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Publication Details

Title:
Community zones for assessing wildfire exposure in the United States Data publication contains GIS data
Author(s):
Bunzel, Ken; Ager, Alan A.; Day, Michelle A.; Dillon, Gregory K.
Publication Year:
2021
How to Cite:
These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:
Bunzel, Ken; Ager, Alan A.; Day, Michelle A.; Dillon, Gregory K. 2021. Community zones for assessing wildfire exposure in the United States. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2021-0046
Abstract:
This community zones geodatabase delineates U.S. Census populated places in the Unites States (contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and their associated wildland urban interface (WUI) as part of assessments to quantify wildfire transmission to communities. Research has shown that less than 20% of buildings in non-WUI areas are exposed to wildfire yet there are no community-level datasets that include the most vulnerable areas to wildfire, those areas where homes and structures are built among wildland vegetation. Local and regional risk planning processes, including engagement with communities, can use these boundaries to better define and map the scale of wildfire risk from large fire events and incorporate wildfire network and connectivity concepts into risk assessments.

Keywords:
boundaries; location; planningCadastre; society; structure; Fire; Wildland/urban interface; Environment and People; Natural Resource Management & Use; United States; Hawaii; Alaska; Puerto Rico; contiguous United States; CONUS
Related publications:
  • Ager, Alan A.; Evers, Cody R.; Day, Michelle A.; Preisler, Haiganoush K.; Barros, Ana M.; Nielsen-Pincus, Max. 2017. Network analysis of wildfire transmission and implications for risk governance. PLOS ONE. 12: e0172867. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172867
  • Ager, Alan A.; Palaiologou, Palaiologos; Evers, Cody R.; Day, Michelle A.; Ringo, Chris; Short, Karen C. 2019. Wildfire exposure to the wildland urban interface in the western US. Applied Geography. 111: 102059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2019.102059
  • Evers, Cody R.; Ager, Alan A.; Nielsen-Pincus, Max; Palaiologou, Palaiologos; Bunzel, Ken. 2019. Archetypes of community wildfire exposure from national forests in the western US. Landscape and Urban Planning. 182: 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.10.004
  • More (7 total)
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