Understanding Forest Recovery Priorities, Management Options, and Policy Needs for Tribes in Post-Fire Landscapes

Fires are becoming more extensive and severe in the West, and post-fire recovery is a challenge for communities as they adapt to a changing climate. Post-fire management can involve watershed rehabilitation, recovering valuable trees, and replanting to prevent forest loss and damage to watersheds. Land management agencies that make decisions may prioritize goals that differ from those of local populations--especially Native American Tribes, who may focus primarily on recovering non-timber values, such wetlands or species that provide food, fiber, or medicine, on their reservations and on their ancestral homelands. The goal of this research is to inform post-fire management and policy, so it is more responsive to Tribes' priorities.

Using robust social science methods, we will conduct a literature review, interviews, case studies, and roundtables to: (1) Identify post-fire recovery priorities for Tribes in the southwestern states of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California who have been affected by recent wildfires; (2) Identify post-fire management options to address these priorities; (3) Characterize post-fire policies and decision making processes that affect Tribes; and (4) Understand policy barriers and opportunities to make post-fire recovery more responsive to the needs of Tribes. Working with an advisory board of Tribal experts and partners, this study will gather local knowledge from Tribal members and land managers, along with others working with Tribes, to shed light on these issues. This research will help Tribal and agency managers communicate post-fire recovery priorities to effectively adapt to climate change.