Poster Abstract Details

Author(s):
Neelam Poudyal, Cassandra Johnson Gaither, and Scott Goodrick

Affiliation:
University of Georgia and USDA Forest Service

Presentation Type:
Poster

Topic Area:
Monitoring and predicting human influences on landscapes and ecosystems

Abstract Text:
Recent studies involving environmental risk indicate that natural disasters originate from both biophysical and social causes. Population strata that are the most vulnerable socioeconomically tend to be affected most severely by natural disasters because the compromised social conditions in which these populations live exacerbate risk. In terms of wildfire risk, this would suggest that socially marginal communities would suffer greater loss in the event of wildfire occurrence because such communities typically are less able to either mitigate wildfire risk or recover from its effects. We address the human dimension of wildfire risk by looking at the spatial convergence of wildfire risk and social vulnerability. We examine spatial association between wildfire risk and social vulnerability for the 14 states included in the U.S. Forest Service's Southern Region. Wildfire risk is operationalized by the Wildfire Susceptibility Index (WFSI) provided by the Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment. Social vulnerability is indicated by a social vulnerability index (SOVUL). SOVUL is comprised of percent population that is African American, below poverty, less than high school education, renter, and mobile home dweller. The geographical scale is the Census Block Group. Our aim is to identify "hot spots" where socially vulnerable populations coincide with high fire risk areas. Further, we examine the proximity of wildfire mitigation programs such as Firewise and Community Wildfire Protection Plans to hot spots to determine whether the most vulnerable groups, in both biophysical and social terms, have access to mitigation programs. Implications for wildfire mitigation are discussed.