Adaptive Learning through Coordination and Collaboration in Wildfire Risk Management

Keywords: human environment interactions; natural hazards; collective action; adaptive learning
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 16

Abstract

As the impact of wildfire increases in the Western US, Southeastern Australia, and Southern Europe, management of risk from wildfire has been increasingly framed as a collective action problem that requires adaptive learning over time. How past impacts of wildfire shape future decisions of individual landowners and land managers depends on cooperative efforts. In this session, we examine coordination and collaboration as distinct modes of collective actions shaped by mission alignment, organizational affiliation, and management roles. We hypothesize that collective risk management requires a combination of both network functions and test this expectation using network data of wildfire risk managers in Central Oregon, a fire-prone region that has made substantial investments in addressing fire risk while at the same time challenged by rapid population growth. We describe ongoing efforts to incorporate these insights into a coupled socio-ecological landscape model.