Dear Friends,
Tens of millions of Californians live in communities at risk to wildfire, an area called the wildland-urban interface. California is unique among the western states for challenges faced in addressing the wildland-urban interface, particularly in reducing fuels to help protect "at-risk" communities.

Why? Three critical factors - number of "at risk" communities, big populations, and huge financial property values - mixed in a seasonally explosive time period.

With hundreds of "at-risk" communities (over 1,260), a population greater than all other 11 western states combined (36 million), and property values exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars, reducing fuels near California communities becomes more expensive per acre than anywhere in the West. For BLM, these unique challenges must be addressed in fire management funding and national allocations.

Most wildland-urban interface areas accumulate hazardous levels of vegetation because of land management, urban development, and past fire suppression efforts. The biological hierarchy changes and the mix of humans, structures, and "wildland" vegetation change how fire functions in these ecosystems.

A combination of overgrown vegetation and tens of thousands of homes makes for a highly combustible environment and potentially catastrophic results from wildfires. For example, in 2003, catastrophe struck California when wildfires burned 739,000 acres, destroyed 3,600 homes, caused 24 deaths, injured 217, and cost an estimated $3 billion. In that year, of all homes lost nationally to wildfires, 88% occurred in California.

The BLM's fire force is committed to collaborative community-based efforts in fire prevention and rehabilitation. Since 2001, BLM has assisted over 400 communities at-risk to wildfire in 47 of the 58 counties across the state and helped treat 50,000 acres of hazardous fuels on private lands through National Fire Plan funding provided by Congress.

The BLM in California aggressively seeks fire management funds and budget allocations from all levels of government for support of our California communities and homeowners residing near or in the wildland-urban interface of seasonal wildfire.