Whole communities in the West now find themselves in the path of possible devastation by wildfire, but Hodgson believes it doesn't have to be that way. The approach we always used was to work with the community. Rather than imposing something, we provided assistance and helped the people get what they wanted. It turns out that's a good philosophy, but it's also the most effective way to get something done. They watch out for their neighbor and like working with their neighbor.
Locals are always in charge.
If there is interest, the groups recruit others and map out a holistic strategy for transforming the community from a disaster waiting to happen to one that fits more defensibly into its environment. We try to re-landscape the entire community, not just a house here and a house there. We'll draw a boundary around where a fire would naturally burn and address that area. It can be tricky. To do that, you have to work across all these land ownerships where everyone has different objectives and perspectives on what ought to be done, and if you've got commercial timber land in there along with residential land and federal land, that mix can make it difficult.