Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Primary Target Audience Master Gardener Volunteers in the southeastern US region(states including AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, KY, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA): Master Gardeners are members of the public who receive gardening education in exchange for contributing volunteer hours back to their communities through education. This is a very popular regional program with participants committed to volunteering in their communities. For this reason, we chose Master Gardener volunteers for a primary target audience as a way to disseminate firescaping education to southeastern US communities Cooperative Extension Agents in the southeastern US region(specifically those with County Master Gardener Coordinator responsibilities): For the firescaping training to be successful with Master Gardeners, we recognized the need for Extension Agent Master Gardener Coordinators to be informed of the importance of the training as well as being educated on firescaping so they can help deliver and host the training. Extension Agent Master Gardener Coordinators play an essential role in promoting and delivering the training to Master Gardeners. State Master Gardener Coordinators in the southeastern US region: Each state in the southeastern US region has one statewide Master Gardener Coordinator who makes major decisions about program delivery to Master Gardener Volunteers. Their support and guidance on the training is essential for its success in each state. Secondary Target Audience State forestry agency fire mitigation specialists or Firewise Coordinators in the southeastern US region: Firewise coordinators can play an important role in supporting the training through being a training presenter. As well, Firewise coordinators can support Master Gardener volunteer activities. Master Naturalist Volunteers in the southeastern US region: Master Naturalist are another (usually) Cooperative Extension volunteer education program who can be a great audience to share firescaping information with their communities. Other southeastern US region wildland fire professionals and scientists: Making other federal, state, and other wildland fire professionals and scientists aware of the training is a great way to promote it in their communities. Changes/Problems:Occasional delays were encountered throughout the course of this project, including the main project deliverables taking longer to develop and review than initially anticipated. As well, significant staff changes at the PI office and the Project Manager taking a new job (though continuing to work on this project) caused some minor delays in completing project deliverables. The 6-week online version of the Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping training for Master Gardeners was not included in our original proposal, but we felt offering this training would provide sustainability of the project as many Extension programs have converted to online learning. COVID-19 sharply reduced in-person Extension programming; the Master Gardener firescaping training was initially designed for in-person delivery. The virus provided further initiative to develop an online version of the training for Master Gardeners. Developing this online training took several months. The Project Team had anticipated that the training for Extension Agents and Master Gardeners would have been more widely adopted throughout the region during the project duration based on initial positive response from around the region. Covid-19, budget cuts, multiple demands on Extension Agent's time, varied interest in firescaping, and competing programming minimized its outcome during the reporting period. This was especially the case when reporting on the community outcomes we hoped to achieve based on the logic model in our proposal. We had hoped to spend more time training Master Gardeners and reporting on the various outcomes they achieved in their communities. Rather, we spent considerable time promoting the project to state and county Master Gardener Coordinators, Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists, fire professionals, and even landscapers and arborists. These marketing efforts are now beginning to gain traction as more states are using the training and so our extensive marketing efforts ended up being an important part of the project promotion process. We will continue to promote, manage, and collect data on the project beyond the project end date. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Many of the opportunities for training and professional development from the project are listed in products.The Firescaping Online Training for Extension Agents provides an opportunity to increase firescaping knowledge. As of this reporting period, approximately 35 Extension Agents and other Extension personnel have taken the online Agent firescaping training. The many presentations to Extension Agents that were provided to help promote or market the project also increased knowledge of firescaping. Agents who assisted on or led the Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping Training for Master Gardeners increased their knowledge of firescaping by participating in the training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A major step in reaching the outcomes of this project has been promoting/ marketing it widely to Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Coordinators and also Master Naturalist Coordinators, state forestry agency Firewise Coordinators, Certified Arborists, landscapers, Master Gardeners, and other audiences. We began to see the results of our promotion efforts and some outcome data in 2021 and are hopeful for the continued adoption of the training in more Southeastern states. As we collect more outcome data from Master Gardener (and Master Naturalist and others) training participants, we will disseminate this alongside project promotion through webinars, online and in-person trainings, and articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project impacts community-level wildfire preparedness in the southeastern U.S. states, specifically resident's homes being protected from wildfire through firescaping (prescribed landscape design and maintenance activities). Though large wildfires are less common in the southeastern U.S., they do occur during periods of drought. As well, thousands of smaller wildfires impact communities around the region. Due to capacity limitations in educating such a large target audience (southeastern residents), this project trains community volunteers (Master Gardeners) about firescaping so they may educate their communities through their required volunteer hours (Master Gardeners receive training in exchange for volunteering their newly acquired knowledge back to their community). Southeastern community residents will be most impacted by this project because by implementing firescaping can help reduce their home's potential to ignite from a wildfire. A resident firescaping their landscape also helps prevent their home from becoming an ignition source to neighboring homes (one home ignition. As part of this project, we conducted a spatial analysis of most "at-risk to wildfire" Southeastern U.S. counties based on federal and state wildfire occurrence data and Southern Group of State Forester Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment data. We encouraged Extension Agents in these counties to prioritize the training. Community residents in these "at-risk" counties would benefit greater from the training being offered in their county. The training was offered to 1 at-risk county in Tennessee (Gatlinburg), 4 at-risk counties in North Carolina, and 14 at-risk counties in Florida, reaching approximately . A 6-month follow up survey indicated that 91% of participants shared information on firescaping with friends, family, or colleagues, 69% made firescaping modifications to their home, 11% taught their neighborhood associations about firescaping, 9% taught a community class on firescaping, 7% provided firescaping information at public events, and 4% created a firescaping demonstration garden.As well, it was introduced to Master Gardeners (and Master Naturalists and other community volunteers) in Mississippi and Georgia, both who plan to offer the training (in-person or virtually) in 2022. Though other states in the southeastern U.S. have expressed interest in the training, they have not yet adopted it. For each goal and objective listed in your project initiation describe for this reporting period major activities completed / experiments conducted: The goal of this project is to increase southeastern WUI homeowner and community wildfire preparedness through educational resources on fire-resistant landscaping. This goal will be achieved through three primary objectives. Objective 1 involves development of a Master Gardener Wildfire Preparedness Training Course that will provide necessary training for Extension educators to teach the Master Gardener Wildfire-Resistant Landscaping Module. This objective was completed in 2019. Objective 2 entails development of a Master Gardener: Wildfire-Resistant Landscaping Module. Though the initial proposed module was completed in 2019, the Project Team decided to develop an online version of the Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping training for Master Gardeners. This was completed in June 2021 and 40 participants completed the online training prior to the close of this project. Objective 3 involves promotion, marketing, assistance with implementation, and evaluation of the trainings and module through regional newsletters, social media, and conference and meeting presentations. Accomplishments during this reporting period towards this objective include several presentations and trainings to promote the project in Southeastern U.S. states, including virtual project overview presentations to five southeastern states, reaching approximately 210 Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists and other community volunteers and 20 Extension Agents. These include: Campbell, H. October 2019. Introduction to Firescaping Master Gardener Training webinar. Southern Fire Exchange webinar series. 60 participants. Campbell, H. February 2021. An Overview of the Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping Master Gardener Training. Virtual presentation promoting project to UGA Cooperative Extension Agents. 20participants. Campbell, H. February 2021. Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping: A Training for Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists & Other Interested Community Members. Virtual presentation promoting project toUniversity of Florida-IFAS Agents and faculty. 15 participants. Campbell, H. April 2021. Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping: A Training Designed to Increase Community Wildfire Preparedness through the Cooperative Extension. Virtual presentation promoting project to North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Extension Agents. 20 participants. Campbell, H. April 2021. Introduction to Firescaping. Virtual presentation promoting project to Georgia Master Gardener Extension Volunteers. 30 participants. Campbell, H. May 2021. Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping: A Training Designed to Increase Community Wildfire Preparedness through the Cooperative Extension. Virtual presentation promoting project to Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Agents. 24 participants. In the last reporting period, the project was also promoted through the Southern Regional Extension Forestry Facebook page and a landing page for the project was developed through the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources Outreach website athttps://www.warnelloutreach.org/fire/. This weblink was then added to the following websites: Southern Regional Extension Forestry, Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) National Extension Wildland Fire Initiative, Southeastern Region National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, and Southern Fire Exchange. An article about the project was published on the regionally popular North Carolina State Southeast Prescribed Fire blog (https://research.cnr.ncsu.edu/blogs/southeast-fire-update/2021/09/07/preparing-for-wildfires-with-firescaping-course-updates/), in the third quarterly Association of Natural Resource Extension professionals 2021 e-newsletter, and in the August 2021 Southern Regional Extension Forestry newsletter.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Campbell, J.H. 2020. Firescaping: Wildfire-Resistant Landscaping in Georgia. Warnell Outreach Publication WSFNR-20-96A. Located at: https://www.warnell.uga.edu/outreach/publications/individual/firescaping-wildfire-resistant-landscaping-georgia
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Gordon, J., Coder, K., Abney, R., & H. Campbell. 2020. Natural Disasters & Trees: Fire, Ice, Wind & Drought. 2020 International Society of Arboriculture Virtual Conference. December 2020.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Fawcett, J., Creighton, J., Kays, L., Berger, C., Campbell, H., Kreye, J., Kocher, S., Restaino, C., & K. Baylog. 2021. Extension & Wildland Fire: Building Resilient Communities. 2021 Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals Virtual Conference Presentation.
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:State and County Master Gardener Coordinators, Cooperative Extension Agents and Specialists and other educators, Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists, state Firewise Coordinators/ Wildfire Mitigation Specialists, and interested community groups. Changes/Problems:Reaching my primary target audience (Master Gardeners) has been more difficult than I expected, especially if state Master Gardener programs don't initially see the importance of the training to their state. Also, getting Agents interested in the online training has been challenging. To address both of these issues, I have been marketing the project widely. The Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lock down has been great for providing virtual trainings on this project, but has halted any in-person trainings till 2021. Also, the pandemic has slowed some of my promotional efforts on the project, such as through conference presentations. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During this reporting period, several in-person and virtual presentations were provided to Extension and other professionals on firescaping. As well, over two dozen educators began or completed the online educator training on firescaping. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This project is still in process, but the project has been promoted widely through newsletters, publications, regional contacts, and presentations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Deliver in-person and remote trainings to interested southeastern states and promote the training to states who have not responded to previous promotions • Continue to encourage state Master Gardener Coordinators to promote the training to Extension educators and Master Gardeners, but also promote the training to Master Naturalists and other community groups • Promote the training through social media, newsletters, presentations, websites, and articles • Track impact metrics of the training
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: • The online Extension educator training was revised in the fall of 2019 to update several videos, add additional resources, and streamline the course. • Interest in the online course included Extension Agents and other Extension educators, as well as state forestry and natural resource agency personnel, Master Naturalist Coordinators, and community leaders. • During this reporting period, a total of 26 educators began the course, with 13 (50%) completing the course. (For participants to "complete" the course/ receive a Certificate of Completion and access the Master Gardener training materials (Toolbox), all course components are required to be finished.) A limited number of students who had considerable wildland fire and/ or firescaping expertise were provided access to the Toolbox without completing all course components.)Participants of the online course included: o 16 Extension Agents or other Extension educators, with 8 individuals completing the course. Extension educators were from: Clemson University (SC), University of Kentucky, Oklahoma State University, Mississippi State University, and the University of Georgia. Students who initiated, but have not yet completed the course, are also from the above universities, as well as from the University of California and California State University-Chico. o 4 state forestry and natural resource agency employees, with 3 individuals completing the course. State agency employees were from the following states: Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. o 6 community-level educators, with 2 individuals completing the course. Geographic locations of these students are not known. • The online Moodle training was designed to assess student's knowledge gained, confidence in teaching what they learned, and likeliness of hosting the Preparing for Widlfires with Firescaping Master Gardener training. Through a combination of pre and post tests, chapter questions, and Qualtrics assessments, participants reported on average (please note that not all students completed all course components and so what is reported below is based on the number of students who finished the components): o 89% on the pre-test and 95% on the post-test, with an average 6.7% increase in test scores (n=13) o Before learning about firescape design in chapter five, 60% of students reported that they were not at all or slightly confident and 40% reported being somewhat or very confident in teaching others about firescape design; whereas, after completing chapter five, 100% reported being somewhat or very confident teaching others about firescape design. (n=15) o Before taking the online training, approximately 36% of students reported having a poor or average knowledge of firescaping and 64% reported having a good or excellent knowledge of firescaping; whereas, after taking the training, 100% of students reported having a good or excellent knowledge of firescaping. (n=14) o After taking the online training, over 94% of students reported they would teach or host the Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping Master Gardener training (n=15) Report Objective 2: • The Firescaping Training Toolbox (used for training Master Gardeners on firescaping) was streamlined on the educator training website (http://firescapingtraining.com), so all toolbox materials can be more easily downloaded. Materials were placed in 3 compressed files, along with instructions for using the toolbox. As well, a Certificate of Completion was developed and added to the toolbox. • Due to the Coronavirus, in-person trainings to Master Gardeners were not possible beyond March 2020, so several virtual 2-hour trainings were provided by the Project Manager to market the training and highlight several components of the training. These trainings were offered to Mastr Gardeners, Master Naturalists and other interested community groups, and resulted in the planning of several 2021 in-person trainings in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Virtual trainings included: o Master Gardener Virtual Firescaping Zoom Training. April 30, 2020. Attendees: 314 Master Gardeners from Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. Over 90% of the participants reported that the training increased their knowledge of firescaping somewhat or considerably. Several participants requested the full training be delivered in their state. o Virtual Firescaping Training for Community Members. May 5, 2020. Attendees: 40 community members or leaders and state Firewise Coordinators from Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Approximately 85% of participants reported that the training considerably or somewhat increased their knowledge of firescaping. o Master Naturalist Virtual Firescaping Zoom Training. May 14, 2020. Attendees: 120 Master Naturalists from Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Over 95% of the participants reported that the training increased their knowledge of firescaping somewhat or considerably. • A University of Florida Extension Educator who completed the online training hosted a multi-part virtual firescaping training in May-June 2020, based on the toolbox materials provided. There were approximately 10 participants in the virtual training, including Master Gardeners and other community members. Objective 3: • Marketing: o Southern ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? newsletters o ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????. A marketing email was sent out in January to promote the project. This email was tied to the January 24th webinar o ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? email announcement about project o ????????????th???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? email announcement about project o ANREP spring e-newsletter announcement o ANREP National Extension Wildland Fire Initiative events o Developed a marketing flier that has been distributed at several national conferences, including at the 8th Annual Fire Ecology and Management Conference (November 2019) o Included in a recent North Carolina State University Extension publication, Wildland Fire Programming: A Guide for Extension and Outreach Professionals • Presentations: o All 3 virtual trainings listed under Objective 2 doubled as marketing events for the project. April 30, May 5, and May 14, 2020. Total of 474 participants o Presentation- 20???? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????.?? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????. ????????????????????Canceled due to COVID-19 o Presentation- 2019 ISA International Conference. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Canceled due to COVID-19 o Introduction to Firescaping webinar for Georgia Extension Agents. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Training System. January 24, 2020. 15 participants. *This webinar was recorded and added to the online training for educators as an overview for the course o Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping webinar. ANREP National Network of Sustainable Living Education Initiative webinar series. December 2, 2019. 10 participants. o Wildland Fire Challenges in a Changing Climate. Extreme Weather & Climate Variability: Tree and Forest Health Interactions in the Southeast workshop. November 20, 2019. Athens, Georgia. 35 participants o University of Florida/IFAS In-Service Training for State Extension Agents-Managing Florida's Natural Resources: Firescaping Workshop. Co-taught with Sharon Gamble. October 28, 2019. Gainesville, Florida. 21 participants o Introduction to Firescaping Master Gardener Training webinar. Southern Fire Exchange webinar series. October 17, 2019. 60 participants o Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping webinar. ANREP National Extension Wildland Fire Initiative quarterly meeting. September 5, 2019. 30 participants
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:State and county Master Gardener Contacts, State Extension specialists and county and regional Extension agents, fire chiefs with state forestry agencies, the Southern Group of State Foresters, university administrators, forestry school deans and directors. Changes/Problems:During the time of this reporting period, the PI changed from William Hubbard to Leslie Boby, and the person who has done the majority ofhte work, Holly Campbell, shifted from a grant-supported position to a different position that still allows her to complete the work, but requires less money for salary. The salary savings are needed for travel, training and promotion of this toolbox. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During this reporting period, project managers focused on completing the primary project deliverables (online training for Extension educators and the Training Toolbox) and so spent less time promoting the project. However, Extension educators, state forestry and wildlife agency personnel, community members, private landowners, fire managers, and landscape and tree-care professionals were reached in the three national conferences (that were all held in the southern region). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This is a 3-year project. During the reporting period, the deliverables were still under development (completed early Sept. 2019), so there were no results to disseminate to date. The project, however, has been promoted widely. See Objective 3 progress What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Deliver in-person and remote trainings to the states. • Continue to encourage state Master Gardener Coordinators to promote the training to Extension educators and Master Gardeners • Promote the training through social media, newsletters, presentations, and articles
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: The online Extension educator training was originally housed on the eXtension (https://campus.extension.org/) website, but due to changing circumstances with eXtension a new web address for the course was established on (http://firescapingtraining.com) and is hosted by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension urban agriculture center. • All components of the online course for Extension educators was completed during this time period, including: o Five content chapters (wildland fire history, wildland fire behavior, the Wildland-Urban Interface, risk assessment,and firescaping) taught by regional experts, where each chapter contains one or more interactive videopresentations*, support publications, and a chapter evaluation. *The firescaping chapter contains eleven shortvideos. Pre and post-tests (gauging participants knowledge) Appendices (state fire-resistant plant lists and other state resources, state agency contacts, results of a spatialanalysis SREF conducted examining high wildfire risk counties in the southeastern US states, and Firewise USApublications. Introductory videos and instructions for taking the online training Course evaluation (developed to receive feedback for improving course) Certificate of completion Access to the Firescaping Training Toolbox (contains all materials to teach the Master Gardener Preparing forWildfires with Firescaping training) The online training was reviewed by seventeen national partners in June 2019 and revised by the end of this reportingperiod. Objective 2: The Preparing for Wildfire with Firescaping Master Gardener training is designed to be a day-long, in-person training taughteither by Extension educators or hosted by Extension educators and taught by partner agencies with expertise in wildlandfire and firescaping. After completing the online training, Extension educators can access the Firescaping Training Toolbox.This toolbox was also completed and reviewed during this reporting period and includes the following items: Suggested training agends Five Powerpoint presentations with presenter notes (wildland fire history and behavior, wildfire risk assessment,plant flammability, firescaping, acheiving multiple landscape objectives) Directions and materials for three hands-on activities tied to presentations (wildfire risk assessment, plantflammability, firescaping) Training handouts (including a firescaping reference chapter for Master Gardeners to include in their traininghandbooks Four recommended community volunteer activities (with instructions) Training marketing materials State and regional contacts Learning objectives Training videos Training evaluation Objective 3: Marketing: Social media Southern region newsletters National and regional conferences (flyer distributed) National conference presentations: Presentation- 2018 Extension Disaster Education (EDEN) Conference. College Station, Texas. October 16,2018 Presentation- 2019 Southern Chapter- International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Conference. Mobile,Alabama. April 8, 2019 Presentation- 2019 ISA International Conference. Knoxville, Tennessee. August 12, 2019 The entire project continued to be promoted to several target audiences though emails, newsletters, or conferencecalls: State Master Gardener Coordinators in southern states (who requested I communicate through them toCounty Agents and Master Gardeners) Master Naturalist State Coordinators (in southern states) Firewise Coordinators (with southern state forestry agencies) National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Southern Region committee Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability Committee Southern region Extension Agents/ Specialists working in fire education Association for Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) National Extension Wildland FireInitiative Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) wildland fire education group FEMA
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Campbell, Holly (2018) Extension Disaster Education (EDEN) national Conference, College Station, Texas, October 16, 2018. Campbell, Holly (2018) Extension Disaster Education (EDEN) national Conference, College Station, Texas, October 16, 2018. "Master Gardener FireScaping Training Modules"
Campbell, Holly (2019) 2019 Southern Chapter-International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Conference. Mobile, AL. April 8, 2019. "Master Gardener FireScaping Training Modules"
Campbell, Holly (2019). International Society of Arboriculture International Conference. Knoxville, TN, August 12, 2019
Campbell, Holly (2019) 2019 Southern Chapter-International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Conference. Mobile, AL. April 8, 2019. "Master Gardener FireScaping Training Modules"
Campbell, Holly (2019). International Society of Arboriculture International Conference. Knoxville, TN, August 12, 2019 "Master Gardener FireScaping Training Modules"
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Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:State and County Leslie Master Gardener contacts, state Extension and county Extension agents, fire chiefs with the Southern Group of State Foresters, university administrators, forestry school deans and directors. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The two workshops held this year have provided training and professional development opportunities to Master Gardeners, Extension Agents, state forestry and wildlife agency personnel, community members, private landowners, fire managers, and landscape professionals. Firescaping Workshop- 2018 Association for Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) Conference. Biloxi, MS. May 1, 2018 Firescaping Workshop-North Carolina Prescribed Fire Council Annual Meeting. Asheboro, North Carolina. August 1, 2018 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This is a 3-year project. The deliverables are still currently under development (complete later this fall), so there are no results to disseminate to date. The project, however, has been promoted widely. See Objective 3 progress. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Complete the online course Complete the advanced training materials Determine which southern region at-risk counties have MG programs and promote the training to those counties Determine which counties will be in the year 1 pilot Continue to promote the project broadly
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Learning objectives were identified for the online train-the-trainer course. A course title was determined by regional expert input,Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping: Master Gardener Training. A placeholder webpage was established for the entire project (https://sref.info/projects/master-gardener-training-preparing-for-wildfires-with-firescaping) Extensive research was carried out and regional experts were consulted to determine what information Extension Agents/ educators would need to teach the Master Gardener (MG) advanced training. This input was used to design chapters for the course. A detailed outline was developed, which includes seven topic chapters (development patterns and the WUI, fire history, fire behavior, risk assessment, risk reduction, firescaping, teaching instructions and tips). Four southeastern US fire education/ research experts were identified to teach five of the chapters. The online chapters are recorded as a webinar, edited, and uploaded to the course web page. Four of the five chapters have been recorded. (The project manager will complete the remaining two chapters.) The online course shell was established on the eXtension (https://campus.extension.org/) website (not currently live). Instruction in using the eXtension content management system, Moodle, was gained. Support resources (publications) for each chapter were identified and archived. State-level contacts to assist Extension Agents/ educators teach the course were identified. Two firescaping workshops (one hosted at national conference and another at a state meeting) hosted to evaluate Extension Agent/ educator needs for the MG advanced training. Evaluation and outcome measure recommendations were made. Objective 2: Learning objectives were determined for the advanced training. GIS spatial analysis conducted to determine southern state counties most at risk for wildfire. Analysis entailed locating extensive spatial data from state and federal partners. Twenty to thirty counties were identified in each of the 13 states. The advanced training will be promoted to these counties that have MG programs. Two firescaping workshops (one hosted at national conference and another at a state meeting) hosted to experiment with and evaluate different interactive group activities for the MG advanced training. As a result, two activities were determined. Objective 3: A logo for the training was designed. A comprehensive marketing plan for the entire project was developed. The course was promoted through several outlets: Social media Southern region newsletters National and regional conferences (flyer distributed) National and state conference presentations about project: Presentation- 2018 Association for Fire Ecology Congress. Orlando, Florida. November 29, 2018 Workshop- 2018 Association for Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP) Conference. Biloxi, MS. May 1, 2018 Presentation- 2018 ANREP Conference. Biloxi, MS. May 2, 2018 Presentation- 2018 Georgia ANREP Conference. St. Mary's, Georgia. May 31, 2018 Workshop- North Carolina Prescribed Fire Council Annual Meeting. Asheboro, North Carolina. August 1, 2018 Presentation- 2018 Master Gardener Coordinator Conference. Madison, Wisconsin. August 7, 2018 Presentation- 2018 Southeastern Extension Program Leader Network Conference. Orlando, Florida. August 22, 2018 The course was promoted to several target audiences though emails, newsletters, or conference calls: Agriculture and Natural Resource (ANR) Agents in 13 southern states Master Gardeners State and County Extension Master Gardener Coordinators in southern states ANR Program Leaders in southern states (includes state Master Gardener programs) Master Naturalist State Coordinators (in southern states) Firewise Coordinators (with southern state forestry agencies) Fire managers in southern region National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Southern Region committee Southeast Regional Partnershipfor Planning and Sustainability Committee Southern region Extension Agents/ Specialists working in fire education Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) wildland fire education group FEMA
Publications
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