Effectiveness of Video Education for Wildfire Mitigation in the Wildland Urban Interface of Colorado
Abstract
Wildfire mitigation in the Colorado wildland urban interface is more complex than traditional forest management. Mechanically treating small land parcels in the interface against wildfire encroachment as well as insect and disease infestation requires small, more maneuverable and cost-effective harvesting equipment. There is a need to inform landowners of this new equipment and educate them on the benefits of wildfire mitigation.
To meet this need this project organized an equipment demonstration of pertinent small-scale equipment solutions available to small acreage landowners along the Front Range of Colorado and converted the demonstration into a video format. Once the video was completed, an educational survey was conducted to evaluate the educational value of the video.
To evaluate the video seven focus groups were held with a total of 149 participants. The results of a pre and post video survey indicate that the video did increase the participants’ knowledge of wildfire mitigation significantly. The landowner participant’s felt that economic constraints limit tree thinning on private land. The results from this study indicate that future educational videos should focus on economically efficient methods to reduce wildfire hazard.
To be most effective, video education should be supplemented with written materials, which provide further information on the educational topic. With respect to this video, efforts could be made to incorporate this video into the Firewise educational materials which only focused on defensible space. This combination of information would provide a comprehensive educational packet aimed at providing cost effective solutions to mitigating the risk of wildfire in the wildland urban interface of Colorado and beyond.
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