Wildfires and Webinars: SCOTie's Special Summer 2012 Edition of Fetch!

Greetings!

In the past month, the West has watched as an early wildfire season destroyed homes and precious wildlands. With forests smoldering across Colorado and Utah, and still very much ablaze in Oregon, local governments are taking a hard look at the preparedness of their communities and what that can do to protect their residents.

To support this attention on wildfire planning, Western Lands and Communities hosted a webinar on managing the impacts of wildfires. This session featured speakers from the Sonoran Institute, National Fire Protection Association, and Douglas County, CO.

Click here to view an archived recording of this interesting and informative session.

Going hand in hand with wildfire season is the summer heat and declining water resources. Next week on July 25, Western Lands and Communities is hosting Innovations in Water Resource Planning, the next webinar in the Adapting to Rising Temperature series of the Planning in the West webinars sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Sonoran Institute.

Douglas County Wildfire Hazard Overlay District and Standards

Douglas County is responding to the danger of wildfire by adopting a Wildfire Hazard Overlay District, guided by the State Service Standards for Defensible Space.

With cooperation and input from the State Forest Service, the public, and other stakeholders, the county mapped out areas threatened by wildfires, based on a site-specific rating and analysis system.

Learn more ...

Addressing Community Wildfire Risk: A Review and Assessment of Regulatory and Planning Tools

Recently released by Clarion Associates, this study reviews and assess the effectiveness of regulatory planning tools designed to to address community wildfire risk, and to communicate lessons learned to communities considering such regulation.

The project defines the WUI regulatory landscape through the identification of regulatory tools, categorization of these tools, and their evaluation to clarify their effectiveness.

Read the Report

June and July have also been a busy here at the SCOTie Toolkit. We added three new partners to the toolkit including:

Pando- A new online community for local sustainability-focused researchers and practitioners to share knowledge, network, and collaborate.
Western Central APA Chapter - This chapter covers Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Global Cool Cities Alliance - GCCA has a great toolkit on Cool Roofs and Cool Pavements that is a must read for planners implementing UHI policies.

Congratulations and thank you for supporting SCOTie!

Happy planning,

Erika Mahoney

Program Associate, Western Lands and Communities

A Lincoln Institute of Land Policy - Sonoran Institute Joint Venture

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The Successful Communities Online Toolkit information exchange (SCOTie) is a clearinghouse of active model smart growth and resource protection plans and policies from rural, amenity, and urban communities across the West. Start your search now.

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Save the Date

July 25: Innovations in Water Resource Planning , Planning in the West Webinars - Sign up today!

Aug. 7-10: 2012 Western Planner/APA Chapter Conference, Western Planner - Billings, MT

Sept. 19-21: APA Arizona Chapter Annual Conference - Flagstaff, AZ

Oct. 3-6: APA Colorado Chapter Annual Conference - "Planning Out of Bounds" Snowmass, CO

Oct. 10-12: APA Idaho Chapter Annual Planning Conference: "Challenging Futures, and Future Challenges" Boise, ID

Wildfire Resources

Watch WLC's Wildfire Webinar on June 27th

In this webinar, we address the concept of defensible space around homes and commercial areas and preventative measures to manage growth and wildfire in the wildland-urban interface.

Learn more ...

Call for Presentations

The 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo is June 10-13, 2013, in Chicago. The call for presentations is now open. You're invited to share your wildland fire knowledge with your peers. Proposals are due September 12. Read more ...

5th Annual Backyards & Beyond Educational Conference

Mark your calendars for NFPA's 5th Backyards & Beyond Educational Conference, November 12-15, 2013, in Utah. Build relationships; explore key issues with leading wildland fire experts, and share best practices you can take back to your communities and workplace. Read more ...

Current SCOTie Partners

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