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Includes bibliographical references. ; Climate change is intensifying wildland fire activity in Alaska, and public lands managers face an increasing demand for fire suppression within a complex mosaic of land jurisdictions, policies, and social and political pressures. We studied how fire management agencies will respond to climatic uncertainty. In interviews with fire managers, we investigated future management options and pathways to needed adaptations in governance. We applied theories of adaptive governance and policy implementation to inform our analysis, both to shed light on current needs in Alaska fire management and to contribute to the broader literature on governance response to climate change.

AbstractIncreasingly severe wildfires have focused attention on forested watershed vulnerabilities, causing significant changes to policies and governance. We utilized the Multiple Streams Approach (MSA) to understand institutional innovations of federal agency–large water provider partnerships in Colorado to protect watersheds through joint planning and funding. Ambiguous problem definition and focusing events were significant aspects of these partnerships. We interviewed individuals in the partnerships, with MSA ideas of how solutions to policy problems develop, and the role of policy entrepreneurs. We found that wildfires served as focusing events, creating space and time for learning, collaboration and new problem framing, increased political attention, and institutional innovation. In this study, windows of opportunity stayed open longer, policy entrepreneurs and agencies played larger roles in communication and coupling streams and the context of fast‐moving, unpredictable ecological crises changed responses to issues. Our findings also have implications for broader policy studies and environmental governance scholarship.

16 pages ; The forest plan revision process presents an opportunity for managers to reorient a national forest's management direction in pursuit of resilient landscapes, among other goals. It also represents an opportunity for public engagement and the identification of new roles and responsibilities for governmental and non-governmental entities. Through a Joint Fire Science Program-funded project, we compared three recently completed national forest plan revision processes to determine whether and how planners were able to plan for resilient landscape outcomes. Our work helps illustrate the ways that front-line forest planners attempt to promote landscape resilience while reconciling potentially conflicting pressures and management directions. The lessons from our comparative analysis are relevant for forest managers and key stakeholders attempting to plan in pursuit of more resilient landscapes. ; This project was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (grant #16-3-01-10).