Achieving Adaptive Governance of Forest Wildfire Risk Using Competitive Grants: Insights From the Colorado Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant Program

Competitive grants are increasingly used to induce proactive collaborative action by a range of actors to reduce forest wildfire risks. Given the rigidity of past wildfire risk governance, it is important to assess the adaptability of competitive grants as a new governance approach. Adaptive governance theory is used as a lens to assess the adaptability of the Colorado Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant (WRRG) program, which awards funds to successful applicants to reduce fuel on non‐federal lands at a community scale. Four best practices from the theory were applied: participation of and collaboration among diverse actors; co‐production of knowledge and learning toward adaptive management; cross‐scale interactions and fit between the scale of governance and the scale of the ecological problem; and the capacity for innovation and re‐organization. Using data and information about the WRRG structure and processes, awarded grantees from the first five granting cycles from 2013 to 2016, our direct participation‐observation as part of the Advisory Committee, and results from the WRRG effectiveness monitoring report, we examine the extent to which the WRRG program exhibited adaptive governance attributes. For each adaptive governance attribute, we found evidence of factors facilitating and frustrating adaptiveness of the WRRG program. We situate our findings within the broader context of using competitive grants as a forest wildfire risk governance approach and address additional directions for adaptive governance research. 竞争性基金越来越多的被用作一种手段来促进参与者之间的合作以达到降低森林火灾风险的目的。相比过去林火风险管理中的僵化，作为一种新的治理方法，竞争性基金可能具有更强的适应性。我们运用适应性治理理论来评估科罗拉多林火风险补助金（WRRG）的适应性。该计划向成功的申请者提供资金以促进社区内非联邦土地森林可燃物的清理。该理论的四种最佳实践模式包括：不同参与者的协作；基于适应性理论的共同学习和探索；治理范围与生态规模之间的契合和跨范围合作；创新和重组。作为咨询委员会一部分，我们收集利用了WRRG的结构和流程的相关数据进行研究。从2013年至2016年，我们直接参与调查了前五个授予周期内的被资助者。根据WRRG有效性监测报告，我们研究WRRG程序显示的这些被资助人自我适应和自我管理的属性和程度。对于每个属性，我们揭示了它们有利于和不利于WRRG计划适应性的证据。最后，我们将使用竞争性基金促进林火风险治理的方法放在更广泛的背景下进行评价并提出有关适应性治理的其他研究方向。 Las subvenciones competitivas se utilizan cada vez más para inducir una acción de colaboración proactiva por parte de una variedad de actores para reducir los riesgos de incendios forestales. Dada la rigidez de la anterior gobernanza del riesgo de incendios forestales, es importante evaluar la adaptabilidad de las subvenciones competitivas como un nuevo enfoque de gobernanza. La teoría de gobernanza adaptativa se utiliza como una lente para evaluar la adaptabilidad del programa de Subsidio para la reducción del riesgo de