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Public Listening and Innovation Sessions: Designing Fuel Breaks with Co-Benefits for Communities

Katie Spellman2 ● Jill Johnstone1

Emily Sousa2 ● Michelle Mack3

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1 University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology, 2UAF International Arctic Research Center, 3 Northern Arizona University

Photo Credit: Katie Spellman

Photo Credit: NPS/D. Coble

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Workshop Sessions

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Alaska Forum on the Environment, Feb. 2024, Anchorage, AK

Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management, March 2024, Anchorage, AK

AKWFCG Fuels Meeting, Feb. 2024

Whitehorse Fuels Breaks Workshop,

Feb. 2024, Whitehorse, YT

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Participation

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Photo by Kira Wilkinson

57 maps returned in Workshop Sessions (46% rural, 54% urban)

31 Communities represented

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plus 60 responses to the Menti at the AKWFCG Fuels Meeting,

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Methods

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Photo by Kira Wilkinson

  • Used imaginative mapping exercise to and activities and infrastructure that could take advantage of the open space.
  • Discussed maps in small group to highlight themes, define and prioritize values for a fuel break in your community.
  • Shared in a gallery walk in each meeting.
  • Used qualitative coding to quantify occurrence of themes in the drawings.

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Imagining Your Fuel Break

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Tok Fuel Break

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Imagining Your Fuel Break

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Instructions for Drawing Your Fuel Break

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Designing Wildfire Fuelbreaks with Co-Benefits for Communities

Draw a map of a future or current fuel break in your community with your ideas on how it could be used

Where should fuel breaks be placed and what should they look like?

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What plants and activities would you like to see in fuel breaks?

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Karin Bodony, USFWS, Galena, AK

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Elaine Wright, Nulato Tribal Council, Nulato, AK

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Kenni Psenak, Alaska Venture Fund, Palmer, AK

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Instructions for Group Sharing

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Designing Wildfire Fuelbreaks with Co-Benefits for Communities

  1. Introduce yourselves and share your maps
  2. Write down ideas from across the maps on the chart paper
  3. What themes emerged across the different maps/areas?
  4. What would you be most excited to see in future fuel breaks?
  5. What benefits would be the most valuable to your community?

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Designing Wildfire Fuelbreaks with Co-Benefits for Communities

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Summary

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Designing Wildfire Fuelbreaks with Co-Benefits for Communities

  • Use of fuel breaks for trails was the most commonly desired co-benefit by participants in the sessions.
  • Recreational and cultural activities in fuel breaks were highly valued across rural and urban participants.
  • Berries and food harvesting or growing is a highly desired use of community fuel breaks.
  • Participants wanted more information and resources for planning the development of fuel breaks and their co-benefits.

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Contact details

Funding Acknowledgement

Major funding is provided through a grant to the University of Alaska Fairbanks National Science Foundation, award 2332346 (PI: J Johnstone). Additional support is through partnership with the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Program.

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Dr. Jill Johnstone

jfjohnstone@alaska.edu

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Dr. Katie Spellman

klspellman@alaska.edu

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Emily Sousa

eesousa@alaska.edu

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Dr. Michelle Mack

Michelle.Mack@nau.edu

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