The overarching goal of this project is to advance knowledge on the expectations of shared responsibility for wildfire security in Whistler. This study aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to manage wildfire risk in Whistler through the advancement of knowledge on public and institutional expectations around wildfire security.

Effective and equitable wildfire protection depends on mutually explicit expectations around the balance of rights and obligations for wildfire protection among the public, the state and all wildfire management stakeholders. Yet, academic studies and post-disaster inquiries consistently point to a disjuncture between what the public expects when it comes to wildfire security and the expectations of various wildfire management institutions. This disjuncture has not been well understood theoretically and empirically. Importantly, this disjuncture continues to hinder more effective and equitable wildfire security. This study responds to this gap in our understanding of whether, how and when expectations of the the public align (or not) with those of other wildfire management stakeholders.

Filling this gap in knowledge is particularly important in the case of Whistler, where 13000 residents, tens of thousands of non-resident workers, and 2.5 million annual tourists all contribute to its multibillion-dollar winter and summer tourist economies that depend on surrounding forest landscapes. Whistler is projected to warm by an annual average temperature of about 3°C by the 2050s compared to the recent past. This is expected to bring longer, hotter and drier summers. The risk of wildfires in Whistler continue to increase. The resort municipality of Whistler and the wider district have been taking steps to understand and manage wildfire risks in Whistler. This project will make important contributions to these ongoing efforts.

The project will employ data from a mix of quantitative and qualitative sources, including a survey of the Whistler public, semi-structured interviews with institutional actors and members of the public, archival research into the long history of wildfire management in Whistler and its environs, and documentary analysis of wildfire policies, laws and reports.

This research will produce benefits across academic, public and policy domains. It will address a major concern in academic literature and public policy on the disjuncture in expectations of shared responsibility for wildfire security. This research will help improve wildfire security in Whistler by providing the basis for better clarification of expectations and by improving mutual understanding of wildfire protection concerns among the public and other wildfire stakeholders. By making expectations of wildfire security more explicit, this project will potentially provide opportunities for effective public engagement by revealing gaps in various stakeholders’ expectations of wildfire security. These gaps can be targeted with appropriate policy responses.