Title: Code Descriptions for “Managed wildfire: A strategy limited by terminology, risk perception, and ownership boundaries.”

DOI: [TBD]

Authors: 
Davis, Emily Jane; Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Forestry and Natural Resources Extension, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Huber-Stearns, Heidi R.; Institute for Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
Cheng, Antony S.; Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Deak, Alison; Institute for a Sustainable Environment and Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
Evans, Alexander; Forest Stewards Guild, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Caggiano, Michael; Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO, USA
McAvoy, Darren J.; Department of Wildland Resources, S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

Contact: Emily Jane Davis, EmilyJane.Davis@oregonstate.edu 

Date: [TBD]

Abstract: Federal land managers in the United States are permitted to manage wildfires with strategies other than full suppression under appropriate conditions to achieve natural resource objectives. However, policy and scientific support for “managed wildfire” appear insufficient to support its 
broad use. We conducted case studies in northern New Mexico and southwestern Utah to examine how managers and stakeholders navigated shifting barriers and opportunities to use managed wildfire from 2018-2021. Use of managed wildfire was fostered through an active network of civil society partnerships in one case, and strong interagency cooperation and existing policies and plans in the other. In both, the COVID-19 pandemic, drought, and agency direction curtailed recent use. Local context shapes wildfire response strategies, yet centralized decision making and policy also can enable or constrain 
them. Future research could refine understanding of social factors in incident decision making, and evaluation of risks and tradeoffs in wildfire response.

Keywords: Wildfire response, managing wildfire for natural resource objectives, wildfire suppression, incident decision making, wildfire governance, federal forestland, New Mexico, Utah

Details: This project was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (Project # 17-1-06-6) in 2017 with the objective exploring how entities involved in wildfire mitigation and suppression can better coordinate actions before, during, and after wildfires. A total of 40 government agency and civil society actors engaged in wildfire mitigation and response in two different case studies: northern New Mexico (Santa Fe and Carson National Forests) and southwestern Utah (Dixie National Forest) were interviewed between fall 2018 and spring 2019. Repeat interviews of 12 selected interviewees in each case study occurred during spring-summer 2021. These data consist of themes used to code these interviews, such as factors shaping wildfire response strategies, examples of using managed fire, and pandemic impacts.