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Wildfire Risk Narratives and Management Regimes in Wildland-Urban Interface Zones |
Deserai Crow (University of Colorado Denver), Lydia Lawhon, Elizabeth Koebele, John Berggren, Juhi Huda (all University of Colorado Boulder), and Adrianne Kroepsch (Colorado School of Mines) work to understand how communities in the western U.S. communicate about wildfire risk and what government agencies do to manage and inform them of such risks. In recent years, fires affecting populations along the wildland-urban interface (WUI) have grown in size and destruction, substantially impacting life and property across the West. Understanding residents' understanding of wildfire risk and responsibility in regards to fire mitigation and management is important to shaping policy and land management decisions. Though this is an increasingly urgent topic, little research has been conducted to investigate the nexus between fire and residents' values, beliefs, and the role of information in promoting support for fire management as well as influencing individual beliefs about the locus of responsibility for fire abatement (local, state, federal government, or individual homeowners).
