Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines
Wildfire is a growing threat in the western US, driven by high fuel loads, a warming climate, and rising human activity in the wildland urban interface. Diverse stakeholders must collaborate to mitigate risk and adapt to changing conditions. Communication strategies in collaborative efforts may be m...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7ace |
| _version_ | 1797747542111289344 |
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| author | Joel Hartter Lawrence C Hamilton Mark J Ducey Angela E Boag Jonathan D Salerno Nils D Christoffersen Paul T Oester Michael W Palace Forrest R Stevens |
| author_facet | Joel Hartter Lawrence C Hamilton Mark J Ducey Angela E Boag Jonathan D Salerno Nils D Christoffersen Paul T Oester Michael W Palace Forrest R Stevens |
| author_sort | Joel Hartter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wildfire is a growing threat in the western US, driven by high fuel loads, a warming climate, and rising human activity in the wildland urban interface. Diverse stakeholders must collaborate to mitigate risk and adapt to changing conditions. Communication strategies in collaborative efforts may be most effective if they align with local perspectives on wildfire and climate change. We investigate drivers of residents’ subjective perceptions regarding both issues in eastern Oregon using 2018 survey data, and examine objective evidence regarding local fuel loads, climate, and wildfire to identify trends and contextualize residents’ perceptions. We find that sociopolitical identity strongly predicts climate change beliefs, and that identity and climate beliefs predict both perceptions of recent past climate and likely future trends. Political influences on climate perceptions are strongest among people whose friends mostly belong to the same party. In contrast, perceptions about future wildfire risks are largely independent of climate-change beliefs, and of individual or peer-group politics. Most people accurately perceive the rising frequency of large wildfires, and expect this trend to continue. Decision makers have an opportunity to engage diverse stakeholders in developing policies to mitigate increasing wildfire risk without invoking climate change, which remains politically polarizing in some communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a0f9abbc45bb4d66898d04864e60f648 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a0f9abbc45bb4d66898d04864e60f6482023-08-09T15:05:08ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-0115606500210.1088/1748-9326/ab7aceFinding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political linesJoel Hartter0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2255-1845Lawrence C Hamilton1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1977-0649Mark J Ducey2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2027-1188Angela E Boag3Jonathan D Salerno4Nils D Christoffersen5Paul T Oester6Michael W Palace7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3505-2906Forrest R Stevens8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9328-3753Environmental Studies Program, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO, United States of America; Carsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire , Durham, NH, United States of AmericaCarsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire , Durham, NH, United States of America; Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire , Durham, NH, United States of AmericaCarsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire , Durham, NH, United States of America; Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire , Durham, NH, United States of AmericaColorado Department of Natural Resources, Denver, CO, United States of AmericaWarner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University , Fort Collins, CO, United States of AmericaWallowa Resources , Enterprise, OR, United States of AmericaCollege of Forestry, Oregon State University , LaGrande, OR, United States of AmericaInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire , Durham, NH, United States of AmericaDepartment of Geosciences, University of Louisville , Louisville, KY, United States of AmericaWildfire is a growing threat in the western US, driven by high fuel loads, a warming climate, and rising human activity in the wildland urban interface. Diverse stakeholders must collaborate to mitigate risk and adapt to changing conditions. Communication strategies in collaborative efforts may be most effective if they align with local perspectives on wildfire and climate change. We investigate drivers of residents’ subjective perceptions regarding both issues in eastern Oregon using 2018 survey data, and examine objective evidence regarding local fuel loads, climate, and wildfire to identify trends and contextualize residents’ perceptions. We find that sociopolitical identity strongly predicts climate change beliefs, and that identity and climate beliefs predict both perceptions of recent past climate and likely future trends. Political influences on climate perceptions are strongest among people whose friends mostly belong to the same party. In contrast, perceptions about future wildfire risks are largely independent of climate-change beliefs, and of individual or peer-group politics. Most people accurately perceive the rising frequency of large wildfires, and expect this trend to continue. Decision makers have an opportunity to engage diverse stakeholders in developing policies to mitigate increasing wildfire risk without invoking climate change, which remains politically polarizing in some communities.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7acewildfireforest managementclimate changedry forestsnortheast Oregon |
| spellingShingle | Joel Hartter Lawrence C Hamilton Mark J Ducey Angela E Boag Jonathan D Salerno Nils D Christoffersen Paul T Oester Michael W Palace Forrest R Stevens Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines Environmental Research Letters wildfire forest management climate change dry forests northeast Oregon |
| title | Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines |
| title_full | Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines |
| title_fullStr | Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines |
| title_full_unstemmed | Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines |
| title_short | Finding common ground: agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines |
| title_sort | finding common ground agreement on increasing wildfire risk crosses political lines |
| topic | wildfire forest management climate change dry forests northeast Oregon |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7ace |
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