Ashland's 2025 Community Wildfire Protection Plan

The reminders of our vulnerability to wildfires are all too frequent and scary — L.A., Lahaina, Paradise, and of course, the 2020 Almeda Fire right in our own backyard. It's imperative that we reimagine how we live in relation to our environment, lest we risk more frequent and severe losses as the climate continues to change. 

We can avoid a serious fire if we plan carefully and begin making needed changes right now. Sometimes it feels like there’s no hope in the face of fires like the Almeda Fire...but extensive research and experience shows that we can adapt and avoid a disaster. Our plan for that journey is called the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, or CWPP.

Read the 2025 Ashland Community Wildfire Plan FINAL (PDF) and Appendices

See the CWPP Highlights in a Visual Story Map

NOTE: The City Council voted unanimously to accept the 2025 CWPP at the August 19, 2025 Business meeting! We are working with existing partners like the Chamber of Commerce and Ashland Climate Collaborative and to identify new ones for the journey ahead. We appreciate all that everyone is doing everyday to make Ashland a safer place to live, work, and play.

"We must recognize that our communities were developed in a climate and environment that no longer exist. We have the tools and knowledge to reduce community wildfire risks. But we must address the profound and deeply rooted misalignment of political and social expectations regarding what it means to live with wildfire. Now is the time to invest in long-term, economically efficient solutions, rather than short-term, risk-averse tactics. We have to live with wildland fire. We don’t have to live with fire in our communities."  

From: Calkin, et al., 2023, "Wildland-urban fire disasters aren’t actually a wildfire problem."