For Sections 1 and 2 of the survey (organization information, challenges and capacities):
1. For entities that support, plan/prepare, or implement prescribed burn operations in multiple geographic areas please complete this survey once per geographic area or business/office unit. (e.g. state level for TNC state level business units, county or counties served for each UC extension person's rx fire areas, etc)

For the insurance section of the survey:
2. For entities completing this survey for multiple geographic areas, we recognize that the insurance experiences you have had are likely the same for your entire organization. If so, please designate one survey taker to complete this insurance section on behalf of the entire organization. If you have a designated individual completing this insurance section for your entire organization, you may leave the insurance section blank and skip to the closing questions.

State and federal prescribed fire management capacity has been better-studied and understood and we wanted to focus on population outside of this to highlight resource sharing needs and opportunities in light of increased funding potential for diverse partners from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ( IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

For additional information on this topic, please see the following resources:

Federal Policy Opportunities to Increase Prescribed Fire

Pathways to Prescribed Fire: Streamlining cooperative burn partnerships between nonprofit partners and the Forest Service Report and Case Studies (2022)

Southeast Prescribed Fire Training Needs Survey Report and Summary (2021)

Non-Federal Prescribed Fire Survey Summary (2020)

Cleaves, D. A. (2000). Influences on prescribed burning activity and costs in the National Forest System (No. 37). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station.

Kobziar, L. N., Godwin, D., Taylor, L., & Watts, A. C. (2015). Perspectives on trends, effectiveness, and impediments to prescribed burning in the southern US. Forests, 6(3), 561-580.

Quinn-Davidson, L. N., & Varner, J. M. (2012). Impediments to prescribed fire across agency, landscape and manager: an example from northern California. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 21(3), 210-218.

No, we are mainly focused on organizations that could benefit from increased funding potential from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ( IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
However, please contact Heidi Huber-Stearns - hstearns@umich.edu , or Michelle Greiner - michelle.greiner@colostate.edu with your contact information and we will reach out if we can do additional stages of work for a private landowners survey.

This survey is being conducted in accordance with protocol approved by CSU’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Our goal is to provide timely data to inform near-term policy and spending decisions, and, in light of this we were not able to undergo Tribal IRB processes in advance of this survey.

If you have additional questions about the survey or whether you meet the criteria to take it, please contact Heidi Huber-Stearns at Hstearns(at)umich.edu and Michelle Greiner at Michelle.Greiner(at)colostate.edu.