ESTCP projects were sought that resulted in innovative tools, methodologies, or technologies that improved the ability of the Department of Defense to manage risk from wildfires and support the use of prescribed fire for management of ecosystems, imperiled species habitat management, invasive and pest species management, fuels reduction, training area access, and other range sustainment purposes. This topic sought proposals that demonstrated innovative but technically mature technologies and their associated methodologies. ESTCP gave priority to those technologies and methodologies that integrated emerging technology and novel data sources for fire applications and tools that met specific management-defined needs. Proposed technologies and methodologies were required to have completed proof-of-principle testing. ESTCP supports test and evaluation at a scale sufficient to determine the operational performance of the technology or methodology and to estimate expected full-scale implementation costs. Proposals should have provided adequate evidence that the technology once demonstrated and evaluated would be mature enough to be transitioned into use by natural resource managers, wildland fire managers, or other ecosystem management professionals at the end of the project.

Funded projects will appear below as project overviews are posted to the website.

These tools herein developed will improve natural infrastructure and avoid degradation of operations and restrictions or loss of access to test and training areas, and improve the health and safety for base personnel and surrounding communities.

Military training inherently requires the management of wildfire and prescribed burns because training and live-fire activities often initiate fires that have in the past and continue to hold the potential to impact personnel, infrastructure on military installations, and surrounding communities. The military land conditions readiness thrust area described in the resource conservation research plan¹ focuses on the need for research that improves DoD wildland fire management. Range managers need the ability to deploy tools that directly support DoD natural infrastructure including management of wildland fire. These tools must be sufficiently mature to enable natural resource managers to make risk-based tradeoffs for prescribed burn frequency and conditions, manage landscapes to decrease risks from wildfires, improve landscape resiliency, and predict emissions and smoke dispersion patterns resulting from wildfires and prescribed fires.

¹ The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) Resource Conservation and Resiliency (RCR) Program Area Research Plan, 2021–2025 (February 2021).