Plumas County in northern California has discovered that enlarging the areas on maps designating Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas around communities brings additional grant funds to the area. They have calculated that each additional acre added to their map generates $1,000 in economic activity.
Previously they simply drew circles around each community, with a 1.5 mile buffer used as the WUI. Their new strategy is to draw the lines around communities taking into account “terrain, the vegetation in some cases, roads, ridges, valleys, things that really effect how fire burns into a community and away from a community.”
More information is at the Plumas News.
