2026 WA GIS Conference: Full Schedule

1:30pm PDT

Identifying Wildfire Risk Using Geospatial Technology

Wednesday May 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

As heat, drought, and fuel accumulation converge, wildfires are intensifying across the Western United States. At the same time, expanding human development into wildland areas is placing infrastructure and lives at greater risk. Geospatial science has a critical role to play, but doing so effectively requires accurate, appropriately-scaled data.
While excellent datasets exist for broad landscape wildfire modeling, and many agencies conduct on-the-ground infrastructure risk assessments, a meaningful gap remains at the intermediate scale. To address this need, information presented here utilizes airborne Lidar and aerial mapping to derive high-resolution landscape data for wildfire risk mitigation at the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
This presentation describes how these technologies are applied to a northern California community to extract terrain, features, and vegetation datasets relevant to wildfire risk analysis. The results provide a detailed characterization of landscape conditions threatening defensible space around structures, evacuation routes, and utility corridors. Ultimately, this work equips agencies and decision-makers with actionable information to mitigate wildfire risk and strengthen community-level planning.

Speakers

Molly Jackson

GIS Manager, GeoTerra, Inc.

I live in Maple Valley, WA and work from home. I came to GIS via geological sciences and love to explore how maps and data can illustrate our natural world. Outside of work my family, hiking, reading, and gardening keep me happy and busy.

Wednesday May 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
409

Remote Sensing, Risk

2026 WA GIS Conference

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2026 WA GIS Conference

1:30pm PDT

Molly Jackson

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