Thomas Schiks conducting a prescribed burn.
Google Scholar

Tom Schiks

PhD

Tom Schiks is a forest research ecologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. He has worked as a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service and as a forest fuels technologist with Alberta’s provincial wildfire agency. His master’s research focused on how fire hazard is altered by FireSmart fuel management practices applied in wildland-urban interfaces surrounding communities. His doctoral research focused on approaches to measure large wildfire spread across multiple scales using satellite-based active fire detection data.

Before joining the Fire Management Systems Lab, he spent field seasons with PeatFire and the Agroforestry Research Group .

Selected Recent Publications

  • Schiks, T.J. et al. (in prep). Prescribed burning promotes white pine regeneration in Ontario.

  • Schiks, T.J. et al. (in prep). Reconstruction of large wildfire growth using active fire detection data.

  • Schiks, T.J. (2022). Delineating between wildland fire rate of spread and daily progression mapping using active fire remote sensing. PhD Thesis, University of Toronto. 176 pp.

  • Phelps, N., Cameron, H., Forbes, A., Schiks, T., Schroeder, D., Beverly, J.L. (2022). The Alberta Wildland Fuels Inventory Program (AWFIP): data description and reference tables. Annals of Forest Science 79:1-28.

  • Thompson, D.K., Schroeder, D., Wilkinson, S., Barber, Q., Baxter, G., Cameron, H., Hsieh, R., Marshall, G., Moore, B., Refia, R., Rodell, C., Schiks, T., Verkaik, G.J., Zerb, J. (2020). Recent Crown Thinning in a Boreal Black Spruce Forest Does Not Reduce Spread Rate nor Total Fuel Consumption: Results from an Experimental Crown Fire in Alberta, Canada. Fire 3: 1-28. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire3030028

  • Schiks, T.J., Wotton, B.M., Johnston, J., Martell, D.L., Woolford, D. (2019). Rate of spread estimation at landscape scales using simulated satellite active fire imagery. Oral presentation at Wildland Fire Canada 2019, November 18-21, 2019. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

  • Schiks, T.J., Wotton, B.M., Turetsky, M.R., Benscoter, B.W. (2016). Variation in fuel structure of boreal fens. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 46: 683-695. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0445

  • Thompson, D.K., Schiks, T.J., Wotton, B.M. (2016). Fuel size impacts on carbon residuals and combustion dynamics in masticated woody debris. Forest Ecology and Management 369: 59-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.03.029

  • Schiks, T.J., Thompson, D.K., Hvenegaard, S., Schroeder, D., Wotton, B.M. (2016). Mulch fuels in boreal forests: structure, moisture, and initial fire behaviour observations. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta. Forest Management Note 66. https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=37419

  • Schiks, T., Schroeder, D. (2016). Alberta Wildland Fuels Inventory Program: Forest Fuels Calculation Guide. Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Internal Technical Report. Available upon request: dave.schroeder@gov.ab.ca.

  • Schiks, T.J. (2015). Fuel moisture and fire behaviour in masticated fuels of Canada’s boreal forest. Oral presentation at the 6th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress (Association for Fire Ecology), November 16-20, 2015. San Antonio, Texas, USA. (Invited, Special Session).

  • Schiks, T.J., Thompson, D.K., Wotton, B.M. (2015). Short-term effects of mastication on fuel moisture and thermal regime of boreal fuel beds. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45: 867-876. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0431

  • Schiks, T.J., Wotton, B.M. (2015). Modifying the Canadian Fine Fuel Moisture Code for masticated surface fuels. International Journal of Wildland Fire 24: 79-91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF14041
  • Schiks, T.J. (2013). Moisture dynamics and probability of sustained flaming of masticated fuelbeds in Canadian boreal forests. Poster presentation at the 4th Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference, February 18-22, 2013. Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
  • Hvenegaard, S., Schiks, T. (2013). Mulched fuels and potential fire behavior in BC Hydro rights-of-way. FPInnovations Wildfire Operations Research, Hinton, AB. Project Report. Available upon request: http://wildfire.fpinnovations.ca/
  • Schiks, T.J., Wotton, B.M. (2015). Assessing the probability of sustained flaming in masticated fuelbeds. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45: 68-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF14041
  • Schiks, T.J., Wotton, B.M. (2014). Moisture dynamics and probability of sustained flaming in masticated fuel beds. Poster presentation at Wildland Fire Canada Conference 2014, October 6-9, 2014. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.