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Part of the 2016 WUI Webinar Series
In the American West, wildfire risk to life and property is accelerating as a result of development trends favoring the region’s Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). Moreover, extended droughts, unseasonably warm temperatures, and other climate-induced impacts are influencing the frequency and size of wildfires. In response, a number of cities in the West who have been repeatedly threatened by wildfires, are reducing wildfire risk through unique land use planning strategies. In identifying the most effective land use planning measures, we profiled five urban areas across the region, including Austin (Texas), Boulder (Colorado), Flagstaff (Arizona), San Diego (California), and Santa Fe (New Mexico). Examples of the most compelling land use planning tools will be summarized in this webinar and provide an opportunity for others to learn how urban areas in the West are increasingly becoming wildfire-adapted communities.
Website links:
- Headwaters Economics website View >
- Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire View >
- Land Use Planning to Reduce Wildfire Risk Report View >
- Communities Threatened by Wildfire Interactive Map (2000-2014) View >
Speaker:
Dr. Kimiko Barrett, Headwaters Economics
(Kimi) was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana. Growing up in southwest Montana and adjacent to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) nurtured a deep passion for the outdoors and rural places. As such, her graduate work focused on the environmental sciences, where she received her M.Sc in Geography from Montana State University and her doctorate in Forestry and Conservation Sciences from University of Montana. Kimi specializes in mountain ecosystems and rural community development, particularly with respect to climate change, water insecurities, and hazard vulnerabilities. Her work with Headwaters Economics, a non-profit research and policy think tank based in Bozeman, involves improving local adaptive capacities to wildfire risk through land use planning and risk management. When she’s not working, Kimi is enjoys downhill and backcountry skiing, mountain biking, trail running, reading maps, and picking huckleberries.
