Context of Rx Fire
Prescribed fire serves as a mechanism for getting good fire back on the ground to support healthy forests and safer communities.
In the dry, fire-dependent forests of the West, decades of fire suppression and related land management practices have led to an uncharacteristic amount of stand-replacing, high-severity fire, and a significant deficit of necessary low-intensity fire. These uncharacteristically high-severity fires are reducing the size and resilience of Washington's forests. The impacts are unprecedented, reaching the watersheds that supply water to our communities, farms, and fishers; the forests, trails, wildlife, and economies that rely on them; and our communities directly, through the loss of critical infrastructure, homes, and life.
Evidence shows that increasing low-intensity fire on the landscape will in turn increase the size and resilience of forests, decrease fuel loads, and improve fire outcomes. Read more on good fire from The Nature Conservancy.
Graphic adapted from The Nature Conservancy.
Fire has a role in our forests, and it can have a role in our communities, too. Used safely and with the right equipment, prescribed fire is an effective tool in the hands of landowners. Private and public land managers use strategically placed burns at different scales for many purposes, including forest health, wildfire risk reduction, improving wildlife habitat, and preserving watershed function.
Increasing prescribed fire use requires engagement at all levels, from the state agency to neighborhood scale. Deepening support and buy-in requires strategic and specific outreach. This toolkit is not meant to teach how to implement prescribed fire, but rather aims to help practitioners and advocates of prescribed fire to get the most from their outreach and engagement efforts.
The science supports prescribed fire…
A few key resources to support your use of this Toolkit…
Tools for Engaging Landowners (TELE): TELE was designed to help organizations reach and motivate landowners to take desired stewardship actions on their land. The TELE guidebook provides a step-by-step plan to bolster outreach and engagement efforts and is referenced throughout the Put Fire to Work Toolkit.
Engaging Communities in Prescribed Fire and Smoke:This guide prepared by Wildfire Planning International provides information on effective communication strategies compiled from seven case studies in the western United States.
Prescribed Burning Communication Kit: Developed by Texas A&M, these resources help to facilitate discussion and interactions within and between those who conduct prescribed burning and local communities.
Prescribed Burn Risk Communication Toolkit: From Ohio State University, this toolkit facilitates risk communication planning and risk communication about prescribed burning.
Seeking more information about prescribed fire in the Pacific Northwest?
Prescribed Burn Associations
Washington
Oregon
Rx Fire Councils
Washington
Oregon