Wildfires in the western United States are becoming more frequent and more damaging to affected communities. Increased damages due to wildfire owe in part to a growing number of homes, businesses, and other structures in wildfires’ paths. The past several decades have seen a large increase in the number of US homes in areas known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where people live close to large areas of wildland vegetation. Over the past two decades, the number of residential homes in the WUI has grown by about 350,000 homes per year. As of 2021, roughly 49 million homes were in these areas.

Join Resources for the Future (RFF) on Wednesday, October 12, for the second RFF Live event in the “Sparking Solutions” webinar series, where we will discuss the benefits and challenges of addressing the WUI problem. The session will touch on the costs and effectiveness of alternative approaches, including land use policies, building codes, landscaping ordinances, homeowner education programs, and more; examples of community success stories; and other potential creative solutions.

Speakers

• Kimiko Barrett, Headwaters Economics
• Patricia Champ, US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station
• Jeremy Dennis, Town of Portola Valley
• Andrew Plantinga, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Margaret Walls, Resources for the Future (Moderator)

Date: October 12, 2022
Time: 3:00-4:00 p.m.

To RSVP, visit https://www.rff.org/events/rff-live/sparking-solutions-wui/.