Synthesis of Baseline Acceptance, Research Needs and Priorities Related to Wildfire

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo by Andrew Avitt.

A fuels crew burning brush piles near Kelseyville, California.

There are several barriers to expanding the pace and scale of fuels reduction. People may have concerns over smoke exposure and possible escaped fires, for example, from prescribed burns. Public acceptance and support may be impacted by beliefs about outcomes of restoration activities or trust in agency staff. Understanding fuel reduction actions and the impacts of a given project require baseline data and ongoing monitoring of conditions.

Various modeling systems and databases for monitoring forest conditions may or may not be aligned with each other. Different organizations have varying degrees of access to data and ability to meaningfully measure and monitor conditions. Lack of consistency potentially compounds the disparate services for wildfire risk reduction. Some conditions (e.g., social acceptance and partnership capacity) are not well understood or measured in reliable ways. These constraints limit the ability to build or maintain support for fire-risk reduction activities. Finally, research, carried out by the Forest Service and others, related to social acceptance is underutilized.

Objectives

• Establish baseline knowledge about social and ecological factors that need to be monitored to assess social acceptance and potential for shared stewardship.
• Develop best practices for effective and culturally appropriate communication that will support wildfire risk reduction strategies.
• Develop communication strategies that can be used by the Forest Service, and external organizations to build support for fire risk reduction activities.

Expected Results

Outputs

• Baseline knowledge about social and ecological systems factors that need to be monitored to assess changes in levels of social acceptance, capacities, and potential for collaboration and shared stewardship over time.
• Best practices for effective and culturally appropriate communication that will support wildfire risk reduction strategies.
• Communication strategies that can be used by Forest Service and external organizations end-users to build support for fire risk reduction activities.

Expected Outcomes

• Forest Service and partner staff can identify and use the products developed from this research (e.g., briefs, trainings, planning and monitoring assessments).
• Forest Service and partner staff, along with R&D support, can incorporate monitoring results into actions.
• Monitoring and adaptation applied to communicating with stakeholders begins to result in small changes in community support for Wildfire Crisis Strategy actions.

Metrics of Success

Forest Service and partner staff can implement Wildfire Crisis Strategy fire-risk reduction activities with broad support from communities where baseline support and acceptance were relatively neutral. In communities where baseline conditions were more contentious, a reduction in conflict is expected.

Geographies and High-Risk Landscapes to Be Addressed

Local, Regional, and National

The research seeks to synthesize existing knowledge and fill gaps in knowledge critically important for understanding social acceptance of fire-risk reduction strategies and actions. This foundational knowledge at the local, regional, and national scales can be used to monitor and adapt outcomes of Wildfire Crisis Strategy activities.