Issue 7

What is the Wildland-Urban Interface?

From a spatial or geographical perspective, many different types of wildland-urban interface (WUI) have been defined. One type is the classic interface, where urban sprawl presses up against public and private natural areas, bringing to mind a distinct line between urban and rural areas. The intermix refers to areas undergoing a transition from agricultural and forest uses to urban land uses. The isolated interface is made up of structures interspersed in remote areas, such as summer and recreation homes, ranches, and farms that are surrounded by large areas of vegetation. And there are interface islands within predominantly urban areas, islands of undeveloped land that are left as cities grow together and create remnant forests.

Wildland fire attracts the public’s attention, perhaps more than any other WUI issue, and images of communities in flames on the outskirts of cities are often used to depict the interface. On an individual homeowner scale, the WUI can be thought of as an area where human-made infrastructure is in or adjacent to areas prone to wildfire. On a community scale, the interface can be thought of as an area where conditions can make a community vulnerable to a wildland fire disaster.

From a sociopolitical perspective, the interface can be thought of as a place of interaction between different political forces and potentially competing interests. It is particularly in the interface—where people are in closer than usual contact with natural resource management—that public attitudes, values, and perceptions affect the way that those resources can be managed and conserved. This perspective also includes the way the diverse cultural, ethnic, and age groups that comprise the South’s population—and their often very different values and attitudes regarding forests and other natural areas—affect how resources can be managed and used in the interface.

Back to: Seeing the Houses through the Trees:The Wildland-Urban Interface in the South