Homepage Highlight

On June 12, 2026, UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge convened 30 ecologists, community leaders, and representatives from state and local fire and land management agencies, conservation organizations, and the elected offices for a workshop titled Protecting Habitat, Preventing Destructive Fire: Creating More Effective Wildland Management Policies to identify areas of consensus regarding wildfire mitigation, firefighting practices, and ecosystem conservation, while also clarifying areas of disagreement and uncertainty. Read more.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) manages one of the most critical networks of infrastructure in Southern California, delivering water and electricity to more than four million residents. Read more about how, through a long-standing partnership between UCLA and LADWP, researchers across the university are helping the community improve the resilience of its critical infrastructure so that Angelenos can continue to have access to water and power, even in an emergency. 

On May 7, 2026 SLAGC convened about 130 civic and community leaders, researchers, and philanthropists for a wildfire research symposium, Urban Fires: Risk and Resilience. The aim was to build the roadmap for a more resilient American West in the face of dynamic and evolving disasters with a focus on how to pioneer new ways for universities to collaborate across disciplines, and with civic institutions and communities to create more impactful and responsive research.

Read the report summarizing the January 23, 2026 UCLA and UC ANR Urban Water Supply + Fire working group convening, organized by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, and UC ANR. More than 50 experts gathered to examine a critical and underexplored issue: how to finance water systems as fire risks change and intensify. Read more for key insights.

On January 23, 2026, the UCLA and UC ANR Urban Water Supply + Fire working group—organized by the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, Luskin Center for Innovation, and the California Institute for Water Resources—convened 47 experts for the second of four workshops digging into the realities of planning water systems for a future with changing fire risks. Read more.

LADWP manages the water supply for about 4 million residents. LADWP has the critical task of ensuring that the water supply can support a growing population in the face of a changing climate. Read about how UCLA helps.

As urban wildfires become more frequent and severe, what role can water systems realistically play in protecting lives, supporting emergency response, and guiding resilient rebuilding? A new report from the Luskin Center for Innovation, Water Systems’ Wildfire Fighting Capacities and Expectations, begins to answer this question. The report synthesizes the findings and discussion from a convening of more than 50 experts convened through the UCLA-UCANR Water Supply + Wildfire Research and Policy Coordination Network to tackle these critical questions.

Watch the the first in a series of webinar discussions on defensible space that SLAGC is organizing. During Policymaking Under Uncertainty: Zone 0 and Vegetation Clearance, experts discussed what is and—crucially—what isn't known about the role vegetation plays in fire spread. Read more.

SLAGC brought together dozens of UCLA experts from across disciplines to discuss their research related to the 2025 LA fires, their impacts, and recovery efforts over the course of three lunch dialogue events in October. Read more and watch videos of the experts discussing their work.

A report released today by UCLA—in partnership with LADWP—identifies four areas critical to strengthening water and power infrastructure to reduce risks and improve reliability as climate-related disasters intensify. It details important findings from an intensive June 9 workshop—commissioned by LADWP and developed, organized and hosted by UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation with programmatic and logistical support from the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLAGC)—that brought together key decision-makers to talk frankly and collaboratively to advance broader industry knowledge and capacity.