Toward a Holistic Approach: Considerations for Improved Collaboration in Wildfire Management

Abstract

State and Federal agencies in the United States manage wildland fires to minimize forest loss and reduce fire impacts on communities living near forests. Despite changes to policy that emphasize the importance of collaborative management with Tribes and local communities, stakeholders with place-based knowledge still have limited access to meaningful participation in policy development and management planning. These barriers contribute to the alienation of communities disproportionately burdened with the negative impacts of wildfire. Reduced community-level support and a lack of inclusive practices regarding place-based knowledge result in less robust management plans and poor ecological outcomes. These outcomes highlight the need for improved multi-stakeholder collaborations that holistically address interconnected management areas. In this paper, Federal wildfire policy development and implementation are assessed to identify barriers to collaborative management. An examination of multi-stakeholder fire management organizations showed that coupling of federal policy, practices and norms and the underrepresentation of external stakeholders may hinder progress toward collaborative partnerships. A linguistic examination of federal wildfire policy showed that directive, rather than cooperative language predominated. This may promote unequal power-sharing dynamics that reduce opportunities for federal engagement and collaboration with stakeholders from Tribes and local communities. Tribal barriers to equitable partnership and decision-making were found to be tied to culturally mediated frameworks for environmental management. Based on these findings, this article offers suggestions for changes to policy and institutional culture that will allow for an inclusive, holistic fire management model.