS approach may be used to inform Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol (CROP) inventories and agreements to encourage the development of businesses that can use the biomass from our hazardous fuels waste stream to bring value added products to market or increase our capability to generate energy.