Changing a Narrative
Developing preventative fire-retardant
By Lauren McEwen
Professor Stewart Wilson overseeing the application of preventative fire-retardant products.
Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences Professor Stewart Wilson is leading the charge in developing preventative fire-retardant products (PFRP). Wilson, along with a team of undergraduate and graduate students and researchers, set out to change the narrative, emphasizing the need for preventing wildfires instead of fighting them.
Despite California’s wildfire season occurring in the summer, Wilson and his team are conducting research on two types of products in three different locations year-round. A third type of PFRP potentially more environmentally friendly is being studied in partnership with Professor Eric Appel of Stanford University. In the summer, the preventative fire retardants are applied and vegetation is clipped and run through ignition tests. During the wet seasons, groundwater is sampled every two weeks. In the spring, soil samples are analyzed for health and nutrient load while vegetation is analyzed for biomass, species composition and photosynthetic rate. The cycle starts again in the summer as the PFRP is reapplied.
Graduate student Patrick Michelsen
collecting water samples.
Graduate student Lis Kraycik collecting
preliminary soil bulk density samples.
“This can be particularly important for homes in the wildland-urban interface or for potential ignition sources such as roadsides or power lines,” said Wilson. “However, while results for their use to prevent ignitions has been promising, there are a lack of studies investigating the environmental impact of these preventative fire-retardant products.”
Environmental Sciences and Management graduate student Lis Kraycik says that, in particular, the PFRP’s impacts on soil health are “replete with knowledge gaps.”
As wildfires in California have widespread impact and in many cases cause the devastation of residential and natural areas, “it is crucial that we fill these gaps to properly inform industry, law makers and stakeholders of the potential ecological risks before the widespread implementation of these products,” Kraycik said.
Utility companies such as Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison have expressed a desire to use PFRP as part of their wildfire mitigation plans, but they need more information regarding the environmental fate and impact of these products before implementing, Wilson said.
“Our experimental design utilizes two different rates of each PFRP allowing industry and stakeholders to assess how different rates impact potential trade-offs between efficacy and environmental impact,” he said.
The research is opening doors for students at Cal Poly to get involved with internships, graduate degrees and careers. To date, the PFRP research has supported three plant science undergraduates, two engineering undergraduates and seven undergrads in the Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences department as well as two graduate students.
Graduate student Patrick Michelsen said one of his tasks is collecting samples from the 48 lysimeters every two weeks during the winter. After collecting the samples, Michelsen runs the samples through lab procedures with a team of undergraduate students. “I have found this experience to be extremely rewarding and effective at preparing me for my future career,” he said. “I have learned how to effectively lead a team while also learning what it takes to take a project from its infancy to its conclusion.”
“Research experiences like this at Cal Poly help students to transition to professional internships and eventually to professional work as a scientist and is a critical part of their education experience that they are not necessarily able to get in the classroom,” Wilson said.
For Kraycik, “working on this project has prepared me to execute the design and implementation of an environmental field study from start to finish. I feel prepared to work in any environmental science career that requires field site set-up, sample collection, lab analysis of soil mineralogical factors, data analysis and the presentation of results.”
The multidisciplinary research team includes Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences Professors Stewart Wilson, Chip Appel and Bwalya Malama, Plant Sciences Department Head Scott Steinmaus, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Rick Emberley, and two graduate students, Lis Kraycik and Patrick Michelsen, with support from Frank Frievalt, director of the Cal Poly Wildland-Urban Interface FIRE Institute. The project has received more than $745,000 in funding from both the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation’s wildfire resilience initiative and the Cal State’s Agricultural Research Institute.
Read more stories in the Fall 2024 Newsletter
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