Protecting Natural and Cultural Resources during a wildfire:
When a disaster strikes, people pitch in to help the response effort. One of the key positions in this effort is the Resource Advisor (READ). They provide professional knowledge and expertise for the protection of natural, cultural, and special management areas.
Incidents and incident responses can impact natural, cultural, wilderness and other resources. READs work on a range of incidents, from small local responses to large disasters managed by Incident Management Teams (IMT). Regardless of the incident scale, READs develop practical strategies and tactics that meet agency administrator and incident objectives and to avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts during and after these events. In short, the READ advocates for the resources.
Response to incidents include all types of incidents such as fires, search and rescue, law enforcement, natural disasters, etc. Although the basic tenets or functions of Resource Advising should be the same regardless of the nature of the incident, the roles and responsibilities of a READ are broad ranging and diverse – as are the incidents to which the READ may be called upon to respond. Even within an incident, the role of a READ may change as the response efforts change over time. The READ may perform the same duties during an incident that they perform in their regular job or they may be expected to assume the role of a generalist. Also, the READ may be called upon to provide input on resources outside of their area of expertise, so they need to know how to seek information or advice.
The READ is responsible for identifying and evaluating potential effects resulting from the incident or incident response on natural, cultural, wilderness, and other resources, as well as possibly evaluating social and political considerations. READS use knowledge in their primary function to ensure that incident management teams have informed recommendations from resource professionals.
READs need to be conversant in the protection of Trust Resources including cultural and natural resources. Responsibilities for protection of these resources will be significantly influenced by who is responding and their legal mandates, policies, and guidance. Finally, it is critical that READs be trained in incident response in order to operate effectively within the incident management structure.
The Resource Advisor may use local understanding and familiarity to integrate issues and concerns into management strategy and tactics. This understanding can assist the Incident Management Team (IMT) in developing mitigated actions which can satisfy the mutual objectives of incident management and resource protection. However, there are times when the responsibility for protecting people will outweigh resource concerns. In either situation, the READ plays a crucial role of “advisor” by becoming familiar with local resources as well as the safety, social, political, environmental, or cultural context in order to prioritize, communicate, and document impacts.
Trust Resources Defined: Use of the term “trust resource” has evolved into a shorthand reference for a broad suite of natural and cultural resources where protection falls to a Federal, State, or Tribal Trustee. No one individual “owns” these resources; rather, they are “held in trust for the public” or for tribal nations.
Natural Resources Defined: Natural resources are physical and biological resources including wildlife, botanical, hydrological, or geological. They may be grouped into ecosystems.
Cultural Resources Defined: Cultural resources can be defined as physical evidence or place of past human activity: site, object, landscape, structure; or a site, structure, landscape, object or natural feature of significance to a group of people traditionally associated with it. They can be archeological sites, historic structures, cultural landscapes, ethnographic resources and museum objects.
Special Management Areas: Special management areas include: Designated Wilderness, Recommended Wilderness and other classifications of Wilderness, National Monuments, National Conservation Areas, National Historic Landmarks, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, Research Natural Areas, and Wild and Scenic Rivers.
3.3.21, 14:15-15:45
https://muchanut.haifa.ac.il/index.php/he/31-center-events/188-2021-02-23-19-12-21
להקלטת הארוע: https://youtu.be/zVr7RBcDzcM