Date Initiated:

2001

Description:

This project consisted of a series of workshops that convened social scientists working on fire-related questions to share research results and explicitly address the implications of their research for fire management and policymaking. Collectively, this group discussed and documented social science research on fire and identified gaps in the research. Collaborators included land managers from the Forest Service, BLM, the National Park Service, and Cooperative Extension as well as researchers from the Congressional Research Service, BLM, the USGS, and the USDA Forest Service Research Stations and 16 different universities.

Research discussed at and catalyzed by this workshop series addressed a wide range of topics, including the social acceptability of wildland fuels management; community responses to wildfire threats, differing cultural responses to fire use and fire management; the politics of community-based fire management, and the economics of fire management.

Project Status:

Workshops were held in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Results have been published in white papers and in the journal Society and Natural Resources. An edited book of research synthesizing fire social science is also from Oregon State University.

Publications:

• Cortner, H. J., D. R. Field, P. Jakes, and J. D. Buthman, editors. 2003. People, Fire, and Forests: A Synthesis of Wildfire Social Science: workshop summary, Tucson, Arizona, January 28-31, 2003. Ecological Restoration Institute, Papers in Restoration Policy. 111 pp.
• Cortner, H. J., and D. R. Field. 2004. Introduction to the Special Issue: Humans, Fire, and Forests: The Reemergence of Research on Human Dimensions. Society & Natural Resources, 17(6):473-475.
  
  
  • Kneeshaw, K., J. J. Vaske, A. D. Bright, and J. D. Absher. 2004. Situational Influences of Acceptable Wildland Fire Management Actions. Society & Natural Resources, 17(6):477-489.
  • McKee, M., R. P. Berrens, M. Jones, R. Helton, and J. Talberth. 2004. Using Experimental Economics to Examine Wildfire Insurance and Averting Decisions in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Society & Natural Resources, 17(6):491-507.
  • McCaffrey, S. 2004. Thinking of Wildfire as a Natural Hazard. Society & Natural Resources, 17(6):509-516.
• Cortner, H. J., D. R. Field. 2004. Introduction: Humans, Fire, and Forests—Part II. Society & Natural Resources, 17(8):659-660.
  
  
  • Brunson, M. W., and B. A. Shindler. 2004. Geographic Variation in Social Acceptability of Wildland Fuels Management in the Western United States. Society & Natural Resources, 17(8):661-678.
  • Steelman, T., and G. Kunkel. 2004. Effective Community Responses to Wildfire Threats: Lessons From New Mexico. Society & Natural Resources, 17(8):679-699.
  • Moseley, C., and N. A. Toth. 2004. Fire Hazard Reduction and Economic Opportunity: How Are the Benefits of the National Fire Plan Distributed? Society & Natural Resources, 17(8):701-716.
• Cortner, H. J., and D. R. Field. 2005. Introduction: Humans, Fire, and Forests—Part III. Society & Natural Resources, 18(4):299-299.
  
  
  • Carroll, M. S., P. J. Cohn, D. N. Seesholtz, and L. L. Higgins. 2005. Fire as a Galvanizing and Fragmenting Influence on Communities: The Case of the Rodeo–Chediski Fire. Society & Natural Resources, 18(4):301-320.
  • Nelson, K. C., M. C. Monroe, and J. Fingerman-Johnson. 2005. The Look of the Land: Homeowner Landscape Management and Wildfire Preparedness in Minnesota and Florida. Society & Natural Resources, 18(4):321-336.
  • Vogt, C. A., G. Winter, and J. S. Fried. 2005. Predicting Homeowners' Approval of Fuel Management at the Wildland–Urban Interface Using the Theory of Reasoned Action. Society & Natural Resources, 18(4):337-354.
  • Field, D. R., and D. A. Jensen. 2005. Humans, Fire, and Forests: Expanding the Domain of Wildfire Research. Society & Natural Resources, 18(4):355-362.
• Daniel, T. C., M. Carroll, C. Moseley, and C. Raish, eds. 2007. Humans, Fire, and Forests. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.
  
  
  • Cortner, H. J., and D. R. Field. 2007. Foreward, in: Humans, Fire, and Forests. Daniel, T. C., M. Carroll, C. Moseley, and C. Raish, eds. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.
  • Becker, D. R., and J. Viers. 2007. Matching the Utilization of Forest Fuel Reduction By-Products to Community Development Opportunities, in: Humans, Fire, and Forests. Daniel, T. C., M. Carroll, C. Moseley, and C. Raish, eds. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon.
• Morehouse, B. J., H. Cortner, and J. G. Taylor. 2005. Tucson III: Fire Social Science Workshop, January 10-12, 2005. Final Report.