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Browsing by Author "Buettner, William Cole, author"

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    Governance approaches for scale mismatches in pre-wildfire planning and post-wildfire response and recovery
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Buettner, William Cole, author; Schultz, Courtney, advisor; Cheng, Tony, committee member; Scott, Ryan, committee member
    Wildfires in the western United States have become an increasingly complex management challenge. Increased fire extent and severity, longer fire seasons, housing development in the wildland-urban interface, jurisdictional complexities, and interactions between fire and other disturbances combine to exacerbate risks to different critical values. Managers have recognized the need for greater pre-wildfire planning by reducing wildfire risk through fuel treatments and contingency planning in anticipation of fire. Less explored, however, are how managers are responding to changing environmental conditions after wildfires and planning for long-term recovery efforts. Challenges in pre-wildfire planning and post-wildfire response and recovery share similar scalar mismatches that frustrate effective governance. Scale is the spatial, temporal, and functional dimensions used to measure and study any phenomenon, and mismatches arise from challenges within relationships between ecological and social systems. In this thesis, I explore different scale mismatches in pre-wildfire and post-wildfire management to derive an understanding of potential adaptation options in complex management systems. This thesis consists of five standalone chapters. The first chapter introduces the two primary studies and reviews relevant literature related to wildfire governance and tools used to facilitate adaptive management approaches. The second chapter is a peer-reviewed manuscript that investigates the use of Potential Wildfire Operational Delineations (PODs) for fire and fuel management. In collaboration with the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, we filled gaps in PODs research by investigating how PODs are being utilized in non-incident management contexts to align forest and fire planning objectives with incident response tactics. We found that PODs help validate fuel treatment plans and support communication among agency staff, and with private landowners and collaborators. Challenges included lack of technical knowledge and skills, unclear leadership direction, potential misalignment with other forest management goals, and community and agency buy-in to using PODs. Recommendations from interviewees were to address knowledge gaps and capacity challenges. In our paper, we offer insights into how PODs are being utilized within our case studies and align these findings with the diffusion of innovation literature. This second chapter of my thesis has already been published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire as a Research Note. The third chapter, intended for a practitioner audience, explores the governance approaches to post-wildfire policies and programs following the Hermit's Peak-Calf Canyon Fire response and recovery efforts. Interviewees shared program and policy challenges, adding that policies did not incorporate local contexts, had prolonged treatment timelines, and federal staff were uneducated on program nuances. Facilitators of success were the Monsoon Taskforce and Lines of Effort Framework created by New Mexico State Agencies to allow for greater communication, coordination, and collaboration. Interviewees recommended an increase in workforce capacity and education, as well as legislative changes. The fourth chapter, intended for a peer-reviewed journal, aligns adaptive governance theory and literature on boundary organizations with the governance approaches following the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Wildfire. I found that adaptive governance arrangements are occurring in New Mexico and that boundary organizations are playing a significant role by facilitating information transfer and addressing knowledge gaps. In chapter five, I share concluding thoughts for both studies and suggestions for further inquiry and policy guidance.