Abstract: Infrastructural expansion, driven by human population growth, into the fire-prone Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) extends across the urban-rural continuum. Accelerated infrastructural development in the WUI alters fire processes, both by altering vegetation - which can be fuel for fire - and by introducing more ignitions. Across the United States, WUI expansion is concurrent with shifting fire regimes. Such changing fire processes are highly problematic in the WUI because they alter both the risk of, and human exposure to, fire hazards. Adapting to changing fire activity and reducing human exposure to fire hazards in the WUI requires a more comprehensive understanding of the spatial-temporal dynamics between built infrastructure and fire processes. Addressing these issues requires built infrastructural development data that are well-mapped, with a high spatial resolution and an annual temporal resolution such that change can be tracked over time. However, existing data are not sufficiently resolved and omit critical information to capture trends accurately. The lack of data inhibits our ability to develop targeted and effective tools and limits decision making and management strategies regarding human exposure, mitigation and adaptation to wildfire in the WUI. Using the sagebrush-steppe ecosystems of the Snake River Plain as a case study, our project explores how finely resolved contemporary patterns of infrastructural development in the WUI influence human exposure to wildfire. We will (1) apply detection algorithms to publicly-available multispectral high-resolution remotely sensed data, (2) generate mapped products of annual built infrastructure (3) create a time-series of change that elucidates contemporary patterns of infrastructural development in the WUI and consider the implications for human exposure to wildfire.. Our final data products will map landscape-scale human infrastructural development at an annual temporal resolution spanning the last few decades. These products will advance our understanding of the social-ecological dynamics of wildfire hazards in sagebrush systems, Furthermore, the better resolved WUI layers will fulfill the need for comprehensive, mapped data on human infrastructure to meet the challenges of WUI expansion in the context of fire activity and environmental change. Our work to address this gap is a necessary contribution towards broader efforts to foster resilience for both local communities and ecosystems, and improved equity in response to fire hazards, ultimately building sustainable capacity across the Intermountain West and the US more broadly.
