California Policy Leaders Provide Insights to Wildland Fire Commission

California has seen historic and catastrophic wildfires in the past several years. But it would be a mistake to assume the impacts of these wildfires are contained by California’s borders.

It’s known from existing research that wildfires in one area can have public health impacts far from the source.

The wildfires in California and throughout Western North America have brought into sharp focus the need for local, interstate, and federal partnerships—building on lessons learned and providing support toward an equitable wildfire prevention, management, suppression, and recovery strategy.

Now, California’s leaders are getting a chance to inform the work of the congressional荒地消防和管理委员会—tasked with providing federal policy recommendations and strategies to Congress on ways to better prevent, manage, suppress, and recover from wildfires.

In partnership with theFederation of American Scientists (FAS), theCalifornia Council on Science and Technology(CCST) brought together policymakers and leaders for a wildfire roundtable with the California-affiliated members of the commission.

CCST的圆桌会议促进了委员会成员和决策者之间的双向对话，讨论了在加利福尼亚州所做的开创性工作，以解决野火危机。圆桌会议包括加利福尼亚州保险局，加利福尼亚空气资源委员会，加利福尼亚自然资源局局长韦德·克劳菲特（Wade Crowfoot）和加利福尼亚州立法机关，包括大会的丽贝卡·鲍尔·卡汉（Rebecca Bauer-Kahan）和希思弗洛拉（Heath Flora），他们是一名长期志愿消防员。

The wildfire roundtable is part of a broader effort by FAS to support the work of the commission, including aWildland Fire Policy Acceleratorto solicit policy proposals and recommendations to improve how we live with fire—a collaboration between FAS, CCST,Conservation X Labs, andCOMPASS。从加速者(一个完整的列表的建议ator program will soon be submitted to the Commission and released publicly.)

圆桌会议的参与者谈到了与野火相关的政策优先事项，并强调了改善联邦和州伙伴关系在加利福尼亚发生的开创性工作的障碍和/或机会。

“In recent years, wildfire catastrophes have caused unimaginable destruction, harm, and loss of life in California,” said CCST CEO Amber Mace, who moderated the conversations. “Conversations like these that bring together leaders to share lessons learned help us chart a wildfire resilient future for California and the country.”

FAS科学政策总监Erica Goldman说：“我们的合作工作有助于激活多元化的专业知识。”“这些努力鼓励了更广泛的科学家，技术人员和土著知识持有者，从而为委员会的工作提供了可行的实质性意见。”

CCST has provided in-depth work on wildfire issues, including an Expert Briefing series on wildfire, the 2020 peer-reviewed reportThe Costs of Wildfires in California, and the upcomingstudyon the links between forest health, wildfire smoke, and public health, expected to be published in September 2023.

The CCST wildfire roundtable was supported by funding from the Federation of American Scientists and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

About the California Council on Science and Technology
The California Council on Science and Technology is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established via the California State Legislature — making California’s policies stronger with science and technology since 1988. We engage leading experts in science and technology to advise State policymakers — ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.