Wildfire experts available for interviews

MOSCOW, Idaho — As wildfires affect communities across the West, University of Idaho experts are available to discuss smoke and human health, wildfire behavior, firefighter safety, community preparedness, forest management, fire ecology, climate impacts, wildfire policy and more.

Media members may reach out directly to the experts, whose contact information is listed below. Those who are searching for an interview in an expertise area not listed may request assistance from Danae Lenz at dlenz@uidaho.edu.

Wildfire policy, economics and community preparedness

Dennis Becker, dean of the College of Natural Resources and professor of natural resource policy

• Expertise: State and federal wildfire policy, policy evaluation, wildfire economics and landowner programs
• Contact: 208-885-8981 | drbecker@uidaho.edu

Chelsea Pennick, associate director of the Policy Analysis Group and research assistant professor of natural resources policy and administration

• Expertise: State and federal wildfire policy, wildfire suppression funding, effects on rural communities and collaborative forest management
• Contact: chelseap@uidaho.edu

Katie Lee, associate professor of agricultural economics

• Expertise: Economics and cost-effectiveness of fuel breaks
• Contact: 208-885-5527 | katherinelee@uidaho.edu

Travis Paveglio, professor of natural resource sociology and director of the U of I Wildland Fire Center

• Expertise: Community wildfire preparedness, social vulnerability, fire-adapted communities and wildfire communication
• Contact: 509-595-1607 | tpaveglio@uidaho.edu

Audra Cochran, Extension educator – Clearwater County

• Expertise: Firewise programs, forestry management and wildfire mitigation
• Contact: 208-476-4434 | audrac@uidaho.edu

Smoke, human health and firefighter safety

Leda Kobziar, professor of wildland fire science and director of the Master of Natural Resources program

• Expertise: Fire ecology, fire and fuels management, prescribed fire and fuels management, ecological impacts of smoke, smoke and fire microbiology (pyroaerobiology) and human health impacts
• Contact: 208-292-2683 | lkobziar@uidaho.edu

Amy Skibiel, associate professor

• Expertise: Effects of wildfire smoke impact on dairy cattle
• Contact: 208-885-1161 | askibiel@uidaho.edu

Randall Brooks, professor of forestry and Extension forestry specialist

• Expertise: Firefighter health and safety, sleep, fatigue and body composition changes among firefighters working on the fire line
• Contact: 208-885-6536 | rbrooks@uidaho.edu

Garrett Brogan, assistant professor of agricultural communications

• Expertise: Logistical coordination and crisis communications related to active wildland fires
• Contact: 208-885-6358 | gbrogan@uidaho.edu

Wildfire and forest management

Robert Keefe, associate professor and director of the U of I Experimental Forest

• Expertise: Forest and fuels management, wildfire mitigation costs, prescribed fire use and wildland firefighter safety
• Contact: 208-310-0269 | robk@uidaho.edu

Heather Heward, research assistant professor and president and founder of the Idaho Prescribed Fire Council

• Expertise: Prescribed burning, wildland fire training and education and fire and fuel monitoring and modeling
• Contact: hheward@uidaho.edu

Tim Prather, Professor and senior associate director of the Rangeland Center

• Expertise: Using drones to reseed following wildfires; impact of Rejuvra to keep cheatgrass in check following wildfires
• Contact: 208-885-9246 | tprather@uidaho.edu

Scott Jensen, Area Extension range educator

• Expertise: Grazing after fire and grazing management to decrease fire fuels
• Contact: 208-364-4623 | scottj@uidaho.edu

Post-fire recovery and environmental impacts

Erin Brooks, professor of soil and water systems

• Expertise: Wildfire effects on soil erosion, infiltration and nutrient cycling, post-fire forest and rangeland hydrology, flooding, post-wildfire erosion and runoff mitigation
• Contact: 208-885-6562 | ebrooks@uidaho.edu

Mariana Dobre, research assistant professor of soil and water systems

• Expertise: Decision-support tools for forest management planning, pre-fire erosion-risk modeling for thinning and prescribed burns, rapid post-fire erosion-risk assessment and rehabilitation planning
• Contact: mdobre@uidaho.edu

Laurel Lynch, associate professor of soil and water systems

• Expertise: How wildfire reshapes ecosystem processes and biological functions, post-fire reforestation and carbon management
• Contact: 208-885-4661 | llynch@uidaho.edu

Wildfire ecology and environmental impacts

Charles Goebel, professor of forest ecosystem restoration and ecology and head of the Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences

• Expertise: Forest ecology, ecosystem restoration, riparian ecology, wildland fire education
• Contact: 208-885-7311 | cgoebel@uidaho.edu

Alistair Smith, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Spatial Sciences

• Expertise: Forest fire ecology, fire behavior and vegetation ignition risk
• Contact: 208-885-1009 | alistair@uidaho.edu

Grant Harley, associate dean and professor of geography

• Expertise: Forest fire ecology, climate change, drought, floods, wildfires, insect outbreaks and tree-ring science
• Contact: 208-885-0950 | gharley@uidaho.edu

Jessica R. Miesel, associate professor in the Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences

• Expertise: Fire ecology, wildfire’s effects on soil and soil burn severity
• Contact: 802-558-0592 | jmiesel@uidaho.edu

Luigi Boschetti, professor of remote sensing

• Expertise: Global monitoring of fires and forests, interactions among fire, vegetation and carbon, Earth observation data science and geographic artificial intelligence
• Contact: 208-885-6508 | luigi@uidaho.edu

Eva Strand, professor emerita of forest, rangeland and fire sciences

• Expertise: Rangeland ecology, vegetation and fuels management and post-fire effects
• Contact: 208-596-1528 | evas@uidaho.edu

Livestock preparedness and rangeland recovery

Sawyer Fonnesbeck, Extension educator – Oneida County

• Expertise: Transporting livestock during wildfire emergencies
• Contact: 208-766-2243 | sfonnesbeck@uidaho.edu

Selena Davila, Extension educator – Lincoln County

• Expertise: Transporting livestock during wildfire emergencies, managing livestock during wildfire season
• Contact: 208-886-2406 | sdavila@uidaho.edu

Jim Sprinkle, professor and Extension beef cattle specialist

• Expertise: Post-fire grazing in rangelands
• Contact: 208-756-2749 | sprinkle@uidaho.edu

Melinda Ellison, associate professor and Extension range livestock and sheep specialist

• Expertise: Managing cattle grazing in wildfire burn areas
• Contact: 208-756-2749 | ellison@uidaho.edu

Media Contact

Danae Lenz
External communications coordinator 
208-885-1605
dlenz@uidaho.edu