In this interview, Rodney Smoldon discusses the challenges he faces as Forest Supervisor on the Colville, a much watched national forest that appears to be breaking new ground, not just in forest collaboration but also in the use of innovative management tools Congress in providing in hopes of expanding forest restoration work necessary to reduce the risk of wildfire in Northeast Washington.
Wildfire suppression costs are soaring to over one billion tax dollars per year. This is causing a fiscal crisis in the Forest Service which has …
INTRODUCTION: BIG FIRES=BIGGER COSTS In 1908 a Congressional legislative rider created the Forest Fires Emergency Act that gave the U.S. Forest Service the authority to …
SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL COST FACTORS: FUELS, HOMES, AND CLIMATE CHANGE Fuels Accumulation Coinciding with the rise of wildfire activity in the late 1980s and the decline of …
INSTITUTIONAL COST FACTORS: PERVERSE INCENTIVES, PRIVATE CONTRACTORS, AND COST-SHARE AGREEMENTS Congressional Blank Check for Suppression Several critics have focused on the funding system that Congress …
OPERATIONAL COST FACTORS: EXTERNAL PRESSURES, MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND RISK-AVERSION, WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND TACTICS Human Factors The human dimensions of fire management are a long-neglected …
LESSONS LEARNED, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, SUMMARY Wildfire activity has increased in the U.S. over the last 20 years, measured by the total increase in …
CONTROLLING SUPPRESSION COSTS As this paper has demonstrated, there are a number of socioenvironmental, institutional, and operational factors that are driving up the cost of …
Counties on Fire is a grassroots, Evergreen Foundation initiative that seeks to show Americans the economic and environmental costs of rampant wildfires and to advance …
Since its inception in the aftermath of the Great 1910 Fire, the nation’s forest fire-fighting policy has been closely tied to a conservation ethic of …
