Projects
Ultimately, building wildfire resilience in Santa Barbara County requires implementing the high priority projects gathered here. Each project was identified through community outreach then described, categorized by impact area and prioritized based on input from a number of key community wildfire experts. Priority projects can be viewed in multiple ways (see below):
Each project is also categorized by the kind of impact it offers across all the impact areas shown and described below. You can click on any given impact area link below or go to the “Projects by Impact Areas” page in the drop down menu of the navigation bar to see all projects related to each impact area. You can also view all the projects and their impact and additional data about its readiness in the opportunity matrix available via the “Matrix” tab in the navigation menu. We also share a deeper dive into a subset of projects where the RPP team or another community partner has undertaken further project planning, convened core partners, or written a grant to move the project towards implementation. You can find those under the “Featured Projects” listing in the Projects drop down menu in the navigation bar above. We welcome your feedback and suggestions and always want to learn about new projects and your priorities for building community wildfire resilience. Reach out to us via info@sbcwildfireresilience.org anytime.
Impact Areas
To learn more about our 10 impact areas and what they entail, click on read more.
Equity - Centering equity and under-resourced communities is critical to resilience. Community resilience requires protecting our most vulnerable from the severe impacts of the climate crisis
Neighborhood Organizing - The roundtables and RPP outreach made it clear that fire resilience requires organized neighborhoods working together for preparation and prevention.
Restoration - Intact ecological communities are critical for wildfire resilience, and an array of restoration projects offer high impact opportunities to mitigate fire risk including removal of non-native and invasive vegetation and the reintroduction of herbivory and fire where needed.
Capacity Building - The projects identified below will require us to build new capacity to collaborate, secure funding, facilitate partnerships and build networks.
Education & Engagement - Education will be critical to building wildfire literacy, informing decision making, and advancing preparation and prevention initiatives.
Vegetation Management - Ecologically-informed vegetation management is needed to mitigate fire risk including prescribed herbivory, prescribed fire, roadside mowing and chipping programs
Planning & Policy - Wildfire resilience will require integration of ecologically-informed policy and investment in all of our public agencies and planning processes.
Insurance - Innovative solutions to the looming insurance crisis must be addressed where insurance, key to community resilience, may soon be impossible to acquire for many homeowners in the wildland urban interface area or WUI.
Buffers & Land Protection - We have opportunities to protect key agricultural and open space to prevent further development and ensure orchards and parks buffer communities from wildfire.
Research & Analysis - Projects that address a needed research topic to further guide and inform scientific knowledge were noted in this column.
Impact Potential and Project Priority
The RPP team identified each project’s impact potential and overall priority based The RPP team identified each projects impact potential and overall priority based on perspectives gathered through the community engagement process and additional research and analysis as needed. We assessed project priority based on the relative impact of the project compared to other projects identified in terms of the breadth, depth and geographic impact of the project.
Projects with potential for high impact on vulnerable communities received additional weight in the prioritization process. We ran these priorities by a core group of highly informed stakeholders for further refinement, and the team reconsidered prioritizations where more than one reviewer indicated that a revision was warranted. We only included projects that were deemed “medium”, “high” or “very high” priority in the RPP Opportunity Matrix and website. Projects that did not rise to that level may be reconsidered for inclusion at any time.The team recognizes that opinions may differ about these priorities and impact categories, and we welcome your input via email at info@sbcwildfireresilience.org.
