Wildfire 2017: Community-Based Solutions to a Wicked Problem
Principal Investigator: Dr. Lori Daniels, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC
Partner Organizations: Danyta Welch, Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM); Jeff Eustache, First Nations Emergency Service Society (FNESS); Jennifer Gunter, BC Community Forest Association
The wildfire season of 2017 is the worst in British Columbia’s (B.C.) history. In response to Firestorm 2003, the previous devastating wildfire season to affect communities, the B.C. government introduced the $78 million Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative to counter fire risk. As of 2015, only half of B.C.’s communities had engaged with this initiative and a mere 10% of the 1.6 million hectares of identified hazardous fuels had been treated ‒ most communities remain highly vulnerable to wildfire. We are collaborating with the two key groups facilitating B.C.’s Wildfire Prevention Initiative (Union of B.C. Municipalities and First Nations’ Emergency Services Society), as well as the group conducting many community-level fuel treatments (B.C. Community Forest Association). Our objectives are to: a) identify the barriers to community participation in wildfire prevention and b) to co-develop with project partners, provincial leaders and community members potential solutions to increase participation in preventative wildfire management throughout B.C.
Shannon Hagerman
Wall Associate
Dr. Hagerman is Assistant Professor of Social-Ecological Systems in the Department of Forest Resources Management. Her work is motivated by a passion for interdisciplinary inquiry and an interest in applying insights from the Environmental Social Sciences and Humanities to better understand and address complex conservation and natural resource management dilemmas in a rapidly changing and contested world. Her research and teaching interests focus on the interconnected themes of conservation and social-ecological change; she is specifically interested in human behavioural, institutional and policy elements of managing social-ecological systems (SES) in a rapidly changing world.
Biodiversity Conservation in a Post-Wild World: How are preferences for conservation and management changing in anticipation of changing ecosystems? What is the role of values in shaping plural ideas and views about the acceptability of emerging proposals for conservation in an era of rapid global change (e.g. assisted migration, managing for novel ecosystems, rewilding)?
Politics and Production of Knowledge at the Science-Policy Interface: How are preferences, politics and science forged into conservation policy at key zones of conservation engagement and governance (e.g. Convention on Biological Diversity)? How do policy commitments made on the international stage (e.g. the Aichi Biodiversity Targets) translate across scales to shape national and regional policies and actions?
Dynamics and Drivers of Change in Social-Ecological Systems: What are the dynamics and drivers of resource use and governance in regional SESs where competing objectives are sought? What are the roles of human dimensions in shaping dynamics and outcomes in SESs (e.g. history, memory, institutions, perception, values, knowledge, equity)?
