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Assessing Wildfire Mitigation Outreach Strategies in the Wildland-Urban Interface
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by Deserai Crow, Center for Science and Technology Policy Research and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
Adrianne Kroepsch, Elizabeth Koebele, and Lydia Dixon, Environmental Studies,University of Colorado Boulder
Colorado residents, local governments, and non-governmental organizations are becoming increasingly aware of damages that wildfire – and especially catastrophic wildfire – can inflict on their communities and watersheds. Because wildfires are expected only to escalate in frequency and destruction in the American West due to regional demographic and climate trends, it is important for policymakers and water resource planners to understand how to best promote effective wildfire risk mitigation techniques among residents who choose to live in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). What types of wildfire mitigation information do homeowners in WUI zones receive, how is information distributed to them, and what effects does that information have on individual behavior? This study uses data from in-depth interviews and focus groups with fire professionals, wildfire-focused watershed groups, and homeowners in two communities in Colorado that have recently experienced historic wildfires, as well as a cross-jurisdictional survey of fire professionals in the American West, to examine programmatic efforts used to encourage homeowners to mitigate their wildfire risk. The results provide insights into constraints on individual and collective capacity, the effectiveness of formal versus informal roles for government, and other findings that may inform more effective wildfire risk mitigation policies in Colorado and across the American West in the future.
Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship Program Summer 2014 panel discussion
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by Leslie Dodson, ATLAS Institute, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado Boulder and Drew Zackary, Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder
The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship program seeks to improve climate change communication and adaptation decision-making in response to climate variability and change within the humanitarian sector. It connects humanitarian practitioners from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre [RC/RC CC], an affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [IFRC], with science-policy graduate student researchers at the University of Colorado, to accomplish three specific goals: to improve the capacity of humanitarian practitioners within the IFRC network at the interface of climate science, policy and practice; to forge a unique partnership and facilitate collaborations between CU and RC/RC CC; and to help meet needs and gaps as well as work as a research clearing house in the stated themes climate change communication and adaptation decision-making in response to climate variability and change, as identified through RC/RC CC priorities and projects.
