Adaptive Management for Ecosystem Services at the Wildland-Urban Interface

International Journal of the Commons, 14(1), pp. 611–626.

University of Utah College of Law Research Paper No. 322

16 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2019 Last revised: 5 Oct 2020

See all articles by Robin Kundis Craig

Robin Kundis Craig

USC Gould School of Law

J. B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt University - Law School

Date Written: October 2, 2020

Abstract

Managing the wildland-urban interface (WUI) is a widely-recognized land use problem plagued by a fractured geography of land parcels, management jurisdictions, and governance mandates and objectives. People who work in this field have suggested a variety of approaches to managing this interface, from informal governance to contracting to insurance. To date, however, none of these scholars have fully embraced the dynamism, uncertainty, and complexity of the WUI — that is, its status as a complex adaptive system. In focusing almost exclusively on the management of this interface to control wildfire, this scholarship largely ignores the factor that rampant wildfire is itself the product of incursions into important ecosystem services on both sides of the interface. In many cases, people tend to expand out towards the wildland not just for economics (cheaper housing) but also because of a suite of ecosystem services that are readily accessible at the interface, including aesthetics, a cleaner environment, and recreational opportunities. As the wildfire problem amply demonstrates, these settlers then become upset when other aspects of ecosystem function invade their lives, but those invasions include not just wildfire disasters but also more pernicious problems such as diseases, allergens, and wildlife. As such, development at the WUI can create a multifaceted desire to control several "undesirable" aspects of ecosystem function while simultaneously promoting the ecosystem services that residents desire, complicating land use management on both sides of a line that is itself often moving or transforming into a transition or buffer zone. To focus solely on wildfire, in other words, may oversimplify an increasingly complex management problem with significant policy implications.

While we cannot and will not attempt to resolve all of these policy issues in this article, we do propose that adaptive management may provide a mechanism for dealing with the complexity of managing changing ecosystem functions and services at the WUI, even when — and perhaps especially because — the private lands and wildlands are usually subject to different land use regimes. We begin with an overview of adaptive management, then discuss the hard but common case of fractured landscape management. We then explore the potential for adaptive management to help negotiate this fractured landscape in a changing world, starting with the classic issue of wildfire management but also suggesting possible expansions.

Keywords: adaptive management, ecosystem services, WUI, wildland, wildfire, climate change

Suggested Citation

Craig, Robin Kundis and Ruhl, J. B., Adaptive Management for Ecosystem Services at the Wildland-Urban Interface (October 2, 2020). International Journal of the Commons, 14(1), pp. 611–626., University of Utah College of Law Research Paper No. 322, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3407579 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3407579

Robin Kundis Craig (Contact Author)

USC Gould School of Law ( email )

699 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

J. B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt University - Law School ( email )

131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-1181
United States

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