Community wildfire protection planning: is the Healthy Forests Restoration Act’s vagueness genius?
Pamela J. Jakes A G , Kristen C. Nelson B , Sherry A. Enzler B , Sam Burns C , Antony S. Cheng D , Victoria Sturtevant E , Daniel R. Williams F , Alexander Bujak D , Rachel F. Brummel B , Stephanie Grayzeck-Souter B and Emily Staychock D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 1992 Folwell Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
B Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, 1530 Cleveland Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
C Office of Community Services, Fort Lewis College, 260 CSWS, Durango, CO 81301, USA.
D Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University, 101 Natural Resources Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1401, USA.
E Department of Environmental Studies, Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Boulevard, Ashland, OR 97520, USA.
F USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2150A Centre Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80526-1891, USA.
G Corresponding author. Email: pjakes@fs.fed.us
International Journal of Wildland Fire 20(3) 350-363 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF10038
Submitted: 9 April 2010 Accepted: 17 September 2010 Published: 5 May 2011
Abstract
The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA) encourages communities to develop community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs) to reduce their wildland fire risk and promote healthier forested ecosystems. Communities who have developed CWPPs have done so using many different processes, resulting in plans with varied form and content. We analysed data from 13 case-study communities to illustrate how the characteristics of HFRA have encouraged communities to develop CWPPs that reflect their local social and ecological contexts. A framework for analysing policy implementation suggests that some elements of HFRA could have made CWPP development and implementation problematic, but these potential shortcomings in the statute have provided communities the freedom to develop CWPPs that are relevant to their conditions and allowed for the development of capacities that communities are using to move forward in several areas.
Additional keywords: community capacity, policy implementation, wildfire management, wildland–urban interface.
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