Arizona Leaders Collaborate to Reduce Wildfire
This contract supports the growth of local economies by attracting locally-owned, businesses which sustainably use previously unmarketable small-diameter trees. Thinning trees also reduces high levels of hazardous fuels around communities and assists in protecting their watersheds and evacuation routes in the event of wildfire. Costs for the treatments are 30-50% lower than they were prior to the contract.
This White Mountain Stewardship Contract demonstrates how diverse private, public and non-profit organizations are simultaneously and collaboratively improving economic, ecologic and community health on a significant scale.
Significant collaborative efforts have also been initiated by Arizona communities, elected and appointed officials at all levels, and an active citizen’s working group. Northern Arizona University’s Ecological Restoration Institute supports these efforts.
An updated national implementation plan to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risks was endorsed earlier this month by the Western Governors’ Association, U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, National Association of State Foresters and National Association of Counties. The plan builds upon a bi-partisan 10-Year Comprehensive Strategy agreed to in 2001 that developed new structures, tools, and visions for shared leadership and broad-based collaboration to address wildland fire risks to communities and the environment.
For more information about the White Mountain Contract, contact Diane Vosick, Associate Director, Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona Univerity.