Basic Information
Name: FireMon/FEAT Ecological Monitoring Utilities
Acronym: FFI
Author/Owner/Steward: NBII/USGS
Type: Database
Platform: Standalone database with SQLServer
Website: http://www.frames.gov/partner-sites/ffi/ffi-home/
Description
FFI (FEAT/FIREMON Integrated) is a monitoring software tool designed to assist managers with collection, storage and analysis of ecological information. It was constructed through a complementary integration of the Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT) and FIREMON. FFI was funded by the National Interagency Fuels Coodination Group and developed in cooperation with the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Systems for Environmental Management and Spatial Dynamics.
FFI (FEAT/FIREMON Integrated) is a software tool developed in the United States and designed to assist managers with collection, storage and analysis of ecological monitoring information. This tool was developed through a complementary integration of two fire effects monitoring systems commonly used in the U.S.: FIREMON (Lutes et al. 2006) and the Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT) (Sexton 2003). The National Interagency Fuels Coordination Group sponsored development of FFI and the National Park Service (NPS) was the managing partner.
FEAT was developed from the NPS, Fire Monitoring Handbook (FMH) (USDI 1992, USDI 2003) and associated software (Sydoriak 2001). This handbook was initially developed by the Pacific West Region of the NPS to guide fire related ecological monitoring in California, Oregon and Washington. The handbook provides detailed descriptions for establishing a sampling strategy based on levels of monitoring activity relative to fire and resource management objectives. FMH had a DOS-based software package for entering data into a Microsoft® FoxPro database. Beginning in 1995 the NPS conducted a series of regional workshops to examine user needs for fire and ecological monitoring throughout the entire NPS, then in 1996 FMH was adopted by all NPS regions across the U.S. The handbook was updated first in 2001 and again in 2003 to reflect the national scope of the system. The FMH software was replaced in 2005 with a Windows-based system that became known as the Fire Ecology Assessment Tool. FEAT uses a Microsoft SQL Server database that is much more flexible than the original DOS-based program, allowing data from a greater variety of field sampling procedures to be stored in the database, greater ability to query data and export data, provided GIS tools, and supported PDA use.
The FIREMON fire effects monitoring system was developed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory through a grant from the Joint Fire Science Program in 2000. Many of the protocols in FIREMON were taken from the ECODATA ecological monitoring program used in Region One of the USFS (Keane, et al 1990). ECODATA used an IINFOS data management system and FORTRAN-77 based data analysis package called ECOPAK. FIREMON uses JavaTM-based data entry software and Microsoft Access database. The FIREMON software package includes report and analysis software, and a handbook with sampling strategy and detailed field sampling procedures.
Contact Information
Contact Name: Duncan Lutes
Contact Email: dlutes@fs.fed.us
URL: http://www.frames.gov/partner-sites/ffi/ffi-home/