F -- fire/ fuels data elements evaluation

The USDA Forest Service intends to perform a sole source procurement with Mr. Travis Emery in order to develop a methodology for the evaluation of regional fire/ fuels data elements; to assess vegetative homogeneity and classification across an analysis area or wildland urban interface (WUI) treatment area. This evaluation is necessary to evaluate various methods of creating vegetation polygon layers consistent with USDA Forest Service classification guidelines and to determine when a vegetation layer has deteriorated to a point where a new delineation or classification is required across the landscape. This spatial analysis methodology will be used to evaluate the homogeneity of the vegetation in each polygon, and will be incorporated into the current fire spatial modeling data input layers throughout the southwestern region. This methodology will be compatible with the current Natural Resources Information System (NRIS) - Integrated Forest Management System (INFORMS) Fire/Fuels analysis technology. An application for use will be distributed and deployed throughout the region, particularly in high-risk areas where very accurate and detailed fire spatial data input layers are needed to assist in the pre-positioning of fire suppression resources and the prioritization of fuel treatment areas within the identified high-priority WUI areas. The completed product should run on UNIX or Linux computers and will be developed in either a platform-independent scripting language or C++. In addition, the application should categorize each polygon for homogeneity and report an overall homogeneity score for the entire analysis area, which is usually a large continuous landscape or National Forest. The person must have the following MINIMUM educational requirements: (list education), the following experience (list experience), following training (list training) and must have working knowledge of the following requlations (list regs). Minimum education requirements: Must have a BS with related course work in Biology, Statistics, Computer Science and Ecology. Minimum experience requirements: Must have a comprehensive background in field data collection, procedures, protocols, and corporate databases associated with USDA Forest Service. Must have a comprehensive understanding of the various model application associated with the data analysis and processing tools affiliated with the data elements collected in the field (i.e. Integrated Forest Management System, Most Similar Neighbor Analysis & GIS Modeling Interfaces). Must have existing experience in statistical data analysis associated with field sampled vegetation data relating to fire/fuels management and proven track record of managing multiple projects in a professional, timely manner with minimal supervision. Minimum training requirements: Common Stand Exam (CSE) FSVEG (Field Sampled Vegetation) Regional Fuels Monitoring Protocols Integrated Forest Management System (INFORMS) JAVA, C++ and Arc View