The public and wildland fire management: social science findings for managers

Abstract

Presents key social science findings from three National Fire Plan-sponsored research projects. Articles highlight information of likely interest to individuals working to decrease wildfire hazards on both private and public lands. Three general topic areas are addressed: (1) public views and acceptance of fuels management, (2) working with homeowners and communities, and (3) tools that can help us understand social issues.

Titles contained within The public and wildland fire management: social science findings for managers

• Perceptions of Wildfire Threat and Mitigation Measures by Residents of Fire-Prone Communities in the Northeast: Survey Results and Wildland Fire Management Implications
• Residents warming up to fuels management: homeowners? acceptance of wildfire and fuels management in the wildland-urban interface
• What does wildfire risk mean to the public?
• How forest context influences the acceptability of prescribed burning and mechanical thinning
• Public preferences for future conditions in disturbed and undisturbed northern forest sites
• Characteristics people consider when evaluating forest landscape attractiveness: fuel management implications
• Barriers to community-directed fire restoration
• Engaging communities in post-fire restoration: forest treatments and community-agency relations after the Cerro Grande fire
• Communicating with homeowners in the interface about defensible space
• Wildland fire and fuel management: principles for effective communication
• Encouraging Wildland Fire Preparedness: Lessons Learned from Three Wildfire Education Programs
• Working with community leadership to promote wildfire preparedness
• Working with neighborhood organizations to promote wildfire preparedness
• Using and improving social capital to increase community preparedness for wildfire
• Defensible space in the news: public discussion of a neglected topic
• Using focus groups to involve citizens in resource management--investigating perceptions of smoke as a barrier to prescribed forest burning
• Using computer visualizations to help understand how forests change and develop
• The wildland-urban interface in the United States

Citation

McCaffrey, S.M. 2006. The public and wildland fire management: social science findings for managers. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-1. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 202 p.