The first webinar in our 2017 WUI Webinar series will be Feb. 16, 2017 with Professor Stephen R. Miller on a Four-Step Approach for Planning for Wildfire in the WUI. View the recorded webinar below:
View recording via Youtube >
View Presentation Slides PDF >
Links discussed in the webinar:
View WUI Wildfire Planning Guide PDF >
View the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Managment Strategy website >
Here is the 5 community study from Headwaters Economics:
https://headwaterseconomics.org/wildfire/solutions/lessons-five-cities/
Here is the Communities Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW) link:
http://planningforwildfire.org/
About the Webinar
This talk will focus on a four-step approach to integrating wildfire planning for the wildland-urban interface (WUI) through a variety of planning and implementation processes that work across departments within local governments. Attendees may wish to review the guide on which the talk will be based prior to the session.
View WUI Wildfire Planning Guide PDF >
The talk will begin by briefly discussing how the WUI is both a sociological and legal term that is fluid based upon context, and how that fluidity matters for planning purposes. The talk will then discuss a conceptual framework that local communities — governmental and non-governmental — can use over time. This framework, referred to in the presentation as the “WUI Wildfire Planning Process,” consists primarily of a four-step, cyclical planning process that revolves around the inter-governmental National Cohesive Strategy Vision and Goals for wildfire, and is supported at all times by education and outreach. The four active steps of the WUI Wildfire Planning Process are: draft and adopt a community wildfire protection plan (CWPP); regulate and incentivize the built environment at all scales; implement, maintain and enforce regulations and incentives; and respond to substantial changes such as wildfires or the passage of time. While each of these steps is well known in the fire world, finding ways to create an integrated, on-going fire strategy across departments has remained elusive in many communities. This talk will discuss how this conceptual framework can assist planning efforts.
About the Presenter
Stephen R. Miller is a law professor at the University of Idaho College of Law in Boise. He is principal investigator on a three-year grant from the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands to investigate and propose best practices for wildfire planning in the West. Along with his collaborators, he recently published a 167-page WUI wildfire planning guide, which details the four-step approach he will discuss in the webinar. Professor Miller holds an A.B. from Brown University, a master’s in urban planning from University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from University of California, Hastings. In addition to wildfire, Professor Miller is a prolific writer on a variety of topics in the areas of land use, sustainability, and urban environmental law. Learn more about Professor Miller here and access his other writings here.
