After the fire: Perceptions of land use planning to reduce wildfire risk in eight communities across the United States

Funding

There are many different paths and activities that communities may take in order to become “fire-adapted” [20,55,67], and we show here that non-action on land use planning can occur for a vast variety of reasons. Our conceptual model suggests some initial areas where technical expertise and support may be valuable for local government staff. For example, concerns about capacity, the efficacy of plans and regulations, limited knowledge of wildfire risks, other policy priorities, and policy coordination are all areas where technical assistance and networking might suggest novel solutions or raise awareness. For technical assistance, the USDA Forest Service funded Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire project (CPAW) provides expertise via consultants for local governments. As of 2018, 61 communities in 13 states had received some kind of technical assistance through CPAW. The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (FAC Net) is a national network of people working to build wildfire resilience capacity, created by a partnership among The Nature Conservancy, the Watershed Research and Training Center, and the USDA Forest Service. The FAC Net provides a way to spread knowledge and practice among peers, and demonstrate fire adaptation in a diverse variety of settings.We are indebted to all interviewees for sharing their knowledge with us and grateful for support from Joint Fire Science Funding Program (award 14-2-01-6) and National Fire Plan funding from the USDA Forest Service (Northern Research Station and Rocky Mountain Research Station). Kathryn Thomason assisted with document review, and journal reviewers, J. Morgan Grove, Elizabeth Larry, Molly Mowery, and Michelle Johnson provided value feedback on the manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy. We are indebted to all interviewees for sharing their knowledge with us and grateful for support from Joint Fire Science Funding Program (award 14-2-01-6) and National Fire Plan funding from the USDA Forest Service ( Northern Research Station and Rocky Mountain Research Station ). Kathryn Thomason assisted with document review, and journal reviewers, J. Morgan Grove, Elizabeth Larry, Molly Mowery, and Michelle Johnson provided value feedback on the manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.