This blog highlights the video by the US Forest Service on Cohesive Strategy Stakeholders Perspectives
The last several decades have seen a drastic increase in extreme, uncharacteristic wildfire behavior that threatens communities and ecosystems, increases losses of homes and properties, and increases risks for firefighters and first repsonders. In 2009, congress passed the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act, or the FLAME Act. This act mandated the development of a strategy to comprehensively and collaboratively address wildfire risk and management in the United States. This is now known as the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy or the Cohesive Strategy. Because fire does not respect jurisdictional boundaries, the foundation of this strategy is based on cross-boundary fire management.
The Cohesive Strategy has three key pillars:
- Restoration of a fire-resilient landscape
Resiliency is defined as the ability of an ecosystem to recover after disturbance or resist disturbance and still maintain its function and processes. Many landscapes in the west are fire starved and need the reintroduction of frequent low-severity fire. - Create fire-adapted communities
The National Wildfire Coordinating Group defines a fire-adapted community as “A human community consisting of informed and prepared citizens collaboratively planning and taking action to safely coexist with wildland fire” - Safer and more effective firefighting operations and response
Effective firefighting operations and a safe fire response depend on sound risk assessment and management. This must be implemented by state, local, and federal agencies as well as by well trained and supported firefighters.
In the video, it is stated that the end goal for the cohesive strategy is to reduce the impacts of wildfire not just across landscapes, but in communities and within fire response. It is important to understand that programs and activities in one area will impact other areas as well.
In order to implement this strategy in a meaningful way, it is important to build familiarity and clarity with the Cohesive Strategy at regional and local levels. This is especially important in rural areas that are most closely adjacent to fire-prone landscapes to provide tangible and actionable implementation goals and to build and foster local stakeholder networks to implement those actions.
Sources:
Cohesive Strategy Stakeholders Perspectives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=Xy06f0YZPt8&feature=emb_title.
Council, Wildland Fire Executive. “The national strategy: The final phase in the development of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.” Washington, DC) Available at http://www. forestsandrangelands. gov/strategy/documents/strategy/CSPhaseIIINationalStrategyApr2014. pdf [Verified 11 December 2015] (2014).
