Identifying misalignments in wildfire management: Opportunities for plan integration and stakeholder collaboration

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Urban Planning
• Public Policy

Background:

• Wildfire management is a critical global challenge.
• Effective community wildfire resilience requires coordinated planning.
• California's Wildfire Resilience Plan Alignment Guide aims to improve local planning collaboration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate plan alignment across key local wildfire planning mechanisms in California.
• To assess stakeholder involvement in local wildfire resilience planning.
• To explore relationships between plan alignment, collaboration, social vulnerability, and wildfire planning effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Wildfire Resilience Plan Alignment Guide to identify alignment opportunities.
• Developed a model to measure plan alignment among General Plans, Hazard Mitigation Plans, and Community Wildfire Protection Plans.
• Analyzed the connection between plan alignment, stakeholder collaboration, social vulnerability, and wildfire risk.

Main Results:

• Overall plan alignment among the three key local plans is low, especially concerning vulnerability assessments.
• Stakeholder collaboration is insufficient, with limited involvement from regional, private sector, federal, state, and tribal entities.
• Higher wildfire planning effectiveness correlates with better alignment in wildfire management themes.

Conclusions:

• Significant gaps exist in California's wildfire resilience planning, particularly in plan integration and stakeholder engagement.
• Addressing these gaps can lead to more efficient and effective wildfire management strategies.
• Findings offer transferable insights for enhancing wildfire resilience planning in other fire-prone regions.