TITLE : Role of Landscape in Reducing Wildfire impacts in the Urban Interface
Speakers: BRETT VAN PAEPEGHEM, South Project Manager Idaho Firewise
Brett has served as the Southern Idaho Project Manager for Idaho Firewise since 2014. He collaborates with various agencies on the development of new Firewise Demo Landscapes throughout Southern Idaho.
Roger Rosentreter
Roger earned his PhD in botany at the University of Montana in 1984. He retired from a 35 year career as the Idaho Bureau of Land Management state botanist several years ago, but continues to serve on graduate faculty committees at all three Idaho universities and Utah State University. Roger started the Firewise demo garden in 1999. Roger has been a member of the NRCS Riparian Plant Improvement Advisory Committee, the International Forest Health Monitoring Program, a USAID forest health team in Lebanon, and on the President's Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team (FEMAT). He has authored nearly 100 scientific publications and is an author/co-author of six botanical reference books. He has worked on the biology and conservation of several federal and state listed endangered and threatened plant and animal species. In 2008, he received the Idaho Weed Hall of Fame Award. He is currently teaching graduate level classes at Boise State University.
Approved LACES course
Description
Recent wildfire events throughout the world have highlighted the consequences of development in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) is growing all over Idaho at the same time wildfires are growing in frequency and size. We need to help communities understand what they can and should be doing to more resilient in the event of wildfire. There is significant social and economic impact from these fires from the loss of homes to more tragically, lives as well as the challenges of recovery . This presentation will review the latest development in how we can reduce the impact of wild fires through innovative landscape design.
Learning outcomes/goals
1. Understanding the Urban-Wildland interface
2. Ideas for successful collaboration with multiple agencies involved in Urban Wildland interface
3. Review and discussion of Firewise demonstration Landscapes in Southwest Idaho
