Launch of the 2024 Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge Call for Applications

From: Natural Resources Canada

March 26, 2024

With $48 Million to invest over 4 years starting in April 2024, the Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge Program aims to encourage collaborative research and demonstration projects focused on innovation in wildfire risk assessment, risk mitigation, and adaptive forest management as per the Blueprint for Wildland Fire Science in Canada.

This new program will address gaps in foundational knowledge by developing and evaluating wildland fire risk assessment and risk mitigation strategies and technologies that support Indigenous peoples, local and provincial/territorial governments and fire management agencies to reduce wildfire risk in the face of a changing climate.

Within this program, the Supporting and Mobilizing Indigenous Fire Knowledge grant focuses on building and enhancing capacity to support Indigenous communities in identifying and managing their own wildfire risk. It is informed by Indigenous knowledge and land management practices, and provides support for knowledge sharing and the development of tools and resources by and for Indigenous communities.

Program research themes

The program will support initiatives that advance knowledge in the following three themes.

Theme 1: Wildfire risk assessment

Priority research topics:

• Developing methods and baseline data for risk assessments at community and regional scales
• Integrating multiple values including air quality, carbon balance, fibre recovery
• Leveraging new technologies to accelerate risk assessments
• Leveraging new technologies, and integration of research into predictive models and decision-making tools
  

Theme 2: Wildfire risk mitigation
Priority research topics:

• Testing and demonstrating the real-world feasibility, cost and effectiveness of prevention or mitigation strategies or technologies, including new approaches
• Understanding social acceptability of different interventions
• Creating awareness that leads to action by increasing the efficacy of education, outreach, and mobilization strategies
• Estimating the effects of relevant risk-reduction interventions, including return on investment
  

Theme 3: Adaptive forestry practices

Priority research topics:

• Testing and demonstrating enhanced fibre recovery from fuel management activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and offset the costs of treatment
• Developing approaches to integrate wildfire risk reduction as an outcome in forest management practices
• Identifying, testing, and demonstrating new forest management practices that minimize impacts of future wildland fires

Please visit the Natural Resources Canada website for details about the Call and how to apply.

Virtual information sessions will be hosted on March 26, 2024, at 11:00am EST (French) and 1:00pm EST (English). To register, please click on your language of preference and you will be redirected to the Zoom registration page.  

• Register here for English Information Session: Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge program under the WRFI initiative.
  Time: Mar 26, 2024 01:00 PM EST
• Register here for French Information Session: Élaborer et mobiliser les connaissances fondamentales sur les feux de forêt dans le cadre de l'Initiative pour un avenir résilient face aux feux de forêt.
  Time: Mar 26, 2024 11:00 AM EST

If you have any other questions or comments, email wildfireprograms-programmesdefeuxdeforet@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.