Poor Air Quality Isn’t The Only Way Wildfires Affect Cities
to California due to wildfire concerns, even to areas unaffected by wildfires. This led to $20 million dollars in lost revenue for the state’s tourist economy in one month alone. In California’s Napa and Sonoma Counties, reduced tourism also led to higher rates of unemployment, largely in the leisure and hospitality sectors.While city residents may be located hundreds of miles away from forest fires, they are not powerless to do something about them.
Cities can become anchor investors in restoration projects across state, federal and privately managed lands . For example, the Forest Resilience Bond, a financing model developed by Cities4Forests, Blue Forest Conservation and other partners, is already financing ecological restoration across 48,000 acres of the Tahoe National Forest to mitigate wildfire risk. This includes things like fuel reduction to prevent future fires, tree restoration in areas already affected, and removing invasive species in the area to promote forest health.
City agencies, such as water utilities, can dedicate resources and workforce capacity to support wildfire resilience and restoration . As recently observed post-wildfire in Marion County, Oregon, many work opportunities for restoration are seasonal, inconsistent, underpaid and require technical expertise. As a result, when a wildfire occurred, labor resources were directed to fire suppression and recovery efforts. This short-term and sporadic approach results in limited resources that get split between pre-fire resilience and post-fire recovery, preventing either from getting enough dedication to be effective.
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