WHO WE ARE
Fire practitioners, scientists, outreach and extension specialists, volunteers, educators and enthusiasts from the Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Region.
Staff
- Communications Specialist: Eliza Hamilton-Poore. Eliza recieved her BA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC, and her MFA in Creative Writing and the Environment from Iowa State University. Eliza has worked for various environmental nonprofits and was a wilderness field guide in Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.
- Coordinator: Vacant
PI
- PI Tricia Gorby serves as the director of the Natural Resources Institute in the UW-Madison Division of Extension; this unit serves many functions at the intersection of agriculture and natural resources, providing conservation training, forestry programming, and youth environmental education among many programs.
Management Team
- John Harrington is professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Harrington has been with TPOS since its conception. He taught courses on prairie and oak savanna ecology, fire behavior and vegetation management. With his graduate students he conducted research on vegetation response to fire applications, such as timing and interactions with grazers, often working with partners such as state and federal agencies and NGOs.
- Devan McGranahan is a research ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service Livestock and Range Research Laboratory. Devan serves as the science lead on the Hands-On Fire Science Workshop. He is the first author with Carissa Wonkka of a 2021 textbook on fire: The Ecology of Fire Dependent Ecosystems. He was formerly on the faculty at North Dakota State University and therefore well versed in communicating about fire to a variety of audiences.
- Paul Charland is a Fire Management Specialist with USFWS Midwest Wildland Fire Program Region. He's worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service since 2000 and has been in the Region since 2007. He's been a member of the TPOS Management Team since TPOS' inception.
- Hannah Spaul is the director of Land Management at the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Spaul is a founding member of the Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council, and directs management of fire- dependent communities across southern Wisconsin. These projects include interstate collaboration managing remnant tallgrass prairie along Lake Michigan (Chiwaukee Prairie-Illinois Beach Lake Plain in the Milwaukee-Chicago corridor) and the reintroduction of fire to oak ecosystems in the largely undeveloped Baraboo Hills.
WHAT WE DO
Outreach
We host webinars, discussions, field trips and more to foster knowledge sharing within our regional fire community.
Demonstration Sites
We use existing fire-managed areas to explore both local and regional issues related to fire management and science.
Conferences and Meetings
We organize events for discussing research, experience, and information about fire in tallgrass prairie and oak savanna ecosystems.
Fire Needs Assessment
We quantify fire dependent areas in the region and work to establish the type of fire management needed. The Wisconsin Fire Needs Assessment addresses the question "Where is prescribed fire an appropriate tool for land management?" For more information about why and how we are conducting the Wisconsin Fire Needs Assessment, we have developed a one page summary of the project.
Information Resources
We'll maintain a list of recently published articles, an archive of materials about planning prescribed fire operations and other information pertinent to our regional fire community
Don't miss an event!
Join our mailing list to stay informed and take advantage of our activities, products and resources.
Remembering Craig Maier
The Management Team for the Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium has been devastated by the loss of our colleague and great friend Craig Maier. Craig worked as the Coordinator for TPOS for over 10 years. In that time, Craig was a tireless advocate for fire learning and knowledge sharing through the Tallgrass region and beyond. His professional reach extended from the Northeast, west into the Great Plains, and from the Great Lakes down to the Ozarks. He was an advocate not just for fire, but for the prairie. And oaks. He had a special place for oaks.
Maybe more importantly, his personal reach extended to everyone he met. He was soft-spoken yet engaging. Maybe because he was soft-spoken. His manner was warm and invited others to speak. And he listened. He built teams and collaborations. And made friends. He was a friend to us, to our partners and to the prairie.
Thank you.
As a demonstration of the impact Craig had on individuals through his work with TPOS and beyond, please take a few minutes to visit these tributes. The words of partners, colleagues and friends say so much more than we ever could.
Prairie Reconstruction Initiative
https://www.mykeeper.com/CraigMaier
