In 2014, Brazilian federal executive agencies initiated a pilot Integrated Fire Management (IFM) Programme targeting protected areas. Some of its main objectives are to reduce wildfire risks, annual burned areas, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and socioeconomic and ecological losses. An area of over 374k km2 are being or have been managed with prescribed burns to promote ecological conservation in adapted ecosystems and reduce fuel load. We assessed the burned areas of 113 protected areas in all six Brazilian biomes from 2000 until 2021 to evaluate if the Programme is being effective in achieving its goals. The areas managed for the longest time presented an expressive reduction on the areas burned in the late dry season, of up to 57%. Whereas the areas burned in the early dry and rainy season increased between 5 and 25%, though in a fragmented pattern, burning only strategic places and fire adapted vegetations. These decreases in late dry season burned areas led to the reduction of GHG emissions, up to 39%. Such successful results indicate that IFM has been the most efficient approach the country has ever experienced, and the current bill which institutes the National Policy for IFM, currently in evaluation by the senate, has a big potential to reduce wildfire issues and upscale the Programme to all rural Brazilian territories.

Evacuations are a critical tool for municipalities to move people safely away from hazardous situations. Most research on wildfire evacuations has largely focused on the decision to evacuate or stay. However, other key choices in evacuations (e.g., departure time, transportation mode, route, destination, and shelter type) have been largely understudied despite their important implications for transportation systems, evacuation planning, and traffic operations. To address this critical research gap, we surveyed individuals impacted by the 2017 December Southern California Wildfires (n=226) and the 2018 Carr Wildfire (n=284).

Using these data, we developed two portfolio choice models (PCMs), which jointly model choice dimensions to assess multi-dimensional evacuation choice. This presentation focuses on the transportation response needs for municipalities based on evidence from the PCMs. For example, we find that respondents from both wildfires stated that they had a joint preference for within-county and nighttime evacuations and a joint dislike for within-county and highway evacuations. First, this indicates that transportation and emergency management plans should prepare sufficient traffic control strategies, available shelters, and key resources (e.g., towing, gas) at night and locally (i.e., in the vicinity of the wildfire). Second, the results suggest that traffic operations to reduce congestion should be focused locally and on smaller roads. We also found a number of individual characteristics, household characteristics, and risk perceptions that influenced transportation choices, which help inform additional traffic operation needs. To conclude, we describe a series of supply-, demand-, and information-side strategies for wildfire evacuations based on the research results.

The Muskrats to Moose project in the Saskatchewan River Delta, Canada seeks to provide Indigenous-informed and accessible resources to (1) develop a vision and a set of management objectives to use fire on the land, (2) increase the role of Indigenous Peoples in the policy development, governance and stewardship of lands and resources in the Saskatchewan River Delta, and (3) promote meaningful engagement of Indigenous Peoples in burning and related habitat restoration. The project team interviewed 16 Indigenous peoples who carried knowledge on burning and the impacts/implications in relation to local and regional habitat restoration in the Saskatchewan River Delta. Approximately 90% of the interviews were conducted in Cree. An outcome of this project is the development of a toolkit for understanding fire on the land that is timely, relevant, reader friendly, accessible and culturally-congruent - sharing current and wise practices and related resources on various dimensions of burning and corresponding habitat restoration for Indigenous Peoples and wildlife in the Saskatchewan River Delta. From a holistic perspective, this includes ecological, spiritual-cultural, and economic elements. The toolkit provides resources, wise practices, lessons learned and case studies focused on (i) uses of fire on the land, (ii) Saskatchewan River Delta landscape, (iii) Indigenous fire history and Indigenous-led fire stewardship, (iv) Western fire management, (v) fire reconciliation and relationship building (includes allyship), and (vi) Indigenous fire prescriptions (e.g., assessing, developing, applying and reporting on an Indigenous fire prescription).

Prescribed fire is emerging as an essential component of maintaining and recovering fire-adapted landscapes, which include various ecosystem types such as grass/rangelands and forests. Additionally, the practice can be beneficial for agriculture and the reduction of invasive species including for woody plant encroachment into grasslands. This research attempts to define the characteristics of prescribed fire organizational networks in the US states of Oklahoma and North Carolina in order to better understand how state and federal agencies, prescribed fire organizations, and other Non-government organizations work together to practice this strategy. Two states are compared so that place-based elements of prescribed fire networks might be revealed as well. We rely on social network analysis methods to address our research questions and focus on structural components of the networks that are theoretically related to social capital, collective action, and adaptive management capacity. Results indicate that both networks resemble core-periphery structures where a small group of well-connected organizations likely diffuse information and resources throughout the network and to the peripheral actors. Sub-group analysis also suggests that the networks are similar in terms of density, and centrality, but that there is likely a difference in terms of heterophily among actors. The results suggest that there may be general interventions that improve network operations and resources flows, but that network structures may differ in sub-group composition.

Wildland fires remain a major challenge globally, and also in the transition and savannah zones of Ghana. The devastating effects of these fires require a multifaceted approach to creating fire resilient landscapes. In Ghana’s forested landscapes, community wildland fire management structures, commonly known as fire volunteers, serve as the basic unit for creating fire resilient landscapes. For over three decades, establishment and incentivizing these community structures have relied heavily on funding from external organisations, leaving the structures ineffective without them. This paper assessed scenarios and conditions for sustaining community-based wildland fire management structures in the transition zone of Ghana. A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach was used in the study. A total of 370 respondents were engaged, comprising fire volunteers, community members, community leaders, state and non-state institutions. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire administration, focused group discussions and interviews. The study covered twelve communities across three regions (Bono, Bono East and Savannah) within the transition and savannah zones of Ghana. The study established that the business-as-usual scenario of community- based fire management structures relying on incentives from external sources is unsustainable in the long term. Across all communities studied, locals are willing to own and pay to support their fire management structures. A scenario where communities make financial contributions to support wildland fire management would achieve limited impacts. However, a scenario where communities make in-kind contributions, defined by community-specific opportunities, and managed by a robust and transparent leadership structure would promote effective wildland fire management in the long term.

Objectives: Indigenous peoples are at the forefront of the critical global challenge of restoring the ecological and social benefits of fire regimes. We assessed fire and forest characteristics from the Hualapai Nation, USA, and the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) people of Chihuahua, Mexico, of sustained fire use in Pinus-Quercus ecosystems adapted to frequent surface fire regimes.

Methods: Fire regimes were characterized using tree-ring analysis of fire-scarred tree samples. Forest structure was assessed from field plots. We determined the history of management activities from historical records and interviews.

Results: Pine-oak forests on the Hualapai Nation underwent over eight decades of fire exclusion beginning after 1886, but surface burning was re-introduced in the 1960s and continues to the present. The Rarámuri forest had consistently frequent fires throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, comprising the least interrupted surface-fire regime reported to date in North America. Forests at both sites were relatively open, dominated by larger-diameter trees, and had less hazardous fuels (fuel ladders, woody debris) than nearby sites not under Indigenous management. The two communities have some differences but share support for fire use.

Conclusions: Forest management for utilitarian purposes including wood and agricultural production is compatible with restoration and conservation of frequent-fire regimes. These examples of forests managed by Indigenous people are better adapted to resist severe wildfires and warming climate than neighboring ecosystems. Other Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities can benefit from adopting site-specific fire management practices that match local fire ecology characteristics and cultural perspectives.

This communication presents the results of a master dissertation on Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Adaptive Co-management to forest fires. The research was developed under the scope of the BRIDGE project (PCIF/AGT/0072/2019), focusing on the case study of Serra de Monchique (Portugal). It aimed to carry out an in-depth study about the structure and the dynamics of the actors' network that intervene, directly or indirectly, in the management of forest territories in Monchique, enabling the analysis of the actors' network characteristics that may contribute to promote collaboration and social learning, key aspects of adaptive co-management to forest fires. The SNA method was adopted in the actors´ network involved in the management of Monchique forest territories, including entities of the Integrated Rural Fire Management System (SGIFR) and local landowners, enabling to identify patterns of interaction (structure), connectivity and dynamics/flows of the actors network, as well as the role (influence and/or articulation) played by the actors within network. As a result, were identified aspects of the current actors’ network that may contribute to an initial phase of adaptive co-management, namely the high density of interactions and the potential role of central actors to promote social learning and articulation among actors less integrated in the SGIFR Network. On the other hand, aspects such as the predominance of low intensity and/or frequency interactions between actors (weak ties) and the peripheral position (less integrated to the network) of local entities and local landowners represent constraints for adaptive co-management to forest fires in the long-term perspective.