Combating Wildfires through Science: Now Accepting Funding Proposals

A fire ecologist sits on a burned, fallen tree with a clipboard propped on her knee as she writes notes. She’s sitting in a green field with scorched trees pointing toward a blue sky in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Photo by Rachel Loehman, USGS.
08/21/2025

A fire ecologist studies a burned forest in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Photo by Rachel Loehman, USGS.

BY KAREN DANTE-WOOD

In between the blissful summer scenes of kids splashing in sprinklers, backyard BBQs with friends, and family vacations, it seems impossible to escape the images plastered across news channels and social media of plumes of black smoke and walls of advancing flames from summer wildfires. These images beg the question: what can we do to reduce these catastrophic blazes?

The first step is to improve our understanding of wildfires, including the conditions that cause them and the approaches that are most effective at preventing, extinguishing, or managing them. The Joint Fire Science Program does exactly that. 

This research-to-practice pipeline is arming land managers nationwide with game-changing tools to tackle the wildfire crisis head-on. By funding innovative studies and ensuring those findings reach the frontlines, the program transforms scientific discoveries into real-world solutions. Take just one example from the latest wave of research projects: scientists are revolutionizing how we understand wildfire risk, research that has the potential to enhance wildfire alerts, support better evacuation decisions, and inform more strategic wildfire response that can better protect communities and critical infrastructure.

The Joint Fire Science Program is now accepting research proposals to help transform wildland fire management nationwide. Whether you’re with a federal or state agency, tribal government, local municipality, academic institution, nonprofit, or a private company, you are invited to apply by September 18, 2025. The three distinct funding tracks are designed to fuel cutting-edge research, spark student innovation, and cultivate the next generation of wildland fire management leaders.

Primary Research

This year’s research priorities are designed to spur innovation and strengthen the vital connection between science and wildland fire management. Topics include:

  • Accelerating science to action in fire-prone ecosystems grappling with changing fire regimes. This opportunity emphasizes place-based partnerships and knowledge exchange among scientists, practitioners, and managers.
  • Evaluation of operational fire potential forecasts to enhance the accuracy and utility of existing tools and forecast products through inventory and objective assessment.
  • Research to support wildland fire investigations, strengthening the scientific foundation for determining wildfire origins and causes.

Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) Awards

Current master’s and doctoral students at U.S. colleges or universities who are conducting research in wildland fire or related sciences are invited to apply for the GRIN awards. These awards connect students to real-world fire and land management challenges, ensuring their work translates into practical impacts.

Regional Fire Science Exchanges

Beyond individual research projects, the Joint Fire Science Program supports a nationwide network designed to make wildland fire science more accessible, relevant, and actionable. The Fire Science Exchange Network creates vital connections between scientists, fire managers, practitioners, and communities across 15 ecologically distinct regions of the U.S.

Each regional exchange operates as a local hub, hosting targeted workshops, translating cutting-edge research into practical decision-making tools, and fostering partnerships between researchers and fire professionals. Together, the exchanges ensure that scientific findings quickly become practical solutions that fire professionals can actually use.

In 2025, proposals to lead a regional fire science exchange for two years are being accepted from six regions: California, Great Plains, Lake States, Southern, Southern Rockies, and Tallgrass Prairie.

How to Apply

More information about these funding opportunities, including details on how to apply, is available on the Joint Fire Science Program website. 

The deadline to submit proposals is September 18, 2025, at 5:00 pm MST.

The devastating images of wildfires don’t have to define our summers. Researchers, students, and partners in wildland fire science are encouraged to apply and become part of the solutions – turning science into the tools that can protect our communities and preserve those blissful summer moments.

 

Karen Dante-Wood is Acting Program Manager for the Joint Fire Science Program at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.