Building more fire-resilient communities - Entrepreneur Generations

As one of the worst wildfire seasons in history burns through the Western United States, a story from Michael Grass with Route Fifty examines how emergency responders, public officials and other stakeholders can help ensure safety for towns built right on the edge of rural areas prone to wildfire. Forest managers call such areas the "wildland-urban interface."

Bend, Oregon, is one such town. U.S. Forest Service personnel employ regular controlled burns in the nearby forests to clear out dry undergrowth that could cause uncontrollable wildfires. Regular burns keep the trees healthy too, and provide a habitat for some species.

"We’re looking at developing our communities in a very different way than we did 10 years ago, or even five years ago," said Romy Mortensen, the vice president of sales and marketing of Brooks Resources, a development company with long roots in Bend and central Oregon.

But development can be a contentious topic in Bend. "Forest management—and by extension, the emergency managers who have to deal with wildfires—sits uncomfortably at the intersection of policy discussions involving environmental conservation, land use and property rights," Grass reports. For instance, smart development in wildfire-prone areas includes leaving a buffer of undeveloped space between homes and flammable acreage. But county officials who gathered to listen to a presentation by Mortensen were concerned about their property rights being violated.



from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2wN3zQg Building more fire-resilient communities - Entrepreneur Generations

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