Accountability in Collaborative Federal Programs—Multidimensional and Multilevel Performance Measures Needed: The Case of Wildland Fire Prevention

• DOI: 10.1177/02750740211050367
• Date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Charles R. Wise
• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Accountability in Collaborative Federal

Programs—Multidimensional and

Multilevel Performance Measures Needed:

The Case of Wildland Fire Prevention

Charles R. Wise

1

Abstract

Collaborative programs among Federal agencies, state and local agencies, and private sector organizations are often prescribed

to address difficult interdisciplinary and intersectoral problems. Accountability for these efforts is difficult to achieve and has

frequently proved elusive. This research explores the nature of the accountability dilemma in collaborative programs and ana-

lyzes and illustrates them in the context of wildland fire prevention in the United States. It suggests a multilevel–multimeasure-

ment approach is key to achieving a fuller picture of accountability in collaborative networks.

Keywords

Wildland Fire, Accountability, Collaboration

Introduction

In 2021, the Dixie Fire destroyed more than 60,000 acres in

California and constituted the second-largest fire in

California’s history and burned the town of Greenville. In

August 2021, 31,000 Californians across seven counties

were under evacuation orders and the Calder fire destroyed

most of the town of Grizzly Flats (Firozi et al., 2021). In

2020, California’s August Complex forest fire burned over

one million acres across seven counties—an area larger than

the State of Rhode Island. It cost US$10 billion in property

damage and over 2 billion in fire suppression expenses. That

was just one fire. California experienced 9,639 fires consum-

ing 4,397,809 acres of land or 4% of Califor nia’s land. Five

of the 10 largest wildfires by acreage in California’s history

occurred in 2020. Across the United States, 8.6 million acres

were burned in 2020. Although this is for just one year, the

10-year average for area burned rose by 150% from 1992 to

2019.

With climate change and prolonged drought in the west,

wildland fire problems in the United States will worsen dramat-

ically. The average acres burned annually and the federal appro-

priations for wildland fire management activities increased and

will continue to do so. Federal agencies such as the Forest

Service and the Department of Interior have increasingly

treated wildfire-prone Federal lands in an attempt to prevent cat-

astrophic fires. Nonetheless, these efforts have not significantly

decreased the amount of forest land destroyed as that has

increased. The Forest Service has observed about these

efforts, “Yet catastrophic wildfires and the corresponding loss

of lives, homes, and natural resources have continued to

grow, partly because our treatments have been uncoordinated

and not at the right scale”(U.S. Forest Service, 2018).

The property losses due to wildland fire have been increas-

ing. Wildfire insured losses in the 10 years between 2002 and

2011 totaled US$7.0 billion, which is a US$6.2 billion

increase over the previous decade (Haldane, 2013). These

losses are destined to grow due to more buildings near

forest lands. From 1990 to 2015, 32 million new homes

were built in the wildland–urban interface—a 145% increase

(Mietkiewicz et al., 2020).

Congress and the public have been increasingly frustrated

not only with the increasing damage to homes and natural

resources but also with their inability to ascertain account-

ability for wildland fire programs, and to discern if there is

a way forward to achieve results that would portend

problem solution or significant reduction. A significant

reason for this frustration is that wildland fire prevention

and suppression is the responsibility of Federal, state, and

local agencies, which also involves the private sector.

Congress has mandated that the Federal efforts be collabora-

tive, and as discussed below, a collaborative structure has

1

John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University, Oro Valley,

OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Charles R. Wise, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State

University, Columbusy, OH, USA.

Email: wise.983@osu.edu@gmail.com

Article

American Review of Public Administration

2022, Vol. 52(2) 95–108

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/02750740211050367

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