Barriers to Implementation: Prescribed fire, as an effective tool to prevent severe wildfires, is being underutilized due to multiple policy barriers in place. This proposal will identify the barriers to implementation as well as the opportunities for improvement. Lack of funding and interagency collaboration, such as sharing resources across agencies, were found to be the most challenging limitations to implementing prescribed  fires (Schultz et. al, 2018). While many think air quality laws may limit prescribed burns, this was only stated as a constraint in Washington, Oregon, and California (Schultz et. al, 2018). An article in Nature written by Miller et al. (2020), classifies the limitations to implementation listed above as resource-related barriers and regulations-related barriers, respectively. Resource-related barriers can include anything from funding to limited access to crews. Regulations-related barriers include short burn windows and the air quality laws described above. An article by Miller et al. (2020) also introduces a third barrier to prescribed burning, risk-related barriers, which include the risks land managers take to use prescribed burning, potentially exposing them to public scrutiny and personal liability.

Policy Solutions: Opportunities for improvement in policy can help address the barriers above. Resource-related barriers, e.g. funding, remains the most complex barrier that requires collaboration between many stakeholders, (federal, private landowners, state, tribal governments) in order to safely and successfully prevent and manage wildfires. Recommendations for managing regulation-related policies include interagency collaborations and incentives at all levels, especially for federal land agencies (Schultz et al. 2018). Recommendations for reducing resource-related barriers include creating fuel treatment funds dedicated to fire prevention tactics instead of fire suppression (Miller et al. 2020) and sharing resources across units and agencies (Schultz et al. 2018). Recommendations for mitigating risk-related barriers include updating liability laws to support landowners implementing prescribed fires (Yoder, 2004). Finally, education and outreach can be used to support policy makers and citizens involved in all the above areas by improving public knowledge and acceptance of prescribed fires. By mitigating barriers in all three areas and considering location-specific factors, prescribed fire can be used to preserve the natural beauty of landscapes and communities and reduce the risk to firefighters.