As wildfires in the western US grow in both size and intensity, forest policymakers and managers seek effective ways to mitigate and adapt to increasing wildfire risk.
Disaster recovery after wildfires is often framed as rebuilding to restore communities to their pre-disaster condition. We argue that recovery following a disaster can also function as a mechanism of spatial governance that produces exclusionary development by shaping who is able to return.
As climate change drives more frequent and intense wildfires, the revitalization of Indigenous fire stewardship grows increasingly urgent. This paper examines the Karuk Tribe's experiences with settler colonialism and their efforts to restore cultural fire stewardship in the wake of the 2020 Slater Fire, which burned 157,000 acres of Karuk ancestral territory.
Decision support tools play an important role in determining how to strategically allocate limited wildfire risk reduction resources. However, common decision support tools generally do not account for socioeconomic or demographic characteristics which influence community vulnerability to wildfire, resulting in potentially biased risk reduction investment strategies.
Efforts to understand, assess, and address diversifying recovery needs have growing relevance as wildfires continue to impact communities. However, little is known about social experiences navigating gaps in assistance funding and support or “unmet needs” in post-fire spaces, particularly for indirect impacts like smoke damage.
Wildfires are increasingly affecting people’s lives in the Pacific Northwest. Latine populations, in particular, often face unique challenges in their recovery process. This study examines individual Latine wildfire recovery experiences to understand the strengths and barriers in the community’s post-fire recovery process in two wildfire-affected areas in Oregon and Washington.
Concepts and models of fire refugia are increasingly important components of forest management and adaptation discussions in the context of wildland fire, forest and habitat conservation, and global change.
As wildfires in the western United States grow in frequency and severity, forest fuels treatment has been increasingly recognized as essential for enhancing forest resilience and mitigating wildfire risks. However, the economic valuation of the treatment's co-benefits remains underexplored, limiting integration into financial and policy decision making.
The social diversity of human populations living in or near wildfire-prone lands are an important influence on the scale at which wildfire mitigation action can occur among residential populations at increasing risk from wildfire.
The frequency, severity, and scale of extreme wildfire events is increasing globally, with certain regions such as the western United States disproportionately impacted. As attention shifts toward understanding how to adapt to and recover from extreme wildfire, there is a need to prioritize where additional research and evidence are needed to inform decision-making.