Fire Executive Council

Dear Reader, The Quadrennial Fire Review (QFR) is a strategic assessment process that is conducted every four years to evaluate current mission strategies and capabilities against best estimates of the future environment for fire management. This integrated review is a joint effort of the five federal natural resource management agencies and their state, local, and tribal partners that constitute the wildland fire community. The objective is to create an integrated strategic vision document for fire management. The 2009 QFR presents incoming federal policy leadership and the agency senior executives with the driving forces for change, suggested mission strategies, and analyses of workforce and operational capabilities. The document provides a solid foundation for policy discussions within the federal agencies and, importantly, among the federal agencies and state, local, tribal, and other partners. While the QFR is not a formal policy or decision document, it sets the stage for a “strategic conversation ” about future direction and change in fire management. Our thanks goes to the QFR Integration Panel members who led the two-year analysis and review process and who prepared the final report, along with those members of the wildland fire community who submitted information, commentary, and suggestions during the process. We look forward to joining our wildland fire colleagues in using the QFR to chart and implement a national approach to wildland fire management

Crop wild relative populations of Beta vulgaris allow direct mapping of agronomically important genes

Rapid identification of agronomically important genes is of pivotal interest for crop breeding. One source of such genes are crop wild relative (CWR) populations. Here we used a CWR population of <200 wild beets (B. vulgaris ssp. maritima), sampled in their natural habitat, to identify the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) resistance gene Rz2 with a modified version of mapping-by-sequencing (MBS). For that, we generated a draft genome sequence of the wild beet. Our results show the importance of preserving CWR in situ and demonstrate the great potential of CWR for rapid discovery of causal genes relevant for crop improvement. The candidate gene for Rz2 was identified by MBS and subsequently corroborated via RNA interference (RNAi). Rz2 encodes a CC-NB-LRR protein. Access to the DNA sequence of Rz2 opens the path to improvement of resistance towards rhizomania not only by marker-assisted breeding but also by genome editing