Deborah J. Hanson | Public Systems & Policy Analyst

Wildfire Resilient Landscapes began with a simple observation. Over years of walking through Los Angeles neighborhoods, I noticed a persistent pattern: mature trees removed and left as stumps, declining canopy, and the steady loss of shade that once moderated neighborhood temperatures. What looked like isolated change reflected something larger — how continuity, governance, and recovery capacity determine whether any system holds together over time.

I came to this work through an unconventional path. After more than three decades in independent, client-based operations, I transitioned careers and returned to academic study, earning a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA and a Master of Public Administration, with Distinction, from CSUN. That training gave me a way to examine resilience not only as an environmental issue, but as a question of systems design, governance, and long-term institutional alignment.

That question now runs through all of my work. What began as noticing tree stumps has grown into a broader commitment to understanding the structures that shape how communities and institutions endure, recover, and adapt.

Deborah J. Hanson
Founder & Research Director, Wildfire Resilient Landscapes