Responding to a Slow Moving Catastrophe : Addressing Forest Dieback in the San Bernardino National Forest

Forest dieback events are currently killing trees across millions of hectares of western North America. Unlike traditional focusing events, these represent slow-moving catastrophes that play out over the course of a decade or longer. This paper analyzes bark beetle and wildfire induced focusing events in southern California that have killed trees over millions of acres. In particular, this research focuses on the San Bernardino National Forest. It draws on extensive interviews with an array of stakeholders in the region, including agency representatives, ecologists, academics, environmental groups, and concerned citizens among others. This work draws on agenda setting, focusing event, and policy change literatures and analyzes the causes and responses to the outbreak. The outbreak has garnered national attention and led to a substantial amount of federal funds to address the root causes of the outbreak. It has also led to the formation of an ad-hoc interagency collaborative planning organization that stakeholders believe provides a model for how to effectively address complex socio-environmental issues like wildfires and bark beetle infestations across the western United States. This case provides an opportunity to reevaluate the focusing event and policy change literature in the context of multi-year forest dieback events and provides insights into emerging challenges to forest management