Abstract:
Wildfire management has grown increasingly complex in recent years,
particularly in the West and in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) where a steady
population growth has resulted in greater risk to people and property. Recent trends
suggest the process of recovering from large fires (>100,000 acres) will become
increasingly important to forest agencies and communities (National Interagency Fire
Center 2007). However, many forest management personnel are ill prepared to cope
with the ecological planning and public interactions that follow such events. Agency
personnel are called on to make technical decisions regarding fire management and
restoration, communicate current and reliable information to community members,
and include them in postfire planning (McCool et al. 2006, Taylor et al. 2005). Such
circumstances can result in conflicts over management actions that play out in the
public arena.
Until recently, little research had been conducted in postfire environments.
This dissertation helps close that gap by examining citizen-agency interactions in
postfire settings. Findings are presented in three manuscripts. The first manuscript
synthesizes literature from postfire and related contexts to identify themes associated
with citizen-agency interactions that may be useful to managers in postfire settings.
Findings suggest interactions are key to citizen trust, acceptance, and overall success
of bringing communities together to agree on a course of action.
The second manuscript evaluates interviews about postfire communication
from citizens and agency personnel in five postfire settings in the western U.S.
Results highlight the complexity of communication, and the important role it can play
in building trusting relationships. These findings also offer several suggestions for
managers faced with planning public outreach in a postfire context.
The third manuscript examines survey results from two postfire settings in
Oregon. Findings suggest an agency's commitment to long-term interactions with
citizens influences citizen trust in the agencies and acceptance of postfire management
strategies. There is broad support for postfire management activities (i.e., erosion
control, seeding, replanting), though acceptance is dependent on trustworthy relations.
Findings from this research indicate that positive citizen-agency relations will need to
be developed before a fire occurs if postfire actions are to be timely and supported by
local communities.
