Community-Based Wildfire Management: Lessons Learned from Community Forestry

1. Community-Based Wildfire Management: Lessons Learned from Community Forestry Cecilia Danks Watershed Research and Training Center, Hayfork, California, USA and University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont, USA

2. Issue: Wildfires are a serious and growing problem in the US. In 2000: • 3,000,000 hectares of wildlands burned • US$ 2 billion was spent to fight forest fires • $ billions in losses of property and resources • human lives lost

3. Community forestryprovides lessons for how to manage wildfire in a way that has social, economic and ecological benefits -- for forest communities and the nation as a whole. The US has learned from community forestry efforts abroad -- through visits, exchanges and individuals.

4. Features US forest communities share with those in other countries: • Physically isolated • High poverty and underemployment • Dependent on forest for livelihood • Limited capital • Small businesses • Resourceful people with knowledge of local forests

5. share in: Decision-making Benefits contribute to: Labor Expertise Community Forestry means that local communities… To achieve: Social Well-being and Environmental Health

6. Community Forestry in the US:A Participatory / Small Business Model

7. Labor Expertise Community-based businesses contract with the Forest Service Jobs in extraction and processing of forest products Direct employment with agencies Local knowledge History of past experiences Community Forestry in the UScontinued…

8. Importance of: Small scale (for small crews) Consistency – available every year Commitments long in duration Intermediate skills, technology, capital For community-based businesses to compete and communities to benefit Research Results on Community Employment in National Forests

9. Suppressing fire: Large scale activity Irregular in any one place Short duration High levels of skill, technology, and capital Managing fuels: Small scale actions across the landscape Consistent, annual work Long-term activity Intermediate skills, technology, and capital Two Components of Managing Wildfire

10. Currently, Little $  Managing fuels (prevention) Most $$$$  Fire suppression (fighting fires) Communities are left out. Fire threat continues to grow. Need BOTH!

11. Community-based Wildfire Management

12. Labor Expertise Mapping, planning, research Extraction and processing the by-products of fuels reduction Value-added industries Direct employment with agencies Prescribed burning; small scale firefighting Fire history, weather patterns Access points, water sources Community-based Wildfire Management

13. Contrasting Approaches to Fire Management

14. Current Centralized capacity to respond Outside experts Mobile, specialized crews Community-based Decentralized capacity to manage Local knowledge Place-based, multipurpose crews Contrasting Approaches to Fire Management

15. Policies to Enable Community-based Wildfire Management • Invest in both approaches to managing fire – fire-fighting and fuels management • Field project implementation • Skills training and industry development • Pay attention to scale and consistency to involve communities and their local skills and knowledge • Encourage utilization of by-products of fuels management

16. Community Meeting on Active Fire Near Town