A summit underway this week at the University of Oregon is focused on wildfire recovery across the state. It’s being led by Lane County and the U of O School of Planning, Public Policy and Management.
Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky said the summit is an opportunity to share best practices and lessons learned and develop a policy framework to advocate for local communities at the state level.
Oregonians are still recovering from the devastating 2020 wildfires, including the Holiday Farm Fire in Lane County. Mokrohisky called it a collective trauma.
“In Lane County alone, we lost approximately 600 structures. If you go up river, up the McKenzie River, you see the rebuilding that’s happening, the progress,” Mokrohisky said. “But, there are lives that have been impacted, so it is great for us to be able to share our experiences, learn from each other, and build back really strong.”
This is the first Oregon summit in a policy lab partnership between Lane County and the U of O.
They plan to hold additional statewide summits in the future.
