Publications
Our work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Citations and links to the journal articles are provided below. For news coverage, click here.
Floods and Policy Learning
Crow, D.A. & Albright, E.A. (2017). Learning from Disasters: Colorado’s Extreme Floods of 2013. Final Project Report, University of Colorado Denver and Duke University.
Albright, E.A. & Crow, D.A. (2015). Learning in the Aftermath of Extreme Floods: Community Damage and Stakeholder Perceptions of Future Risk. Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, 6(3), 308-328.
This study examines recovery from Colorado’s 2013 floods across seven communities. Differences in extent of damages and resource capacity have led to a diversity of venues and participatory processes to manage flood recovery across the case communities. Results suggest that perceptions of problem severity are linked to past flood experiences, type of expertise and job position. Taken together, these results suggest who participates in flood recovery processes, specifically their position and field of expertise, may influence how flood risks are perceived at the community level.
Albright, E.A. & Crow, D.A. (2015). Learning Processes, Public and Stakeholder Engagement: Analyzing Responses to Colorado’s Extreme Flood Events of 2013. Urban Climate, 14(December), 79-93.
Successful response to extreme events may be due to policy learning—changes of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and goals – in response to new information and experiences. This learning can at times lead to adaptation of local policies to increase the resilience of communities faced with risk from extreme events. The extent of policy learning may depend on how communities engage with stakeholders and the public in post-disaster recovery. Using a comparative in-depth case study approach of seven Colorado communities, this study examines how communities actively engage stakeholders and the public in decision processes after an extreme event.
Crow, D.A., & Albright, E.A. (2014). Policy Learning and Community Recovery: Analyzing Responses to Colorado’s Extreme Flood Events of 2013. Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder. QR248.
By following the response to the September 2013 floods in Colorado communities, this study investigates if, how, and why communities successfully learn from extreme events to increase resilience and decrease vulnerability to future floods. It will do this over a three-year period, although the research presented here and funded by a Quick Response Grant from the Natural Hazards Center provides a snapshot of the flood damages incurred and an overview of the beginning of flood recovery in seven Colorado communities.
Wildfire Risk and Management
Crow, D.A., Lawhon, L.A., Berggren, J., Huda, J., Koebele, E., & Kroepsch, A. (2017). A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of Wildfire Policy Discussions in Two Colorado Communities. Politics & Policy, Volume 45, No. 4: 626-656. 10.1111/polp.12207.
Kroepsch, A., Koebele, E.A., Crow, D.A., Berggren, J., Huda, J., & Lawhon, L.A. (2017). Remembering the Past, Anticipating the Future: Community Learning and Adaptation Discourse in Media Commemorations of Catastrophic Wildfires in Colorado. Environmental Communication, DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2017.1371053.
Crow, D.A., Berggren, J., Lawhon, L.A., Koebele, E.A., Kroepsch, A., & Huda, J. (2016). Local Media Coverage of Wildfire Disasters: An Analysis of Problems and Solutions in Policy Narratives. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, doi: 10.1177/0263774X16667302.
Many communities face increasing vulnerability to the risks posed by natural hazards, such as floods, wildfires, and hurricanes. In the public policy literature, natural disasters can garner the attention of the public and elites and therefore become focusing events that can open windows of opportunity for policy change to reduce community vulnerability to local risks. Past decisions by governments to ignore or leave hazard risks unaddressed can also be viewed as policy failures when the disaster results in loss of life or property. Whether risk from such disasters persists depends on whether governments learn and adapt based on their experiences with disasters. This research examines two catastrophic wildfires that occurred in Colorado, USA, to determine how policy narratives about these events may influence policy change. Media coverage is analyzed as a measure of the policy narratives within communities. Findings indicate that patterns of policy narrative construction in these cases may preclude public dialog focused on mitigating wildfire risk through policy change.
Crow, D.A., Lawhon, L., Koebele, E., Kroepsch, A., Schild, R., & Huda, J. (2015). Information, Resources, and Management Priorities: Agency Outreach and Mitigation of Wildfire Risk in the West. Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, 6(1), 69-90.
Using data collected through a survey of fire professionals, this research investigates the strategies that agencies use to promote wildfire mitigation on private property within the WUI, fire professionals’ sense of the effectiveness of those strategies, and support among fire professionals for various regulatory approaches to wildfire mitigation. The findings indicate that fire professionals are keenly aware of the constraints imposed by the political context and acceptability of some tools that they could use to promote more aggressive mitigation on private property.
Koebele, E., Crow, D.A., Lawhon, L., Schild, R., Kroepsch, A., & Clifford, K. (2015). Wildfire Outreach and Citizen Entrepreneurs in the Wildland-Urban Interface: A Cross-Case Analysis in Colorado. Society and Natural Resources, an International Journal, 28(8), 918-923.
While previous studies have identified factors that influence residents’ perceptions of wildfire risk and responsibility for mitigation, less research has been conducted on how mitigation information is disseminated to residents or the most effective strategies for doing so. During an examination of two case studies of catastrophic wildfires in Colorado, an important actor involved in wildfire outreach emerged that we label the citizen entre-preneur. Citizen entrepreneurs are highly motivated community members who can help resource-constrained wildfire agencies encourage mitigation on private property by directly engaging with WUI residents. Using data from interviews with wildfire professionals and focus groups with residents, this research note introduces the con-cept of citizen entrepreneurs and provides an initial examination of the important role they can play in wildfire outreach.
