Wildfire Literacy Education: Educational Forum for Community Leaders

There is a need to enhance elected officials' understanding of the nuances and complexities of wildfire and its impact and importance in every arena of government activity. Wildfire helps define community needs around infrastructure, communications, public safety, land use, building codes, water systems, ecosystem dynamics, risk of debris flows and flooding, insurance, jurisdiction finances, liability and more. Most elected officials and government leaders enter office without a deep understanding of these dynamic and complex needs, yet the communities they serve depend upon them having a high degree of fluency with these complex topics to guide policy making, budgeting, financial investment and more. The community needs an ongoing educational forum where electeds and other government and community leaders advance their education on these fronts, whatever level of sophistication they may bring. Such a forum could serve as a space to share lessons learned and successful approaches, take collective action on shared challenges and identify and address upcoming needs and opportunities - all to act in effective and informed ways to understand wildfire risk and manage and mitigate that risk well in a highly complex, chaotic and evolving reality. Undertaking this project could take a number of forms, and deliverables of this process could include a systems overview showing how these components across silos and disciplines integrate and intersect, as well as a series of educational events and videos to educate the community over time.

Status: Conceptual

Cost: Medium

Partners:

Permitting: None

Funding Sources:

Additional Notes: This is a critical need according to Fire Marshall Rob Hazard.