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Landowner Response to State-Sponsored Wildland Fire Mitigation Policy and Programs in the Southern Black Belt
This study assessed African American and white private landowner awareness and responsiveness to state-level wildland fire mitigation policies and incentives in the Southern Black Belt region. The study also looked at the association between wildland fire risk for a given geography and social vulnerability for the same area.
The overriding aim of this Joint Fire Science Project was to examine the awareness and engagement by historically marginalized groups in the Black Belt South with state level wildland fire mitigation policies and programs. We extended the assingment to include an analysis of the link between biophysical and wildland fire risk and social vulnerability for the larger five-state region.
Some of the main findings were:
- African Americans were more aware than whites of state level programs, and there were no difference for information request or receipt.
- African American landowners were not found to be disadvantaged with respect to either information awareness or acquisitions.
- There is a significant spatial association between the wildland fire risk and social vulnerability at the state level.
- African Americans are more aware than whites of mitigation information but are less likely to use it.
