Becoming a fire-adapted community that can live with wildfire is envisioned as a continuous, iterative process of adaptation.

Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans (NHMP) and Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) both benefit communities striving to reduce risk to natural hazards. Though one plan is focused on the wildfire hazard and other is focused on multi-natural hazards, the requirements of what needs to be in the plans are similar.

The heart of any natural hazards mitigation plan is the mitigation strategy. The strategy serves as the long-term blueprint for reducing your potential losses identified in the risk assessment. The mitigation strategy describes how you will accomplish the overall purpose of the planning process.

Addressing ‘climate change’ at the local, state, or Tribal-level may feel like trying to tackle an amorphous idea, on top of an already heavy work load. The natural hazards mitigation plan, however, can provide a structured format for addressing specific impacts of climate change within existing planning efforts; and provide a starting point for linking with other planning mechanisms.

Unfortunately, reduced visibility from wildland fire smoke has contributed to fatal incidents or accidents with serious bodily injury in several areas across the country.

Dr. Wayne Cascio, an EPA scientist and physician, will present the webinar “Public Health Impact of Wildfire Smoke Emissions” on June 21 from 3-4 p.m. ET.

What will you learn?

Participants in this central Washington TREX will engage in hands-on training in the ecology of fire-adapted ecosystems, communications and community outreach, prescribed fire monitoring, operational assignments, prescribed fire use, and collaboration among a diverse array of participating individuals and organizations. Applications are due July 28.

Realistic models of fire activity and behavior are necessary for operational fire management, and to understand past and future changes in fire activity. Developing such models, however requires taking into account vegetation cover, land use practices, fire management capacity, extreme weather, and climate variability.