Understanding Change: Wildfire in Boulder County, Colorado.

摘要

Wildfire activity continues to plague communities in the American West. Three causes are often identified as key contributors to the wildfire problem: accumulated fuels on public lands due to a history of suppressing wildfires; climate change; and an influx of residents into fire prone areas referred to as the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The latter of these contributors is the focus of much attention. Encouraging homeowners to mitigate wildfire risk on private land has been identified as essential to reducing the devastating effects of wildfires. However, little is known about WUI residents attitudes toward wildfire and what actions homeowners are taking to mitigate wildfire risk. This report presents the results of a unique homeowner survey administered twice over a three-year period. As such, we are able to provide some insight into changes in attitudes and beliefs about wildfire and concern about existing risk, as well as reported behavioral changes over time. Boulder County, located along the front range of the Colorado Rockies, was ranked as the county with the highest wildfire risk in the state and the 10th highest county in the United States with respect to existing wildfire risk based on the number of square miles of developed land within the WUI, the place where fuels transition from wildland sources to human-made sources.