Utilities' efforts to mitigate wildfire risk and partnerships needed to ensure success

This is the final seminar in the winter 2023 Wildland Fire Seminar Series, co-sponsored by the Bill Lane Center for the American West,  Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford Sustainability Data Science, and Woods Institute for the Environment. In the series, we will hear from a spectrum of researchers, decision makers, and industry experts on some important issues and challenges related to wildland fires.  

In recent years, wildfire has gone from an infrequent and distant news item to a centerstage issue spanning many consecutive weeks for urban and suburban communities.  Frequent wildfires are changing everyday lives for California in numerous ways -- from public safety power shutoffs to hazardous air quality -- that seemed inconceivable as recently as 2015. Moreover, elevated wildfire risk in the western United States (and similar climates globally) is here to stay into the foreseeable future.

In this seminar, Bill Messner speaks on Utilities' efforts to mitigate wildfire risk and partnerships needed to ensure success. California’s wildfire experiences over the past decade and beyond have been center stage for its captive audience of neighboring states who have watched with deepening concern and empathy. This has profoundly impacted their education and approach to their plans and actions. Bill Messner is the Director of Wildfire Mitigation & Resiliency for Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest energy provider serving nearly half of the state’s population and 75 percent of its commercial and industrial activity.  Bill will provide insight into Oregon’s wildfire mitigation journey and Portland General Electric’s ongoing efforts to mitigate wildfire risk.

These seminars are  intended as a springboard for students interested in participating in Spring Quarter's Big Earth Hackathon: Wildland Fire Challenge.  Attendees can expect to hear about some of the most pressing wildfire related problems requiring innovative solutions.

WILDLAND FIRE SEMINAR SERIES
Winter Quarter 2022-23
Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. - Seminars via Zoom 

• January 18: What the Clean Air Act needs to get right about wildfire
  Michael Wara, Climate and Energy Policy Program, Stanford Woods Institute
• January 25: Altering the course of wildland fire through analytics and shared stewardship
  Jason Kuiken, US Forest Service
• February 1: Can we really address the wildfire problem?
  Bob Roper, Chair of the CA Fire Safe Council and Policy Advisor to the Western Fire Chief's Association
• February 8: Is climate change redefining your health?
  Mary Prunicki, Sean Parker Center for Asthma and Allergy Research
• February 15: Wildfire influence on recent US pollution trends
  Marshall Burke, Environmental Change and Human Outcome Lab
• February 22: NFTs to fund fire prevention, forest stewardship and land back
  Eric Bear and Thule Horton, 2023 Wildland Fire Challenge winners
• March 8: Indigenous led fire management
  Amy Cardinal Christianson, Canadian Forest Service / Parks Canada Agency
• March 15: Utilities' efforts to mitigate wildfire risk and partnerships needed to ensure success
  Bob Messner, Wildfire Mitigation and Resiliency, Portland General Electric