Hard Truths of Risk Inherent in Cross-boundary, Large Landscape, and Community-wide Implementation

Since the inception of The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, we have learned that there are multiple “hard truths” of living with fire that must be accepted in order to make meaningful progress towards the three national goals of Resilient Landscapes, Fire Adapted Communities and a Safe, Effective, Risk-Based Wildfire Response. We have also experienced multiple opportunities where learning continues around:

• Significant wildland fire events that are changing the way future fires are addressed
• "Fantastic Failures” where alignment of ideas and resources did not produce the desired outcomes
• "Magnificent Successes” where collaborative, cross-boundary collaboration, prioritization and investments have led to better wildland fire and landscape scale outcomes.

The 4th National Cohesive Strategy Workshop will center on these themes, and focus sharply on understanding how the guiding principles and management options are making meaningful progress towards the three goals, to create a learning environment for attendees.

The previous three workshops (the first two in Reno, Nevada and the third in Plymouth, MA) focused on themes consistent with implementation and application of the Cohesive Strategy as well as showcasing relevant efforts across the country. The 4th Annual National Cohesive Strategy Workshop focus on the following topics and questions:

• In addition to understanding the national goals, what are the Guiding Principles and Management Options of the Cohesive Strategy and how can we implement those locally and at scale?
• What are Hard Truths of living with wildland fire and how can we better communicate this understanding to our stakeholders?
• What are we learning from our experiences?
• How can these lessons be communicated to local, regional and national stakeholders more effectively?
• How can we better coordinate, collaborate and prioritize actions across boundaries and jurisdictions to improve collective outcomes and resiliency at landscape scales?
• What is shared risk and shared responsibility and how can we move past the “blame game” to work better together for better wildland fire outcomes?
• How do we utilize and blend new and emerging technology and the best available science to support practices and collaborative, prioritized actions?
• How do we better prepare for the fire year in terms of landscape resiliency, fire adapted communities and wildfire response?

The overall objective of the 4th National Cohesive Strategy Workshop is to facilitate an interactive forum for participants around the stated topics for shared learning and provide practical information they can utilize in their own organizations. In addition, Workshop leaders will collectively document session outcomes to provide a summary for local, regional and national stakeholders.

For more information, visit the workshop website.