Dear Paleofire researcher,
I (Richard Vachula) am reaching out in my capacity as the Community Engagement Officer of the newly invigorated International Paleofire Network (IPN). Throughout its history, the IPN and its predecessor organizations have advanced paleofire research as well as the compilation and synthesis of datasets. Last fall, through an NSF-funded workshop convened at Penn State by Sarah Ivory and Jenn Marlon, the IPN began efforts to reinvigorate and reinvent itself. The details and goals of this meeting can be found in the recent PAGES Magazine (Ivory et al., 2026, https://doi.org/10.22498/pages.34.2.94), but suffice it to say that there is an exciting future ahead for the IPN. The foremost efforts include: (1) the generation of a new organizational structure and set of IPN bylaws (attached), (2) the migration and incorporation of the IPN’s Global Paleofire Database to become a constituent database of Neotoma, (3) the creation of a paleofire data taxonomy and data standards in association with Neotoma, and (4) the creation of a new version of the Global Paleofire Database including new datasets and a streamlined data structure that addresses shortcomings of previous versions. As part of the new organization structure, Ankit Raj serves as Early Career Representative to ensure that early career researcher perspectives are central to IPN decision-making processes. We are committed sustaining the future of our field and so especially encourage early career researchers to join and get involved with the IPN!
As part of the new era of the IPN, we are also formalizing our membership and organization processes (per our newly adopted bylaws). If you would like to join the IPN as a member, simply register using this webform: https://forms.gle/b8LGqjyZF4CmLEPF8
Additionally, please join the IPN’s “paleofire” listserv by registering at https://listserv.gwdg.de/mailman/listinfo/paleofire.
You can subscribe/unsubscribe at any time. Additionally, you should feel free to use this listserv to communicate with fellow paleofire researchers. The IPN will use the paleofire listserv for all communications going forward, so if you would like to stay in the loop about our ongoing efforts or would like to get involved, please join.
One final request for you: Please forward this message to anyone else you know who might be interested in joining the IPN. Throughout the years, various forms of email lists have existed amid people changing jobs and losing/gaining email account access, such that we have an incomplete dataset of contact information for paleofire researchers globally. Please help us to circulate this message to other interested paleofire researchers.
In sum:
- Join the IPN – https://forms.gle/b8LGqjyZF4CmLEPF8
- Join the listserv – https://listserv.gwdg.de/mailman/listinfo/paleofire
- Forward this to your paleofire friends!
Richard Vachula (Community Engagement Officer), sent on behalf of the IPN Steering Committee, composed of:
Elisabeth Dietze (Chair)
Bérangère Leys (Co-Chair)
Jenn Marlon (Secretary)
Ankit Raj (Early Career Representative)
Ramesh Glückler (Data Steward Coordinator)
Richard S. Vachula, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Geosciences
Auburn University
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Dept. Website – Personal Website
References
Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Platts PJ, Willcock S, Timberlake JR, Osborne J, Matimele H, Summer Osgood H, Muiruri V, Gehrels M, Bayliss J, Marchant R. 2025. Tree demographics and soil charcoal evidence of fire disturbances in an inaccessible forest atop the Mount Lico inselberg, Mozambique. Plants, People, Planet 7(1): 229–244. [CC BY 4.0 Open Access] Data: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/EZIWDT Video context: [YouTube]
Ivory S et al., 2026. The Global Paleofire Database in Neotoma: Next steps toward integration. Past Global Changes Magazine 34(2): 94.