Wildland/Urban Interface Outreach and Education

Wildland/Urban Interface Outreach and Education
The Challenge
In recent years, as more and more people have bought houses in the forest, a zone has been created where homes intermingle with wildland fuels. This zone is called the Wildland/Urban Interface and is beginning to be recognized as an area where homes and lives are at high risk from the dangers associated with wildfires. Likewise, since humans cause 99 percent of the fires in Maryland, the Wildland/Urban Interface is an area where the risk of wildland fire ignitions is increased. While fire can play an important role in forest ecosystems, it can also cause incredible damage if it becomes too intense: killing trees and wildlife, increasing the forests’ susceptibility to soil erosion, and causing great destruction to homes and lives in the Wildland/Urban Interface.	A Wildland/Urban Interface Home
The PWP Solution
For this reason, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources - Forest Service, as part of the Potomac Watershed Partnership, has targeted the Wildland/Urban Interface as an area where efforts are needed to promote fire awareness and prevention through community outreach and education. These efforts include instructing home homeowners how to make their home more resistant to fire by creating defensible space, maintaining a debris-free yard, and using flame-resistant building materials. Other outreach efforts focus on preventing wildfire by educating people on how to properly burn debris, dispose of wood stove ashes, and be cognizant of all heat, flame, and fuel sources.
Looking Ahead
The expansion of the Wildland/Urban Interface is inevitable, but we can take an active role in reducing the threat of wildfire, while at the same time protecting the environment and allowing people to have their dream home in the woods.	The effects of an intense wildland fire can still be seen one year later in the area to the left.