Associate Professor - Human Geography
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Alberta

Research

Current Projects

First Nations Wildfire Evacuation Partnership

The First Nations Wildfire Evacuation Partnership (formerly Aboriginal Wildfire Evacuation Partnership) aims to understand how First Nations residents and communities are affected by wildfire evacuations. This research brings together researchers, First Nations communities in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan that were evacuated due to recent wildfires, and agencies responsible for conducting or providing support during the evacuations. Please see the First Nations Wildfire Evacuation Partnership website for more information.

Wildfire experiences: A case study in Northland, New Zealand

Tara McGee is working with Lisa Langer (Scion Research, New Zealand) to complete research to learn about how a community in Northland, New Zealand has been affected by a recent wildfire, and to explore residents' awareness of wildfire and how prepared they are for future wildfires.

Past Projects

Advancing knowledge about citizen agency trust in wildfire management

A team of researchers from the United States (B. Shindler, C. Olsen, S. McCaffrey), Canada (T. McGee, B. McFarlane, A. Christianson) and Australia (A. Curtis, E. Sharp) have completed a study to identify factors that foster trusting relationships between fire practitioners and stakeholders in fire affected communities and provide the results of this synthesis to practitioners. Trust: A planning guide for Wildfire Agencies & Practitioners (pdf) is available from the Joint Fire Science Program

Wildfire mitigation by homeowners

A major research topic for the research group focuses on wildfire mitigation by homeowners. Homeowners can implement a variety of measures in order to reduce the wildfire risk to their property. This area of research interest began with a study in Australia, and has continued at the University of Alberta with several studies based in Alberta and internationally. Our research group has examined wildfire mitigation and management preferences in six forested communities in Alberta; how directly experiencing wildfires in 2003 influenced residents' risk perceptions and mitigation actions post-fire; and wildfire risk perceptions, mitigation by homeowners and perceptions of fire management in National Parks.

Human Dimensions of Fire Management at the Wildland Urban Interface in Canada. Applicant: T. McGee; Co-applicant B. McFarlane, Canadian Forest Service. Funding provided by the NSERC Forest Research Partnership Program, with funds contributed by SSHRC, Canadian Forest Service, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, ATCO Electric, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, and Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

A social science analysis of wildfire risk reduction in Jasper National Park. Co-applicant T. McGee; Applicant B. McFarlane. Funding provided by Foothills Model Forest.

Public perceptions of fire management in Banff National Park of Canada. Co-applicant T. McGee; Applicant B. McFarlane. Funding provided by Parks Canada.

An exploration of wildfire risk reduction within communities affected by the Lost Creek fire in 2003. Applicant T. McGee. Funding provided by Foothills Model Forest

Reducing fire vulnerability in the wildland urban interface. Applicant: T. McGee. Funding provided by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.

Collaborative investigations of the human dimensions of wildfire management in Alberta. Applicant: T. McGee. Funding provided by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.

Wildfire mitigation by local governments

We are also interested in wildfire mitigation by governments. Local governments can also implement measures to mitigate wildfire risks. Our group has examined wildfire mitigation by local governments in Alberta. We are also involved in an international project that examines trust and public support of wildfire management by government agencies. We recently completed a survey of local governments in BC and Alberta to follow up on the previous study, and to identify cases where local governments are developing innovative wildfire mitigation approaches. These innovative approaches will be studied by Leanne Labossiere for her MA research.

Innovative wildfire mitigation by local governments in Western Canada. Applicant: T. McGee. Funding provided by University of Alberta Killam Research Fund Small Research Operating Grant.

Public responses to hazard warnings

The research group is also interested in how people respond to warnings. This research topic includes a study of how undergraduate students may respond to an emergency alert issued by the University of Alberta. A second topic is evacuation during wildfires.

Emergency alerting at Canadian post-secondary institutions. Co-applicant. Applicant G. Gow, University of Alberta. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Research in hazard affected areas

We conduct research in areas that have experienced recent hazard events. For her PhD, Tara McGee examined individual and community responses to chronic environmental lead contamination in Broken Hill, Australia. One year after the 2003 wildfires in Western Canada, we investigated this direct experience with wildfire affected residents' risk perceptions and mitigation actions post-fire. We completed research shortly after a storm surge flood in Tsawwassen, BC in 2006 to study flood risk perception and mitigation strategies before and after the flood. We are examining post-earthquake reconstruction after the Kasmir (Pakistan) earthquake in 2005.

Mitigation and Preparedness for Other Hazards

Jen Baker is currently finishing her MA research on backcountry snowmobilers' avalanche related risk perceptions and preparedness.