What is an index?
An index is a composite measure of many individual indicators. Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and many investment portfolios (e.g., the Dow Jones) are common examples in finance. A good example of an environmental index is the Ocean Health Index (OHI). WWRI is an index that will combine environmental and social indicators to express how resilient a place may be should a wildfire occur. Every index is an approximation of current conditions. No index is perfect, yet WWRI will include the best available open source data to give the most comprehensive view of wildfire resilience in the region.
What does resilience mean?
There are many definitions of resilience in both common language and science disciplines. We define resilience as the capacity of a system to resist and/or recover from a disturbance; in this case, wildfire. Resistance to wildfire can include natural or human-made conditions that will reduce the effects of fire, such as defensible space around buildings or adequately-thinned forests. Recovery from wildfire means that the system will resume similar functions to that of before the fire.
Why does WWRI only address the West?
Wildfire is a natural phenomenon across many terrestrial landscapes, especially in the West. Yet severe wildfires are becoming more widespread and frequent, due to a century of wildfire suppression and climatic changes. At the same time, communities in Western US States are rapidly expanding into undeveloped areas. The space where scattered neighborhoods and wildlands meet is commonly known as the wildland-urban interface (aka, WUI, pronounced “WOO-ee”). As severe wildfires sweep through fire-hungry landscapes and more people seek homes with mountain views, communities must learn to coexist with wildfire. The Moore Foundation’s Wildfire Resilience Initiative, which funds WWRI and other projects across the Western US, aims to advance a future in which all fire on the landscape is beneficial and communities are able to strategically plan for and recover from wildfires.
What are the long term goals of this project?
WWRI establishes a common framework for understanding and measuring wildfire resilience. This framework can support interagency and cross-boundary collaboration on wildfire-relevant projects and policies. A common framework will also allow users to compare areas within the WWRI study area according to the domains. WWRI scores will be updated annually; in the long term, this will generate a wealth of knowledge that could be used to evaluate the efficacy of different treatments and policies as fire returns to the West.
Where does the data for WWRI come from?
WWRI only uses open access data sources. That means all of the data is freely accessible to anyone. The official WWRI interface, which we plan to launch in 2025, will include documentation of our methods.
How often will WWRI be updated?
WWRI will be updated annually.
An index is a composite measure of many individual indicators. Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and many investment portfolios (e.g., the Dow Jones) are common examples in finance. A good example of an environmental index is the Ocean Health Index (OHI). WWRI is an index that will combine environmental and social indicators to express how resilient a place may be should a wildfire occur. Every index is an approximation of current conditions. No index is perfect, yet WWRI will include the best available open source data to give the most comprehensive view of wildfire resilience in the region.
What does resilience mean?
There are many definitions of resilience in both common language and science disciplines. We define resilience as the capacity of a system to resist and/or recover from a disturbance; in this case, wildfire. Resistance to wildfire can include natural or human-made conditions that will reduce the effects of fire, such as defensible space around buildings or adequately-thinned forests. Recovery from wildfire means that the system will resume similar functions to that of before the fire.
Why does WWRI only address the West?
Wildfire is a natural phenomenon across many terrestrial landscapes, especially in the West. Yet severe wildfires are becoming more widespread and frequent, due to a century of wildfire suppression and climatic changes. At the same time, communities in Western US States are rapidly expanding into undeveloped areas. The space where scattered neighborhoods and wildlands meet is commonly known as the wildland-urban interface (aka, WUI, pronounced “WOO-ee”). As severe wildfires sweep through fire-hungry landscapes and more people seek homes with mountain views, communities must learn to coexist with wildfire. The Moore Foundation’s Wildfire Resilience Initiative, which funds WWRI and other projects across the Western US, aims to advance a future in which all fire on the landscape is beneficial and communities are able to strategically plan for and recover from wildfires.
What are the long term goals of this project?
WWRI establishes a common framework for understanding and measuring wildfire resilience. This framework can support interagency and cross-boundary collaboration on wildfire-relevant projects and policies. A common framework will also allow users to compare areas within the WWRI study area according to the domains. WWRI scores will be updated annually; in the long term, this will generate a wealth of knowledge that could be used to evaluate the efficacy of different treatments and policies as fire returns to the West.
Where does the data for WWRI come from?
WWRI only uses open access data sources. That means all of the data is freely accessible to anyone. The official WWRI interface, which we plan to launch in 2025, will include documentation of our methods.
How often will WWRI be updated?
WWRI will be updated annually.
