Farewell and Thanks to Jim Agee, Editor of Fire Ecology

This issue marks the end of Jim Agee’s service as the Managing Editor of Fire Ecology. Jim served as the Managing Editor for the last five years, and the Association for Fire Ecology is indebted to his service and dedication to the journal.

Under Jim’s leadership, Fire Ecology gained recognition in the world’s leading bibliographic databases, its impact factor and rankings increased, and the number of both domestic and international article submissions grew steadily. In this volunteer position, Jim generously committed an enormous amount of time, diligence, and enthusiasm to improving the journal.

As Jim leaves this editorial position, the journal’s reputation as a high-quality outlet for fire research is now firmly cemented and poised to grow even more.

Jim accepted the job of Managing Editor in 2011. Prior to that, Jim was an active member of the Association for Fire Ecology and has had a huge impact on our field. Jim attended the University of California, Berkeley, taking Range Management from fire ecology pioneer, Harold Biswell, who introduced him to the idea of fire’s natural role in many forests. Jim went on to receive his PhD in 1973 from Berkeley as Biswell’s last graduate student.

The rest is history—Jim went onto to work with the National Park Service in California and Washington and spent the majority of his career as a professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington before retiring in 2007. He taught courses in fire management, forest protection, some silviculture, forest ecology, and wildlife field techniques. Jim has written scores of articles and books on the topic of fire ecology, including the popular book Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests (cited over 2700 times!).

Jim’s impact in the field of fire ecology is unparalleled and Fire Ecology greatly benefited from his experience and insight. We wish Jim well in his future endeavors, and we are very grateful to him for all of his many contributions to the growth of Fire Ecology.