{"id":1866,"date":"2024-08-27T19:22:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T19:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2024-08-28T17:00:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:00:08","slug":"mapping-wildfire-hazard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/2024\/08\/27\/mapping-wildfire-hazard\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping wildfire hazard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Using science to inform policy for a wildfire adapted Oregon<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Emily Jane \u201cEJ\u201d Davis<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response to longer and more severe wildfire seasons, a growing population living in the wildland-urban interface and the extensive impacts of the 2020 Labor Day fires, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 762 in 2021, laying the groundwork for statewide wildfire community adaptation efforts in a rapidly changing wildfire environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of this broader statewide effort, SB 762 directed Oregon State University, in collaboration with Oregon Department of Forestry, to create a map identifying where wildfires pose the most hazard to structures and other human developments. OSU was also directed to map the wildland-urban interface, or WUI, to be used in tandem with the wildfire hazard map to guide new defensible space and fire hardening building code standards in high-risk areas, bolstering community protection across Oregon. Additionally, SB 762 called upon OSU to map social vulnerability to help decision makers further allocate limited resources to those most in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The College of Forestry led an interdisciplinary team from across OSU. Their diverse expertise included wildfire risk science, rural economic development and social vulnerability, community combustion and impacts and communications and outreach. This team worked directly with a 26-member rulemaking advisory committee, county commissioners and planners, and engaged the public to co-produce maps that used the best available science, grounded in local knowledge of landscapes and communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe hazard map was designed to give the state agencies implementing those codes a science-based foundation for deciding where to prioritize implementation,\u201d said Andy McEvoy<\/a>, a College of Forestry wildfire risk scientist involved in the maps\u2019 development. \u201cThe state of Oregon wants to invest resources, people power, dollars, education and outreach into the communities where they can most positively affect risk reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Informed by science and practice <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the initial maps were released in the summer of 2022 according to the legislatively mandated timeline, they sparked many questions and concerns from people across Oregon. The pushback was strong enough that ODF rescinded the first maps less than two months after they were released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the OSU science team working on the maps have been reviewing public feedback, coordinating with local professionals and planners, and incorporating changes into draft maps that address the primary concerns expressed about the first maps. Two significant changes reflect how fuels are less likely to burn on agricultural lands that are either irrigated or managed as hay and pasture. OSU researchers relied on input from fire modeling specialists, fire and fuel professionals and ranchers to develop the specific changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public feedback in 2022 also caused the legislature to pass Senate Bill 80 during the 2023 session. SB 80 clarified that the map reflects environmental hazard rather than risk, an important distinction that more accurately captures the science behind the map and how to interpret it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OSU team, along with five other state agencies and groups, also embarked on a comprehensive public engagement effort to provide information about the draft maps and how they\u2019ll be used by state agencies, and to address concerns about how community wildfire disasters across the West are affecting Oregon\u2019s insurance market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking to the Future<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a dynamic tool, Oregon\u2019s wildfire hazard map will continue to be updated every five years based on current data, best available science and policy direction to support statewide strategic community wildfire programs. By engaging with policymakers and the public, OSU scientists gained firsthand scientific knowledge, learned from practitioners\u2019 experience, and found gaps in public outreach and engagement processes fostering new and nontraditional partnerships and collaborations to address some of Oregon\u2019s most pressing needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur efforts here in Oregon have demonstrated the challenge, but also the importance of leveraging science to inform policy decisions,\u201d said Chris Dunn<\/a>, a College of Forestry assistant professor of wildfire risk science. \u201cIt will be a big help in Oregon as well as other Western states grappling with increasing community wildfire risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about the map<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How was wildfire hazard calculated? <\/em>
To create the wildfire hazard map, OSU researchers combined two primary datasets: (1) burn probability, the average annual likelihood a location will experience wildfire, and (2) fire intensity, measured in flame length. Both were modeled across Oregon using the best available science with the help of state and local fire professionals using four criteria: climate, weather, topography and vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was involved?<\/em>
Led by the College of Forestry, the OSU research team included experts in:
–Wildfire risk science<\/em>: Assistant Professor Christopher Dunn<\/a> and Andy McEvoy<\/a>
–Rural economic development and social vulnerability<\/em>: Associate Professor Mindy Crandall<\/a> and Caitlyn Reilley
–Community combustion and impacts<\/em>: Professor Erica Fischer <\/a>
–Communication, project coordination and public interface<\/em>: Shannon Murray<\/a> and Myrica McCune<\/p>\n\n\n\n

External agency collaborators included Oregon Department of Forestry<\/a>, Oregon State Fire Marshal<\/a> and Department of Consumer and Business Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A version of this story appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of <\/em>Focus on Forestry<\/a>, the alumni magazine of the Oregon State University College of Forestry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using science to inform policy for a wildfire adapted Oregon In response to longer and more severe wildfire seasons, a growing population living in the wildland-urban interface and the extensive impacts of the 2020 Labor Day fires, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 762 in 2021, laying the groundwork for statewide wildfire community adaptation efforts… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110163,1292536],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1893,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions\/1893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}