Translating flexibility into feasibility: the struggle to implement policy to solve the wicked problem of wildfire

Franz, Scott Thomas (2023) Translating flexibility into feasibility: the struggle to implement policy to solve the wicked problem of wildfire. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Current wildfire policy allows for managing wildfires for multiple objectives, granting decision-makers the flexibility to balance the threat that wildfire poses with the benefits it can bring to ecosystems that expect it. Given this flexibility, how individual decision-makers interpret policy for their locale likely plays a significant role in realizing the vision set forth by federal and interagency guidance. This research aims to understand how fire professionals translate the vision, goals and objectives in policy into management planning and implementation for fires managed for objectives other than full suppression (OTFS). We first conducted a policy analysis to understand the history and current state of policy and what successes and shortcomings have been identified in existing literature. We then conducted a thematic analysis of 26 semi-structured interviews with employees in the Southwest U.S. that had experience as management officers, incident commanders, or agency administrators to better understand the complex environments they must navigate. Our findings indicate that while participants embraced flexibility in policy governing OTFS wildfire, translating flexibility into feasibility depends on a number of factors, including dynamic social, political, and ecological landscape conditions; organizational capacity and alignment to take appropriate risks; and the funding, performance metrics, and monitoring and reporting mechanisms that incentivize managing wildfire OTFS. Results show that the Southwest can serve as a model for other areas in how to drive the organizational change necessary to confront the wildfire crisis.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	implementation; policy; Wildfire; Wildfire management; Forest management;Fire supression
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SD Forestry
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences > School of Forestry
Date Deposited:	09 Jul 2026 22:18
Last Modified:	09 Jul 2026 22:18
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6291

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