Dr. Mike Wotton is a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service. He is currently stationed at the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design under the Institute of Forestry and Conservation. Dr. Wotton's research focuses on developing process-based models of fuel moisture exchange, fire ignition, and fire spread which can be applied across Canada by fire management agencies. His research involves developing the Canadian Forest Service’s Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS), which is a system used throughout Canada and in a growing number of countries globally. Dr. Wotton also works closely with Canadian fire management agencies in applying the results of his research and the CFFDRS to daily fire management operations.


At the University of Toronto, Dr. Wotton supervises graduate students interested in physical forest fire science in addition to serving on graduate advisory committees of graduate students studying forestry. Annually, Dr. Wotton teaches a self-developed course on fire danger rating and fire behaviour to undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Wotton is also a Co-Director of the Firelab at the University of Toronto which aims to study physical fire science which is in association with the Canadian Forest Service.


Dr. Wotton received his BScH in Physics at Queen's University in 1990 and then gained employment with the Canadian Forest Service as a Physical Scientist at the Petawawa National Forestry Institute between 1990-1996. He then continued the position at the Canadian Forest Service's Great Lakes Forest Centre in 1996. Dr. Wotton received his PhD at the University of Toronto in 2004 and became a Research Scientist at the Great Lakes Forest Centre stationed at the University of Toronto in 2005. His previous research includes climate change impact projections on fire activity and management in Canada with the use of fire danger and fire occurrence models.


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