Mark Finney is a Research Forester with the Fire, Fuel and Smoke Science Program. He received his Ph.D. from University of California Berkeley.

Research:

Mark's research has included studies with fire spread in deep and discontinuous fuel beds, and fire simulation for purposes of fire risk assessment which has been done in direct support of the development of two major fire management systems WFDSS (Wildland Fire Decision Support System) and FPA (Fire Program Analysis). The FSPro model is used in WFDSS to estimate the probability of impact of an ongoing large fire. A similar model FSIM (Fire SIMulation system) is used in FPA to estimate the burn probability and variability in fire behavior across large landscapes.

Mark's accomplishments that have advanced the understanding of fire behavior and practical management of wildland fires include the following.

1. Development of the FARSITE simulation system for simulating the growth of wildland fires.
2. Development of the FlamMap software for landscape fire behavior assessment, fuel treatment optimization.
3. Spatial fuel treatment optimization --basis for the national SPOTS program (strategic placement of treatments) and the R5 Stewardship and Fir shed Assessment Process.
4. Development of the FSProfire simulation program that is used by WFDSS to estimate the probability of fire impact for individual large wildland fires.
5. Development of the large fire simulation system (FSIM) for use in FPA -- this is used to estimate the burn probability over very large landscape areas (10s of millions of acres), and the effects of suppression on fire size distributions.
6. Worked on fundamental fire behavior in discontinuous fuels and demonstrated how fire spreads across fuel gaps by convection not radiation.

Selected Publications:

Finney, M.A. 2007. A computational method for optimizing fuel treatment locations. Intl. J. Wildl. Fire. 16:702-711.

Finney, M.A., R.C. Seli, C.W. McHugh, A.A. Ager, B.Bahro, and J.K. Agee. 2007. Simulation of long-term landscape-level fuel treatment effects on large wildfires. Intl. J. Wildl. Fire. 16:712-727..

Andrews, P.L., M.A. Finney, M. Fischetti. 2007. Modeling wildland fires.Scientific American. August 2007.

Ager, A.A., M.A. Finney, B.K. Kerns, and H. Maffei. 2007. Modeling wildfire risk to northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) habitat in Central Oregon, USA. For. Ecol. Mgt. 246(1):45-56.

Van Wagner, C.E., M.A. Finney, and M.E. Heathcott. 2006. Historical fire cycles in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. For. Sci. 704-717.

Finney, M.A., C.W. McHugh, and I.C. Grenfell. 2005. Stand- and landscape-level effects of prescribed burning on two Arizona wildfires. Can. J. For. Res 35: 1714-1722

Finney, M.A. 2005. The challenge of quantitative risk assessment for wildland fire. For. Ecol. and Mgt. 211:97-108.

Finney, M.A., C.W. McHugh, and I.C. Grenfell. 2005. Stand- and landscape-effects of prescribed burning on two Arizona wildfires. Can. J. For. Res 35: 1714-1722.

Scott L. Stephens, M.A. Finney, and H. Schantz. 2004. Bulk Density and Fuel Loads of Ponderosa Pine and White Fir Forest Floors: Impacts of Leaf Morphology. 2004. Northwest Science. 78(2)

Butler, B.W., M.A. Finney, P.L. Andrews, and F.A. Albini. 2004. A radiation driven model for crown fire spread. Can. J. For. Res. 34:1588-1599.

Finney, M.A. 2003. Calculating fire spread rates across random landscapes. Intl. J. Wildl. Fire. 12(2):167-174.

Finney, M.A. and J. D. Cohen. 2003. Expectation and evaluation of fuel management objectives. In P.N. Omi (ed). Proc. of Fire, Fuel Treatments, and Ecological Restoration, April 14-17, Ft. Collins CO, pp 353-366.

Finney, M.A. 2002. Fire growth using minimum travel time methods. Can. J. For. Res. 32(8):1420-1424.

Stephens, S.L. and M.A. Finney. 2002. Prescribed fire mortality of Sierra Nevada mixed conifer tree species: effects of crown damage and forest floor combustion. For. Ecol. Mgt. 162 (2-3):261-271

Finney, M.A. 2001. Design of regular landscape fuel treatment patterns for modifying fire growth and behavior. For. Sci. 47(2):219-228.

Agee, J.K., B.Bahro, M.A. Finney, P.N. Omi, D.B. Sapsis, C.P. Weatherspoon. 2000. The use of fuelbreaks in landscape fire management. Forest Ecology and Management. The Hague, Netherlands. 127(1-3):55-66

Finney, M.A. and P.L. Andrews. 1998. FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator -- A model for fire growth simulation. Fire management notes. 59(2):13-15

Finney, M.A. 1998. FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator – model development and evaluation. USDA For. Serv. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-4. 47p

Keane, R.E., C.C. Hardy, K.C. Ryan, and M.A. Finney. 1997. Simulating effects of fire on gaseous and atmospheric carbon fluxes from coniferous forest landscapes. World Resource Review 9(2): 177-203

Green, K., M. Finney, J.Campbell, D.Weinstein, and V. Landrum. 1995. Fire! Using GIS to predict fire behavior. J. For. 93(5):21-25

Finney, M.A. 1995a. The missing tail and other considerations for the use of fire history models. Intl. J. Wildl. Fire 5(4):197-202.

Finney, M.A. and R.E. Martin. 1993a. Fuel loading, bulk density, and depth of forest floor in coast redwood stands. For. Sci. 39(3):617-622.

Finney, M.A. and R.E. Martin. 1993b. Modeling effects of prescribed fire on young-growth coast redwood trees. Can. J. For. Res. 23:1125-1135.

Finney, M.A. 1993. Effects of thermal wounding, shading and exogenous auxin on some sprouting responses of coast redwood seedlings. Tree Phys. 12(3):301-310.

Finney,  M.A. and R.E. Martin. 1992a. Short fire intervals recorded by redwoods at Annadel State Park, California. Madrono 39(4):251-262.

Finney, M.A. and R.E. Martin. 1992b. Calibration and field testing of passive flame height sensors. Int. J. Wildl. Fire 2(3):115-122.

Agee, J.K, M.A. Finney, and R. de Gouvenain. 1990. Forest fire history of Desolation Peak, Washington.  Can. J. For. Res. 20(3):350-356.

Finney, M.A. and R.E. Martin. 1989.  Fire history in a Sequoia sempervirens forest at Salt Point State Park, California.. Can. J. For. Res. 19:1451-1457.