{"id":75731,"date":"2025-09-15T10:16:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=75731"},"modified":"2025-09-15T10:16:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T17:16:20","slug":"twig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/twig\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU researchers launch groundbreaking tool to track and improve wildfire treatments"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new nationwide database developed by researchers at Northern Arizona University is helping land managers answer a long-standing question: Are fuel treatments actually reducing wildfire risk?<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Treatment and Wildfire Interagency Geodatabase<\/span><\/a>, or TWIG, is the most comprehensive open-access resource of its kind, bringing together decades of fuel treatment records and wildfire data from across the United States into one interactive platform. The tool was co-led by NAU\u2019s Ecological Restoration Institute in partnership with the other two Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes, collectively known as SWERI, in Colorado and New Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n

Researchers described the creation of the geodatabase <\/span>in a new paper in<\/span><\/a> Nature Scientific Data<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Screenshots<\/a>
TWIG, is the most comprehensive open-access resource of its kind, bringing together decades of fuel treatment records (left) and wildfire data (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With wildfires growing in size and severity, land managers have relied on fuel treatments\u2014such as forest thinning and prescribed burning\u2014to reduce risk to communities and improve forest health. These treatments are widely considered effective, but until now, fragmented data systems have made it difficult to evaluate their impact at scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOpen access to wildfire and fuel treatment data is essential,\u201d said <\/span>SWERI ReSHAPE Program<\/span><\/a> Director Aaron Kimple. \u201cBy making the data accessible, more people can engage in the evaluation and development of strategies for applying treatments on the ground with the greatest effect and efficiency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TWIG consolidates treatment records from multiple federal systems and overlays them with wildfire footprints, giving users a clearer picture of where work has been done and how it intersects with fire activity. The database is designed to support both land management decisions and scientific research.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Researcher<\/a>
TWIG was designed to support both land management decisions and scientific research.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Scientific Data paper details the development of TWIG, the sources it draws from and the code behind it. It also establishes the official reference for citing TWIG data, making it easier for researchers to build on this work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith this publication, TWIG becomes a community resource,\u201d said Andrew S\u00e1nchez Meador, ERI executive director and NAU School of Forestry professor. \u201cIt opens the door for collaboration across agencies and disciplines and for improving the quality of the data itself as more people engage with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By making treatment data open and accessible, TWIG aims to improve coordination among agencies, support strategic planning, and enable new research that advances ecological understanding and wildfire resilience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis effort underscores NAU\u2019s leadership in wildfire science and the strength of collaboration,\u201d S\u00e1nchez Meador said. \u201cTogether with our partners, we\u2019ve created a resource that will play a vital role in preparedness as communities face the growing risks of wildfire.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To access the TWIG Viewer, visit\u202f<\/span>https:\/\/reshapewildfire.org\/twig\/layers<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new nationwide database developed by researchers at Northern Arizona University is helping land managers answer a long-standing question: Are fuel treatments actually reducing wildfire risk? The Treatment and Wildfire Interagency Geodatabase, or TWIG, is the most comprehensive open-access resource of its kind, bringing together decades of fuel treatment records and wildfire data from across…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":75732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}