Abstract
A purposive social assessment across three communities explored reactions of local residents to wildfires in the Wenatchee National Forest in north-central Washington. Research concentrated on identifying the diversity of fundamental beliefs and values held by local residents about wildfire and forest management. Particular emphasis was given to investigating community social structures and potential conflict dynamics surrounding fire recovery efforts. Semistructured interviews were conducted with people representing a diverse set of values, attachments to the National Forest, and beliefs about forest management. Complexity of the social context emerged through inductive methods of qualitative analysis. Twenty-six social entities were categorized as political coalitions, stakeholder groups, residency tenure distinctions, geographic divisions, or ethnic communities. For each of the three communities, an indepth discussion described social dynamics surrounding fire recovery in the National Forest by juxtaposing the various value orientations and beliefs across 15 fire recovery issues. Conclusions targeted improving public involvement processes in the aftermath of severe ecological disturbances and traumatic human experiences.
Keywords
Social assessment,
qualitative methodology,
value orientations,
natural resource conflict,
public involvement processes,
collaborative learning,
Wenatchee National Forest
Citation
Carroll, Matthew S.; Findley, Angela J.; Blatner, Keith A.; Mendez, Sandra Rodriguez; Daniels, Steven E.; Walker, Gregg B. 2000. Social assessment for the Wenatchee National Forest wildfires of 1994: targeted analysis for the Leavenworth, Entiat, and Chelan Ranger Districts. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-479. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 114 p
