Paradoxically, vegetation is both an asset and a liability to residents living in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The same vegetation that provides both tangible and intangible benefits to society is regularly prone to burn with great intensity and destruction. Therefore, great emphasis is regularly given to vegetation clearance to reduce wildfire risk. However, while fuel reduction treatments may moderate fire risk to residents living in the wildland-urban interface, they will simultaneously impact societal benefits such as air pollution removal and home energy savings that vegetation provides.

To investigate this seeming quandary, the proposed research will quantify potential fire behavior (fireline intensity, rate of spread, etc.) versus multiple societal benefits (air pollution removal, energy, savings, carbon sequestration, etc.) that vegetation provides in treated and untreated brush- and forest-dominated wildland-urban interface communities. The UFORE (Urban Forest Effects) model will be used to assess societal benefits while various fire behavior prediction systems, including FARSITE, Nexus, and the Fire & Fuels Extensions of the Forest Vegetation Simulator will be utilized to assess potential fire behavior across a given landscape for multiple combinations of vegetative composition and structure, weather, and topography. The results of this research will aid land managers and community planners in developing the best strategy for managing vegetation in Californiaís wildland-urban interface.