SS012
Interviews with members of the HJA Community during the Lookout Fire, HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, 2023

CREATOR(S): Claire Rapp, Michael P. Nelson

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S): Michael P. Nelson

ORIGINATOR(S): Claire Rapp

METADATA CREATION DATE:

13 Sep 2024

MOST RECENT METADATA REVIEW DATE:

9 Oct 2024

KEYWORDS:

H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest (AND), human dimensions, attitudes and perceptions, history, wildfires, humans

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this study was to assess how members of the HJA community perceived and processed the Lookout Fire while it was still unfolding. The study examines cognitions in response to the fire, as well as several social and philosophical factors (e.g., connection to the community, beliefs about naturalness respectively) that may affect cognitions about the Lookout Fire.

METHODS:

Experimental Design - SS012:

Description: A lightning strike ignited wildfire started on Lookout Mountain in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest on August 5, 2023. The wildfire grew rapidly and required immediate evacuation of the area including all researchers and staff working on the forest in the middle of a busy field work season. To assess how members of the HJA community perceived and processed the 2023 Lookout Fire, interviews were conducted while the fire was still unfolding. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a non-random sample of the HJA community, recruited through interviewer networks and snowball sampling. Interviews were conducted until saturation, i.e., until no new information was being revealed. Consequently, the frequency with which topics were mentioned in the interviews should not be considered statistically representative of the HJA community at large, or another population. To protect respondent confidentiality and anonymity, full interview transcripts are not available. Instead, a summary of key interview results is provided. The interview protocol and codebook are provided verbatim as used in data collection and analysis and are available for longitudinal data collection (i.e., future researchers conducting new interviews) while the Summary of Results provides a basis of comparison for future work.

Field Methods - SS012:

Description: Members of the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest (HJA) community (e.g., university faculty and administrative professionals, agency scientists and personnel, students, alumni and emeritus from the aforementioned communities) were interviewed between September 26th and November 8th 2023. A total of 40 respondents were interviewed. The research team used a pre-established interview protocol but the conversation was allowed to proceed organically and not constrained to the interview questions verbatim. Respondents first introduced themselves and reviewed their affiliation and work with the H. J. Andrews. They described how, if at all, their work was impacted by the Lookout Fire. Next, respondents described their emotional reaction to the fire, including whether or not they experienced grief. Then, respondents described how connected they felt to the HJA community as a whole and what impact the community has had on their experience with the fire, if any. Then respondents were asked a series of questions about how the Lookout Fire may or may not have impacted their beliefs about science and the environment. First, respondents described what they believe constituted meaningful science and research, and whether the Lookout Fire affected their beliefs, including how they believed the Lookout Fire would change science and research at the HJA. Then they were asked their perceptions about naturalness and wildfire, including what makes fires natural or unnatural, whether the Lookout Fire was a natural or unnatural fire, and how the un/naturalness of the Lookout Fire impacted their perceptions of it. Afterwards, respondents were asked about climate anxiety, their experience with it, and whether the Lookout Fire caused or exacerbated any feelings of climate change. Finally, respondents answered demographics questions.

Processing Procedures - SS012:

Description: Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed in MaxQDA. A codebook for analysis was developed iteratively: first, preliminary codes were developed deductively based on the guiding research questions in the interview protocol and inductively based on key themes emerging through the transcripts. The codebook was iteratively refined through an intercoder reliability check. Once sufficient intercoder reliability and agreement was achieved, the codebook was considered finalized. One researcher used the finalized codebook to code the interviews. A summary of results for each major section of the interview protocol was created based on analysis of coded interviews.

Data Entry - SS012:

Description: Interviews were recorded electronically and transcribed verbatim. Verbatim interviews were analyzed and summarized to create the summary of results.

TAXONOMIC SYSTEM:

None

GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT:

Interviewees were primarily working or residing in Oregon, Washington, and California at time of interviews.

ELEVATION_MINIMUM (meters):

412

ELEVATION_MAXIMUM (meters):

1631

MEASUREMENT FREQUENCY:

one time

PROGRESS DESCRIPTION:

Complete

UPDATE FREQUENCY DESCRIPTION:

notPlanned

CURRENTNESS REFERENCE:

Observed