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SUNY ESF Provides Fire Ecology Leadership in Regional FIRE-NET Wildfire Resilience Collaboration
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Dec. 16, 2025 — The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), home to one of the nation’s leading forest and environmental science programs, announced its participation in FIRE-NET: Adirondack Fire Futures, an NSF-supported network addressing wildfire resilience across northern New York. The project is funded through NSF Award #2536051.
ESF’s role in the network is anchored in the deep expertise of its Applied Forest and Fire Ecology Lab (AFFEL) led by Professor Andrew Vander Yacht, a specialist in disturbance ecology, forest management, and prescribed fire. His research group has spent more than 15 years studying the premise that disturbance can be a key driver of forest ecosystem resilience.
“Fire is a fundamental ecological force, important to consider even in forests where it currently occurs infrequently,” Vander Yacht said. “Our contribution to FIRE-NET emphasizes a growing need to understand how fire affects forest structure, composition, distribution, and function, integrate this knowledge into the design of modern forest management, and test the efficacy of fire and fire surrogates in achieving a diverse array of objectives through application.”
AFFEL’s research portfolio – which includes projects exploring fire effects on greenhouse gas emissions from soils, forest hydrology, tick abundance and tick-borne pathogen prevalence, and the restoration of fire-dependent biodiversity – positions ESF as a scientific cornerstone of the regional network. Associated students and collaborators will bring expertise in fire behavior analyses, implementing controlled burns, and monitoring ecological response to conversations about Adirondack and North Country fire preparedness.
ESF’s participation ensures that FIRE-NET’s regional planning includes the ecological insights needed to understand ignition sources, fuel dynamics, drought–fire interactions, forest–climate feedbacks, and long-term landscape adaptation.
The future 2026 FIRE-NET symposium will further integrate forestry research with engineering, environmental monitoring, cultural history, sustainability, and community education.
In a region where major fires are rare but increasingly possible, ESF will play a vital role in shaping evidence-based, long-term resilience strategies. Vander Yacht said, “Our Applied Forest and Fire Ecology Lab is excited to work alongside partners committed to a fire-resilient future for the Adirondack region.”
About SUNY ESF
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is dedicated to the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies, and building a sustainable and resilient future through design, policy, and management of the environment and natural resources. Members of the College community share a passion for protecting the health of the planet and a deep commitment to the rigorous application of science to improve the way humans interact with the world. The College offers academic programs ranging from the associate of applied science to the Doctor of Philosophy. ESF students live, study and do research on the main campus in Syracuse, N.Y., and on 25,000 acres of field stations in a variety of ecosystems across the state.