Natural Resources

Are you familiar with the wildfire mitigation strategies in your city? In Anchorage, certain techniques known as fuel treatments have helped reduce fire risk.

Increased wildfire activity has raised concerns among communities about how to assess and prepare for this threat. There is a need for wildfire hazard assessment approaches that capture local variability to inform decisions, produce results understood by the public, and are updatable in a timely manner. In this article, Schmidt and her co-authors describe how, in partnership with wildfire practitioners and communities, they created a tool that rapidly assesses wildfire hazards and is easily modified to help identify and prioritize mitigation activities.

The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) faculty, including Brett Watson, Bob Loeffler, and Mary Kopriva, showcased their expertise as panelists at the Alaska Resource Development Council annual conference held in Anchorage on No

ISER Faculty Member Jennifer Schmidt partnered with Toby Schwoerer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Jim Powell at the University of Alaska Southeast on a study of threats from climate-related hazards to homeowners in Fairbanks and Anchorage.