Taming Sierra Flames

Fire over the ridge

Since 2004, the SNAMP Science and Public Participation teams have been working to understand how forest vegetation treatments to prevent wildfire affect fire risk, wildlife, forest health, and water, all while developing a new model for engaging the public on land management issues. Their work was profiled in the spring issue of our College of Natural Resources magazine: “Today, as SNAMP reaches the end of a 10-year run, the project has proven to be a multidisciplinary, multiagency, multimedia success that has the potential to transform not only how we view forest fires, but more intriguingly, how scientists, government agencies, and public stakeholders interact in the pursuit of common goals. …SNAMP’s goals went far beyond simply figuring out the best way to slow a wildfire’s spread. The experiment proceeded along parallel tracks, studying fire, forest health, fishers, owls, water quality issues, and spatial data. And crucially, public participation wasn’t an afterthought or an also-ran, but the key piece of the puzzle.

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