Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and

Integration

Social Issues Fact Sheet: 5

The Importance of Working Locally

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Research Note

RMRS-RN-21-5-WWW

September 2004

Social Science Team Co-Leads:

Pam Jakes

Sue Barro

USDA Forest Service

North Central Research Station

1992 Folwell Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

Fuels planning: Science synthesis and

integration, an interagency research/

management partnership to support

the Ten-Year Fire Plan, led by Russell

T. Graham, RMRS, and Sarah M.

McCaffrey, NCRS.

Synthesizing

Scientific Information

for Fire and Fuels

Project Managers

Pacific Northwest

Research Station

The information for this

fact sheet was provided by

Dr. Martha Monroe and

Ms. Lisa Pennisi, University of Florida.

In another fact sheet (Social Issues Fact Sheet 2, RMRS-RN-21-2), we discussed

the types of new information that can trigger new behavior. For some people,

new information is not enough; they may need to evaluate the extent to which

the new behavior is supported by people important to them, including family,

friends, and neighbors. People who evaluate their actions in terms of what others think are often said to be guided by community norms. With respect to fuels

management, this means that when you are ìsellingî a property owner on taking

steps to reduce fuels you are not just ìsellingî to one person, but to a network of

people. To reach people who are motivated by community norms, you need to

work at the neighborhood or other local level.

Squires Peak Field Trip. When

neighbors come together for events

such as field trips, new information

is exchanged and the social acceptability of fuels management is reinforced (photo credit: V. Sturtevant).

Why Focus on the Local Area?

An old saying calls on people to ìThink globally

but act locally.î In wildland fire and fuels management, we might say ìPlan at the landscape level

but act at the local level.î Local residential units

such as neighborhoods or subdivisions can be effective targets for fuels management campaigns

because they (1) often have an organized homeowner association, (2) are made up of a relatively

homogenous group of people, and (3) are set in

similar fuel types. Local residents already know each

other, and these local groups help define socially

acceptable behaviors and set community norms.

One note of caution: Not everyone you need to

reach lives in a neat subdivision or neighborhood.

You must take care that the less affluent or poorly organized are not left out of

education and communication efforts.

How to Work Locally

Many fuels management programs have used a neighborhood approach to communicate and organize successfully. Below are three tools that can be used in a variety of

situations but work especially well in neighborhoods or local residential units. Other

techniques to change behavior are discussed in Social Issues Fact Sheet 3 (RMRSRN-21-3).

1. Personal Contact

Face-to-face communication is more meaningful, interactive, and therefore

memorable than one-way communications such as publications, television,

and other media. If the person relaying the message is a neighbor, then the

personal contact not only educates, but strengthens social support, provides

peer approval, and reinforces community norms.
The Fuels Planning fact sheets are based on preliminary findings. Information from fact sheets will be synthesized in an upcoming publication.

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, and the ìgolden ruleî 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

2. Demonstration Areas

Demonstration areas provide a concrete vision of

what the new behavior will look like, offer information about the consequences of the behavior,

and offer immediate feedback without the risk of

trying it yourself. It is important that the behavior

is achievable for most property owners. Demonstration areas should be well situated for public viewing, and owners of the site should be amenable to

visitors or tours. For example, at the High Desert

Museum in Bend, OR, a fuels reduction demonstration project undertaken to show proper techniques

for reducing fuel loads brings the message of wildland fire management to local residents and thousands of tourists who visit the Museum each year.

However, you donít need a beautiful natural area

such as the one surrounding the High Desert Museum to create a demonstration area. Near Orlando,

FL, Firewise landscaping was demonstrated in a

Loweís store parking lot by surrounding a cabin,

erected just for the occasion, with potted landscaping plants. One side of the cabin showed landscaping using Firewise principles, including the use of

fire resistant plants, while the other side showed

landscaping that would increase fire risk. This is an

approach that could work in any neighborhood in

the United States.

3. Festivals and Events

Festivals and events can be good venues for raising

awareness and generating enthusiasm. If organized

by, for, and in a neighborhood, they can help build

collective energy for action. Events can be a place

where members of the neighborhood who have already taken steps to reduce fuels are recognized,

and others are encouraged to follow suit. Events

donít have to be overly elaborate. In Applegate, OR,

a ìHowdy Neighborî social event held once a month

at a community church also served as a useful forum for discussing community and individual wildland fire preparedness.

At a debris collection event in Bend, OR, neighbors model responsible

fuels management and safely dispose of slash and other hazardous

fuels (photo credit: V. Sturtevant).