BESTING THE BARK BEETLE - FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION AND OUTREACH IN
THE SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS

San Bernardino County officials contracted Cook & Schmid in November 2006 to conduct a two-year program designed to educate mountain residents about the severity of fire danger caused by the bark beetle infestation and prolonged drought, as well as encourage residents to take measures to reduce fire risk on their properties.  The critical importance of the program was underscored by the history of devastating wild fires in the region, like the Grand Prix and Old fires in 2003.  The Old Fire alone cost $63 million to suppress, and estimates of the damage it caused are in the $3 to $4 billion range.  Budget for the program is $750,000 for two years.

RESEARCH

Cook & Schmid conducted a statistically valid public opinion survey to uncover the following data, upon which the plan was built:

• Nearly 90 percent of residents had taken steps to protect their homes for wild fires.
• Only 16 percent knew about a June 2007 deadline for marking dead trees for removal.
• Only 18 percent knew the funding for dead tree removal was ending.
• Awareness was low, only 39 percent, for removing green fuel, and spacing trees, 56 percent.
• Familiarity with the concept “healthy forest” was directly correlated with taking fire-safe action.
• Newspaper readership and TV news viewership was very low in the mountains.

Additional research included a full-day messaging workshop conducted by Cook & Schmid with important stakeholders to develop key messages, achieve program direction consensus and agree on the look and feel of the brand.

THE PLAN

Our plan was informed by the research findings on how residents and non-residents received their information and downplayed such common topics as focusing on the region’s major daily newspaper, which few mountain residents read.  The plan included developing a memorable overall brand to increase effectiveness of the individual tactics.  Individual tactics, including the branding effort are discussed below.

EXECUTION

Branding -- Cook & Schmid developed a distinctive brand for the program that evoked WPA art from the 1930s and 1940s, when the country was fighting together to overcome the Great Depression.  The design also subtly evoked the graphics of the golden age of the travel poster, a reference to the San Bernardino Mountains’ heyday as the playground of such Hollywood stars as Mae West, W.C. Fields and even Ingrid Bergman.  The MAST brand was designed to appeal to the community’s sense of pride in its history and shared responsibility for protecting its future from the risk of a devastating wildfire.

Calendar -- Cook & Schmid recommended a calendar, with long shelf life, visually attractive design and photography, utility and relevance to its target community as an effective way to communicate fire safety messages every day of the year. 

The 2007 calendar was the jumpstart of the program.  The team had six weeks to conduct research, design, print and distribute the calendar.  Since the MAST brand had not been conceived at this point, the team used nature photography of the mountain region, donated by local photographers, to depict the region’s beauty and stress the importance of stewardship to preserve quality of life for future generations.  Each month featured different, timely fire safety messages. 

For 2008, Cook & Schmid used postcards – drawn from the mountains’ golden age of tourism in the 1920s through the 1950s – as the theme for the calendar, inspired by the MAST brand itself.  With “Greetings from the San Bernardino County Mountains” on the cover, and both rare and popular postcards each month, the calendar reinforces each community’s pride in its history and shared responsibility for protecting its future.  Most importantly the calendar provides tips for residents to use to improve fire safety in their homes and around their property.  The calendars were mailed in early December 2007.

Media Event -- Cook & Schmid recommended celebrating the felling of the one-millionth dead tree by MAST to demonstrate the responsible use of federal grant money to reduce fire hazards.  Cook & Schmid orchestrated a dramatic media event in which a massive, bark-beetle-infested, Ponderosa Pine was felled while news media watched.  This event garnered extensive coverage and enabled us to spread the message that a new program phase of removing “green fuel” was about to begin.

Newsletter -- Named “The Lookout,” the name for forest rangers who scout for signs of fire, the first newsletter included stories about MAST’s removal of more than 1 million hazardous trees; deadlines for seeking federal grant money to fireproof private property; the program’s transition to “green fuel” removal and forest thinning; instructions and original illustrations to prepare residents for making their properties more fire-safe; as well as contact information for relevant agencies.  A subsequent issue of the newsletter is in production.

Poster -- The 2’ x 3’ poster is the most visible representation of the MAST brand, described above.  The front of the poster features the campaign’s key message: “A Thinner Forest is a Healthy Forest,” while the reverse includes information about how to make property and houses more fire safe.  While the poster was designed to be framed and displayed, enhancing the reverse with information did not add significantly to the cost and educated many thousands of people who asked for the poster at community fairs and festivals.  In addition, the framed poster has become a popular item with elected officials and opinion leaders, with nearly 50 requesting copies, which adds to the program’s support base. 

TENS Announcement -- Cook & Schmid learned of an automated reverse 911 system, known as the Telephone Emergency Notification System, that is used to call every mountain resident in the event of an emergency.  We recommended conducting a test of the system and using this test to piggy-back important messages from the program.  The test message also included contact information for the agency that could help residents remove dead trees. Phone company records showed an 80 percent connect rate with residents. 

Traveling Information Display -- Our team identified the most important mountain fairs and festivals during the summer season and had a presence at each.  In the winter, the Traveling Information Display can be found at mountain community libraries, government buildings and other high-traffic public places.

PowerPoint Presentation The agency developed a PowerPoint template and script for use by any MAST stakeholder.

Video -- Cook & Schmid is finishing production of a DVD intended to distribute and show to San Bernardino County mountain residents.  The topic of the video is a Fire-Safe Home Make-over designed to teach viewers how to implement fire-safe measures on their own. 

Speakers Bureau -- Our team is in the process of reaching out to local mountain organizations such as Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Historical Societies and the Sierra Club to schedule guest speakers from MAST to present the PowerPoint and DVD described above.  Also in the lecture is time for Q & A for residents to have direct access to the experts.  Feedback from these lectures will provide Cook & Schmid insight into the questions and concerns residents have that need to be addressed further.  To date, four speaking engagements have been completed reaching approximately 125 people.  Another four lectures are scheduled, which should double our reach with 25 more organizations to confirm.

Hispanic Community Outreach -- The mountain area’s lack of metropolitan infrastructure makes it challenging to locate and communicate directly with the Hispanic population about fire safety.  To circumvent this problem, our team has taken a grassroots approach to reach the Hispanic community by working with church organizations, a radio station, snow resorts, a bilingual resort and local restaurants to distribute MAST collateral written in Spanish.

www.CalMAST.org -- Designed to cater to both San Bernardino and Riverside County residents, www.CalMAST.org is presented as a public service to the people who live, work and play in these mountains and forests to promote public safety and fire prevention.  Emergency information is on the site as well as MAST’s public outreach program information, relevant media coverage, fire prevention tips, MAST sponsored events, links for partner programs and contact information for MAST’s partner agencies.

CHALLENGES – THE FIRES OF 2007

Wildfires are inevitable and it is beyond the scope of this campaign to prevent fires from happening altogether. However, by encouraging residents to create defensible space around their homes andthin dead and live growth on their properties, the campaign canhelp reduce the intensity and scale of fires and improve the odds that houses will survive. The recent fires in the San Bernardino Mountains confirmed that such a strategy can be effective. This evidence is anecdotal at this point, but studies by local, state andfederal agenciesare underway to confirm that defensible space and forest thinning had a measurable impact on the recent fires.

RESULTS

• More than 180,000 calendars (2007 and 2008) and newsletters were printed and mailed to all residents of the mountain region.  Since it was also important to communicate with non-resident property owners, Cook & Schmid mined a database of property tax records to reach this audience with the direct-mail newsletter.
• Public reception of the 2007 calendar and newsletter was strongly positive.  A local newspaper columnist devoted an entire column to both the 2007 and 2008 calendars.
• Quantitative evidence showed both direct mail pieces had the desired effects and prompted individuals to take action.  Forest Care received three times its normal call volume in the weeks following the 2007 calendar and 3.6 times its normal calls after the newsletter.
• The County’s Hazardous Tree Removal Operations department experienced a flood of calls and had 5.2 times its normal call volume following the newsletter and saw a 65 percent increase in calls following the 2007 calendar.
• 5,000 posters were printed and distributed for posting through MAST members to businesses, libraries, schools, government offices and public places.  Nearly 50 public officials, including the entire San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, requested framed copies, broadening the support and potential funding base for the program.
• In addition, two local newspapers, the Mountain News and the Crestline Courier used the campaign’s artwork and graphics in a newspaper insert sent to all readers.
• The Traveling Informational Display proved to be a very effective at fairs and festivals for drawing in crowds, who were then presented with informational materials.  Several thousand posters and calendars were distributed at two fairs and festivals to date.  Staff at the booth also solicited feedback via comment cards and invited guests to add their names to the database, capturing nearly 1,000 new contacts and many new suggestions for additional program content, e.g., a section on the Web site about fire-safe plants and landscaping tailored to the various mountain communities and their respective elevations.
• The TENS system reached 80 percent of all mountain residents with key messages for the campaign.
• The felling of the one-millionth tree attracted print and broadcast media, in addition to approximately 200 residents who attended the event.  Coverage included over 500,000 audience impressions.
• After distribution of the 2008 calendar, the CalMAST Web site received a 250% spike in traffic to its home page.