Cohesive Strategy 2012 NWSA Meeting CS is a collaborative effort to identify, define, and address wildfire problems and opportunities across the US the next decade with planned updates every 5 years. Flame Act, Phase I and Phase II are complete and we area now working on Phase III. Phase III expectations and deliverables will be shared.

Phase I – Key Messages CS Vision: “Safely and effectively extinguish fire, when needed; use fire where allowable; manage our natural resources; and as a nation, live with wildland fire.” The Cohesive Strategy builds on previous work and the Foundational Documents. The Foundational Documents are: (1) 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Policy and Program Review; (2) the documents that comprised the National Fire Plan; (3) A Collaborative Approach for Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment: A 10-Year Strategy; (4) both editions of the Quadrennial Fire Review; (5) Mutual Expectations for Preparedness and Suppression in the Interface; (6) A Call to Action; and Wildland Fire Protection and Response in the United States, The Responsibilities, Authorities, and Roles of Federal, State, Local and Tribal Governments.

National Goals Restore and Maintain Landscapes: Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire-related disturbances in accordance with management objectives. Fire-adapted Communities: Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life and property. Wildfire Response: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions. The National Goals are: Restore and Maintain Landscapes: GOAL: Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire-related disturbances in accordance with management objectives. Fire Adapted Communities: GOAL: Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life and property. Wildfire Response: GOAL: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions. Guiding Principles: The guiding principles were crafted through discussions with federal, state, tribal, and local governmental and non-governmental organizational representatives. The goal was to build an overarching set of principles that would apply to all stakeholders in the wildland fire management community – and would also reach across the different elements, from resilient landscapes and fire-adapted communities to wildfire response. (1) Reducing risk to firefighters and the public is the first priority in every fire management activity. (2) Sound risk management is the foundation for all management activities. (3) Actively manage the land to make it more resilient to disturbance, in accordance with management objectives. (4) Improve and sustain both community and individual responsibilities to prepare for, respond to and recover from wildfire through capacity-building activities. (5) Rigorous wildfire prevention programs are supported across all jurisdictions. (6) Wildland fire, as an essential ecological process and natural change agent, may be incorporated into the planning process and wildfire response. (7) Fire management decisions are based on the best available science, knowledge and experience, and are used to evaluate risk versus gain. (8) Local, state, tribal and federal agencies support one another with wildfire response, including engagement in collaborative planning and the decision-making processes that take into account all lands and recognize the interdependence and statutory responsibilities among jurisdictions. (9) Where land and resource management objectives differ, prudent and safe actions must be taken through collaborative fire planning and suppression response to keep unwanted wildfires from spreading to adjacent jurisdictions. (10) Safe aggressive initial attack is often the best suppression strategy to keep unwanted wildfires small and costs down. (11) Fire management programs and activities are economically viable and commensurate with values to be protected, land and resource management objectives, and social and environmental quality

Guiding Principles Reducing risk to firefighters and the public is the first priority in every fire management activity. Sound risk management is the foundation for all management activities. Actively manage the land to make it more resilient to disturbance, in accordance with management objectives Improve and sustain both community and individual responsibilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfire through capacity-building activities. Rigorous wildfire prevention programs are supported across all jurisdictions.

Guiding Principles Wildland fire, as an essential ecological process and natural change agent, may be incorporated into the planning process and wildfire response. Fire management decisions are based on the best available science, knowledge and experience and used to evaluate risk versus gain. Federal agencies, local, state, and tribal governments support one another with wildfire response, including engagement in collaborative planning and the decision-making processes that take into account all lands and recognize the interdependence and statutory responsibilities among jurisdictions. Where land and resource management objectives differ, prudent and safe actions must be taken through collaborative fire planning and suppression response to keep unwanted wildfires from spreading to adjacent jurisdictions.

Guiding Principles Safe aggressive initial attack is often the best suppression strategy to keep unwanted wildfires small and costs down. Fire management programs and activities are economically viable and commensurate with values to be protected, land and resource management objectives, and social and environmental quality considerations.

Phase II The work from the bottom up began in Phase II of the strategy with the creation of RSCs and development of regional strategies. These strategies will unite to form one national strategy. The regional approach to Phase II will result in a National strategy that is supported by local, regional and national information, engagement and action. Regional assessments include obstacles that stakeholders experience and identify strategies to address them.

Common themes among the regions Unique factors among the regions Phase II Phase II National Report – developed from the three Regional Assessments Common themes among the regions Unique factors among the regions Recognize the engagement, hard work and commitment to the CS by the all the regions. The National Report summarizes and builds on these regional ideas to conclude Phase II and set the stage for Phase III Common themes among the regions: Collaboration is key to getting things done. Policies and regulations guiding wildland fire management pose both shared and unique challenges for each of the regions. Across the country, wildland fire management is a cross-jurisdictional issue that must respect the unique missions and management objectives of local, state, tribal, and federal agencies and organizations. Several values were common to all three regions, including: safety of firefighters and the public, protection of private property, air and water quality, maintenance and enhancement of economies, protection of scenic view sheds. Unique factors: Values - The Northeast cited recreation as significant, the Southeast noted industrial infrastructure, and the West noted cultural values such as honoring tribal heritages and land uses, respecting the frontier culture, and stewarding public lands. These and the other values expressed provided the basis for developing regional objectives, actions, performance measures, and areas to explore for reducing risk. Culture that supports the extensive use of prescribed fire in the southeast. Goals/Objectives - All regions adopted the national goals as their own: resilient landscapes, fire-adapted communities, and wildfire response, and crafted a suite of objectives and actions to implement each one. Several cross-cutting objectives, so called because they will affect all three national goals simultaneously, were identified across the regions: Invest in, learn from, and build upon successful partnership and collaboration efforts. Develop and conduct effective education and outreach to empower citizen engagement in and support for wildland fire management activities. Proactively use a variety of active vegetation management tools and techniques including prescribed fire to achieve local and large landscape objectives. Support working forests, local economies and jobs, and diverse forest products markets. All 3 regions developed information that included: identification of values, trends and risk and the delegation of initial actions and objectives. This information as identified in the Regional Assessments will be valuable in Phase III

Trends and Risks Common to the 3 Regions Population growth Increasing WUI Changing climate Invasive species spread Changing public expectations with regard to wildfire response Economic fluctuations Tighten state and federal budgets Describe the trends with respect to values and risks that the region sees as current or future issues.

Trends and Risks Population growth and urban sprawl Millions of “unhealthy” acres resulting in explosive fuel conditions Changing climate conditions Invasive species Fluctuations in the economy Tightened federal and state government budgets WUI growth and distribution Evolving agency and public expectations with regard to fire response West

Wildland fire is rife for political fodder and is a growth industry Increasing role of traditional wildland fire capability (equipment and personnel) in all-risk disaster support Wildland fire is rife for political fodder and is a growth industry Risk management; conflict of perception between values to be protected and values at risk In the absence of implementing and communicating the Cohesive Strategy, these trends and risks are expected to increase, creating a more complex wildland fire management environment for all jurisdictions. Describe the trends with respect to values and risks that the region sees as current or future issues.

Management Scenarios Purpose – explore potential outcomes and consequences of various futures Minimal set proposed – four Scenarios are not fully developed alternatives Each scenario emphasizes subset of objectives and actions so that all objectives are emphasized at least once All assume no increases in budget Scenario 1 – Emphasize Landscape Resiliency Scenario 2 – Emphasize Fuels Treatment to Create Fire-adapted Communities Scenario 3 – Emphasize the Creation of Fire-adapted Communities through Collaboration and Self-Sufficiency Scenario 4 – Emphasize Effectiveness in Wildfire Response In the West, we used the Three Overarching Goals; Resilient Landscapes, Fire Adapted Communities and Integrated Response From Phase I We build (based on stakeholder feedback and foundational documents) Objectives, sub-objectives and activities under each Goal. The Management Scenarios will be developed into Alternatives after the tradeoff analysis has been completed which will be completed in Phase III. West

Tradeoff Analysis by the Science Team Phase III Tradeoff Analysis by the Science Team Regional Assessments completed with Alternatives Implementation Plans from each Region. Merged Phase III report with complete package to OMB and Congress. Time lines for this is end of September for each Region to develop risk assessment with alternatives and performance measures, end of the year for implementation plans.

Engagement Analysts, Scientists, Planners Specify Objectives Model Effects Specify Objectives Design Alternatives Synthesize & Interpret Results Identify Strategies Leadership, Managers, Specialists Analysts, Scientists, Planners A key to the National Cohesive Strategy is its inclusiveness. The success of Phase II of the National Cohesive Strategy hinges on regional analyses with meaningful participation by diverse participants and partners. This slide indicates how various types of individuals will need to be involved in the planning and analysis process to be successful.

Essential Steps in Phase III Translate the conceptual models developed in Phase II into quantitative and qualitative models as appropriate. Compile and integrate data needed to quantify and validate the relationships expressed in the models, using both federal and state data sources. Identify performance measures that can be used across all regions and within a given region. Identify geographic variations in the models to reflect appropriate differences across the regions.

Essential Steps (continued) Collectively, NSAT works with the RSCs and WGs to Interact with the RSCs to validate that the modeled relationships are reasonable. Explore specific alternatives developed by the RSCs through regional analysis. Interact with the RSCs to revalidate analysis models and iteratively refine regional alternatives to be included in the comparative risk analysis – national trade-off analysis. Conduct and document the comparative risk analyses – national tradeoff analysis. All groups have a responsibility for these tasks. Its important that the quantities aspects of risk assessment be embedded within a broader social discussion of values, options, potential consequences and tradeoffs inherent in any chosen strategy RSCs propose regional objectives and design initial alternatives RSCs developed Regional Assessments which outline their existing situation in qualitative terms, the values they hold in common, the trends they see occurring and the objectives, actions, and activities they can undertake to achieve national goals. Timeline, tradeoff analysis and regional assessment will happened by end of September, Implementation Plans due end of Calendar year.

What We Need from NWSA Continued involvement, stay as a “stakeholder.” Recognize that wildland fire is not a federal problem alone, more dollars are invested annually @ state and local government to address this issue. Be part of “success stories” in your landscape, Region or sub-region by engaging in all three aspects of Cohesive Strategy and not just focus on response. Help us build a culture for wildland fire cohesive strategy behavior for the future. West

QUESTIONS? www.forestsandrangelands.gov Completion of Phase II is a significant milestone for the CS Resulted in robust regional assessments and strategies that are supported by numerous stakeholders and ready for action CS has a measure of local support not present in previous efforts