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City of Waldo Wildfire Reccomendations In the Fall and Spring of 2000-01 the Clinic began working with the town of Waldo in Alachua County, Florida to provide a policy analysis and recommendations to address the impact of wildfire on the Town. Waldo is a small rural community surrounded by private industrial forest lands largely devoted to pulpwood production. The 1998 “Waldo fire” destroyed more than 7000 acres and resulted in emergency response and health costs born by the Town. The Clinic hosted a workshop in March of 2001 attended by more than 40 representatives of industry, state and local government and environmental groups to discuss approaches to wildfire mitigation. The Clinic concluded that current private forest land management practices exacerbate wildfire intensity and contribute to the social and environmental costs of wildfire. These practices are not conducive to the most effective and environmentally sustainable form of wildfire mitigation - prescribed burning. The Clinic also concluded that Florida law currently limits Waldo's legal options to require prescribed burning and that current incentives for prescribed burning are inadequate. The Clinic recommended that Waldo work with County government through its Comprehensive Plan to control sprawl and with private forest land owners to develop incentives for more sustainable forest management. Resources: |
