"Wildland Firefighter" demobilizes

Wildland Firefighter magazine just announced in it's May issue that it is ceasing publication. It will no longer exist as a stand-alone publication dedicated to wildland fire. In a publisher's note, Jeff Berend, the Vice President and Publisher said:

"Beginning in June, we will be merging Wildland Firefighter into a new Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) section in FireRescue magazine.....

But from a business perspective, we simply have not been able to grow the readership or advertising beyond that loyal core. At the same time, publishing costs have risen at unprecedented levels."

Wildland Firefighter and FireRescue are both published by Elsevier Public Safety. Wildland Firefighter became the "official publication of the International Association of Fire Chiefs" a couple of years ago after the IAFC severed their relationship with Fire Chief magazine.

This leaves Wildfire magazine, an "official publication of the International Association of Wildland Fire" as the only remaining magazine-type publication dedicated solely to wildland fire. The IAWF also publishes, through CSIRO Publishing, the International Journal of Wildland Fire, a professional journal containing peer-reviewed papers on the subject of wildland fire.

In the interest of full-disclosure, for the last 3 years I have been the Executive Director of the IAWF. Since January I have been helping the Board of Directors find a replacement so I can concentrate on other pursuits.