Abstract:
We are investigating policies that affect
land managers’ ability to conduct prescribed
fire on US Forest Service and
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the
11 Western states. Our goals are to identify policy
constraints, facilitative strategies, and actionable
opportunities to improve policies or policy implementation
to facilitate greater use of prescribed
fire.... In this second phase of the research, we conducted
in-depth case studies of federal land management
units that were actively working to increase their
application of prescribed fire. We selected four
case studies based on interviewee recommendations
from our first round of interviews. These cases
were: the San Juan National Forest (Colorado),
the BLM Socorro Field Office/Cibola National Forest
(New Mexico), the Sierra National Forest (California),
and the Rogue-River Siskiyou National
Forest (Oregon), with a focus on the Ashland Forest
Resiliency Project in the Siskiyou Mountains
Ranger District.
For each case study, we conducted
between 11 and 17 interviews with Forest Service
or BLM staff members and key external partners.
In total, 53 interviews were conducted with 62 interviewees
for this phase of the project. Interviews
focused on the nature of the prescribed fire program
on the unit, key partners, primary challenges,
and strategies and opportunities for increasing
use of prescribed fire.