THE KATHY AND STEVE BERMAN
THE KATHY AND STEVE BERMAN
At the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
The Western Forest and Fire Initiative (WFFI) is an interdisciplinary group of researchers collaborating with practitioners to improve our understanding of human and ecological adaptation to wildfire hazards.
The goal of our research is to inform management interventions and policies that improve the suitability of human and ecological communities to the changing environment.
In partnership with the National Science Foundation, WFFI is leading a Fire Science Innovations through Research and Education (FIRE) project integrating natural science, engineering, social science, and practitioner expertise. This project will study wildfire patterns and community-centered mitigation strategies in western Oregon and Washington.
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Our research takes a systems-based approach to understanding identifying ways to support more resilient communities. We believe wildfires, extreme heat, and smoke events are shaped by the relationships between people, landscapes, climate, and the systems that govern how communities prepare and respond.
Our team believes that the purpose of academic research should be to advance the well-being of society, and that people who are grappling with how to manage wildfire risk in practice on a day-to-day basis hold critical knowledge about the nature of the problem and how it can and should be solved.
The Western Forest and Fire Initiative is generously funded by a donation from Steve and Kathy Berman, alongside support from National Science Foundation, US Forest Service, and NASA.