Overview
Wooden Eye Resource Management is led by Jen Gustafson, a wildfire resilience practitioner with experience supporting community-led mitigation efforts across the United States. Her work focuses on helping communities plan, coordinate, and implement wildfire mitigation through facilitation, systems-building, and practical technical assistance.
Jen’s approach is grounded in relationship-building, long-term capacity, and respect for local knowledge. She works alongside communities to develop strategies that are achievable, fundable, and sustainable beyond a single project or grant cycle.
Approach
Jen believes effective wildfire mitigation happens when communities are supported in leading their own work. Rather than acting as an outside expert, she partners with residents, local organizations, and agencies to strengthen coordination, clarify priorities, and build systems that communities can continue to use over time.
Her work emphasizes:
Practical planning that leads to on-the-ground action
Clear roles, workflows, and tracking systems
Engagement strategies that meet communities where they are
Tools and processes that support both implementation and reporting
Areas of Focus
Jen supports a wide range of wildfire resilience efforts, including:
Community wildfire workshops and facilitation
Risk assessment and mitigation action planning
Home assessment training and tracking system development
Partner coordination across agencies, nonprofits, and community groups
GIS mapping, StoryMaps, and visual tools to support decision-making and funding
Her work often bridges planning and implementation, helping communities move from identifying risk to taking concrete steps to reduce it.
Experience & Roles
Jen brings experience working at local, regional, and national scales, with a focus on community-driven wildfire adaptation. She currently supports wildfire resilience efforts through a combination of independent consulting and collaborative roles, including:
Consultant and Technical Specialist, Coalitions and Collaboratives Inc. (COCO)
Team Lead, Community Mitigation Assistance Team (CMAT)
Instructor, Community Wildfire Mitigation Best Practices Training
Fire Adaptation Professional and Consultant, Haw Creek Community Association, Asheville, NC
Administratively Determined (AD) Technical Specialist (THSP), US Forest Service
These roles inform a practical, implementation-focused approach that stays closely tied to real-world conditions and needs.
