Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and

Integration

Social Issues Fact Sheet: 18

Issues Affecting Social Acceptability

of Fuels Treatments

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Research Note

RMRS-RN-21-18-WWW

September 2006

Social Science Team Lead:

Pamela Jakes

USDA Forest Service

North Central Research Station

1992 Folwell Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

pjakes@fs.fed.us

Synthesizing

Scientific

Information

for Fire and Fuels

Project Managers

Pacific Northwest

Research Station

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Fuels Treatment and Public Opinion

So many decisions can impact the public’s opinions and acceptance of various fuels

treatments. But fuels management and public perceptions can be a two-way street: The

public’s perceptions and values can inform fuels management decisions; and information

about fuels management can positively affect the public’s preferences and attitudes.

The Impact of Information on Acceptance

Researchers have tried to understand how information about forest management can influence a person’s landscape preferences and aesthetic appreciation, which in large part drive

social acceptability. These findings are relevant for fuels management projects, since these

projects are often characterized by conflicts between aesthetic and ecological objectives.

Research has found an increase in acceptance and visual quality ratings for clear cuts when

members of the general public see how the forest will look once it regenerates. Yet, while

more information might result in better understanding of why a landscape appears the

way it does, that understanding does not always mean that people will find the landscape

more acceptable. One study found that informing people about insect damage in southern pine forests lowered their preference for landscapes that showed the damage. But

when no information was available, participants actually rated the insect-damage scenes

higher. Researchers explained this by suggesting that participants liked the orange colors

resulting from the damage in the trees.

Public Involvement in Stewardship

Involving members of the general public in ecological stewardship is one way to convey

information that can boost social acceptance. For example, local residents who help

cultivate native plant communities may be more amenable to ecosystem management.

Cues to Care

Sometimes forest managers can use visual cues in the landscape to convey information

that can increase public acceptance. These “cues to care” can frame seemingly messy

ecosystems—like those resulting from fuels management—in ways that convey human

intention, visually informing people that landscapes are being managed and restored. This

display of human intention is especially important when managed forests are adjacent to

the wildland-urban interface or other high-use areas. Sample cues to care include mowing

the edges of grassland areas, providing wildlife feeders, trimming shrubs, and adding

fences or other architectural details.

Developing an Ecological Perspective

Despite a manager’s best efforts, the general public does not always perceive ecologically

healthy ecosystems and the processes that sustain them as aesthetically pleasing or even as

evidence of good management.
Social Science Team Fact Sheets

Look for fact sheet topics from the Social Science Team including information on developing personal responsibility for fuels

reduction, communicating fire hazard, topics for community

fire plans, guidelines for community education, collaboration,

and the “golden rule” for communicating fire hazard to people.

Fuels Planning: Synthesis and Integration

This fact sheet is one in a series being produced as part of a

larger project supported by the USDA Forest Service to synthesize new knowledge and information relevant to fire and fuels

management. Fact sheets address topics related to stand structure, environmental impacts, economics, and human responses

to these factors. Information in the fact sheets is targeted for the

dry forests of the Inland West, but is often applicable across

broad regions of the country. For more information, please visit

our Web site at:

www.fs.fed.us/fire/tech_transfer/synthesis/synthesis_index

Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and Integration is an interagency research/management partnership to support the TenYear Fire Plan, led by Russell T. Graham, RMRS, and Sarah M.

McCaffrey, NCRS.

Some suggest that this calls for cultivating a forest aesthetic

based on an ecological perspective rather than a scenic perspective, as the renowned ecologist Aldo Leopold proposed.

Even though people’s perceptions of what is scenic might be

difficult to change, their knowledge and appreciation of ecosystem health and processes—instead of scenic beauty—could

come to shape their sense of forest aesthetics.

An ecological perspective could translate into an appreciation for the more subtle beauty in landscapes, such as prairies, which may appear uniform or monotonous to the untrained eye.

Education and information are central to an informed aesthetic. In one researcher’s words, “Perhaps the most powerfully omnipresent form of environmental education is simply

viewing the landscape.”

Source

Daniel, Terry C.; Valdiserri, Michael; Daniel, Carrie R.; Jakes,

Pamela; Barro, Susan. 2005. Social science to improve fuels

management: a synthesis of research on assessing social acceptability of fuels treatments. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-259. St.

Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North

Central Research Station. 52 p. Available online at http://

ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/viewpub.asp?key=3476 [2006, August 25].

For a hard copy, contact Pamela Jakes at pjakes@fs.fed.us.

Additional Acceptability Fact Sheets

Issues Affecting Social Acceptability of Fuels Treatments is one of

two fact sheets on the topic of acceptability and fuels management. See also Considering Social Acceptability of Fuels Treatments, Social Issues Fact Sheet 17 (RMRS RN-21-17-WWW).

Signs can provide “cues to care,” explaining that landscapes are being

managed and restored, and often increasing public acceptance of management activities. Photo: E. Toman