Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations for Community Wildfire Risk Reduction in Colorado

Program Contact

Hannah Brenkert-Smith

hannahb@colorado.edu

303.492.5743

As our nation grapples with increasingly devastating wildfires, national wildfire policy asserts the importance of local data in wildfire decision-making. According to the National Cohesive Strategy: “There is no one-size-fits-all solution to reducing wildfire risk. Solutions must be tailored to landscapes and communities.” The Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations for Community Wildfire Risk Reduction project is part of a larger project that uses a rigorous tool set and strong partnerships to understand the contexts and needs of individual communities. The project applies this knowledge to improve programs and change local conversations about wildfire policy.

The core goal of our project is to use collaborative research to support local programs in their efforts to conduct wildfire outreach and education, and to support fire-prone communities in their efforts to become more fire-adapted. Project objectives include understanding, sharing and engaging the diverse perspectives from the communities these programs serve.

This project seeks to collect a systematic dataset that pairs the conditions of all the parcels in the study community (through a rapid risk assessment (RRA)) with social data collected through a household survey. Like the RRA, the household survey is conducted as a census of all the households within the study community, rather than a sample, in order to ensure the broadest representation of the community. A paired dataset allows us to understand the biophysical conditions across the community’s landscape and explore the relationship between the parcel-level conditions and the property owner’s wildfire-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. The data provide opportunities for our partners and for research.

Importantly, the data reveal the local and unique contextual social dynamics that drive wildfire risk mitigation behaviors on private land within a community. As such, the project will increase local understanding of capacity for wildfire resilience, act as a strategic lever to advance fire adaptation efforts, help residents to better understand their individual risk, and support wildfire practitioners as they engage with residents about how they can take steps to mitigate risk.

This program supports collaborations between CU Boulder and the Platte Canyon Fire Protection District and the West Region Wildfire Council.

  • Living with Wildfire in Park County - Final Report

    Additional Info

    A final project report was published by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. It can be found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/65848


    Location

    in colorado

    Bailey

    Dates

    5/1/2019 - 8/1/2021

    Public or Private

    Private Program (by request only or for a specific audience or group)

    Program Fee

    No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

  • West Region Wildfire Council - Completed Risk Assessments

    Additional Info

    Risk assessments are complete for this project. Household surveys are in the field.


    Location

    in colorado

    Montrose

    Dates

    6/1/2021 - 6/30/2023

    Public or Private

    Private Program (by request only or for a specific audience or group)

    Program Fee

    No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

  • West Region Wildfire Council - Reporting results

    Additional Info

    The results of this project, which includes parcel level risk assessments for 1260 private residential properties in Montrose County, Colorado paired with household survey results have been compiled and reporting results is underway. As a co-productive science endeavor, the reporting process entails sharing results and engaging in iterative engagements with project partners to 1) finalize interpretation of results, 2) identify various audiences with which to share priority results, and 3) identifying opportunities to leverage results to inform practice. This process will be ongoing for the next several months.


    Location

    in colorado

    Montrose

    Dates

    1/1/2024 - 5/1/2024

    Public or Private

    Private Program (by request only or for a specific audience or group)

    Program Fee

    No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

Sponsoring Units

  • Research Institutes

  • Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS)

Program Partners

  • West Region Wildfire Council
  • Platte Canyon Fire Protection District
  • Fire Adapted Bailey (www.fireadaptedbailey.org)
  • Fire Adapted Colorado (FACO) (fireadaptedco.org)
  • Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (fireadaptednetwork.org)

Audiences Served

  • General Public
  • Non-Profit Organization
  • Rural Communities