fire
What Have We Learned About Rebuilding from Fire?
Woolsey Fire survivors reflect on the rebuilding process and what might help rebuild more resiliently after the January fires.
When I first met Nicole Fisher in 2019, her property in the Santa Monica Mountains was nothing but a driveway and a pile of cement. I was interviewing the art teacher for a radio story about her family’s plans to rebuild after the 2018 Woolsey Fire that destroyed her home and hundreds of others in …
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CONTINUE READINGMajor permitting reform will (likely) be bipartisan
Senate parliamentarian shoots down effort to use “pay to play” to avoid judicial review of NEPA
Several weeks ago I wrote about an effort by House Republicans to use reconciliation, a process which avoids the Senate filibuster, for a “pay to play” proposal to gut NEPA. The proposal would have allowed sponsors of projects going through NEPA review to pay an extra fee and avoid judicial review of the NEPA review. …
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CONTINUE READINGA Way Forward?
Reducing the Number of Decisions Could Accelerate Fire Management
This is the third of a series of three posts on how to do more to reduce fire risks on federal lands. The first post is here, the second post is here. In addressing the increasing risks of wildfire, we certainly need to scale up the resources we apply to the problem, doing more prescribed …
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CONTINUE READINGFire and Permitting Reform
Addressing the difficult parts, regulation and litigation
This is the second of three posts on proposed legislation to address the fire crisis on federal lands (the first post is here). Last post, I talked about why this legislation is essential, and the strengths of the bill that the House passed last Congress. In this post, I’ll talk about the parts of the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Urgent Need to Address Fire Risk
We need legislative action to accelerate fire risk reduction in general
The Manchin-Barrasso energy permitting bill that I’ve posted about is not the only permitting reform bill that died with the last Congress. The House had passed the “Fix Our Forests Act,” legislation sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas, with a focus on trying to reduce fire risks on federal (and other) lands. …
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CONTINUE READINGBalancing fire risk and housing
How can California reconcile the dual needs of managing for fire risk and producing more housing?
This is the last in a series of four blog posts discussing the issue of development in the wildland-urban interface in California, the current legal structures addressing the issue, and our research on how those legal frameworks are being applied on the ground in key counties in the state. In this blog post, we’ll discuss …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat is being built in the WUI?
What our data says about development in the WUI in California
This is the third in a series of four blog posts discussing the issue of development in the wildland-urban interface in California, the current legal structures addressing the issue, and our research on how those legal frameworks are being applied on the ground in key counties in the state. In this blog post, we summarize …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Law in the WUI
California’s legal framework for development in the wildland-urban interface
This is the second in a series of four blog posts discussing the issue of development in the wildland-urban interface in California, the current legal structures addressing the issue, and our research on how those legal frameworks are being applied on the ground in key counties in the state. These blog posts summarize our recent …
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CONTINUE READINGBuilding to Burn
Examining whether California law facilitates development in fire-prone areas
All too many Californians have lost their homes, and even their lives, as fires have raced through exurbs, suburbs, and even portions of towns and cities over the past several years. A key issue that policymakers are wrestling with is the extent to which new development has increased the risk to people and property from …
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CONTINUE READINGNational Parks, Climate Change, and Active Management
When should park managers response to fire risk and climate change through active management?
This summer, the Earth Island Institute filed a lawsuit challenging active management projects in Yosemite National Park – those projects involve the cutting of trees to reduce the risk of fire (or that is the explanation of the National Park Service for the projects). The tree cutting was begun this past year, and the National …
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