NAU Gets Fire Study Grant

Congressman Rick Renzi (AZ-1) announced that N.A.U. will be receiving $703,000 in federal funds over the next 4 years from the National Science Foundation. The funds will be used to support undergraduate & graduate students working on a project entitled "Interaction of Fire, Climate, & Forest Structure in Northern Mexico ".

"I am delighted that NAU will be receiving these critical funds to study forest fires in the Southwest," said Congressman Rick Renzi. "Any research that can help foster a better understanding of fire patterns will help save lives & property, especially in such fire prone areas as Northern Arizona ."

Under the new program, researchers from both the U.S. & Mexico will work jointly to create a network of long-term fire & climate chronologies in an effort to help better understand fuel dynamics in northern Mexico. This will not only increase the current understanding of how fuel & climate effects fire regimes presently in northern Mexico & the southwestern U.S., but will help increase understanding of how they might change in the future.

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that was created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. During the 109th Congress, funding for the National Science Foundation was approved by Congress through the Science, State, Justice, Commerce & Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006 (H.R. 2862) with the support of Congressman Renzi.