Conference objectives include 1) Summarize the disciplines of risk assessment, and management and decision-making including the 'precautionary principle,' applied to 'natural' systems, 2) Summarize the state of the art for predicting hazards and risks of uncharacteristic wildfire, 3) Summarize the principles and management practices and specific cases for conservation of 'species in peril' subject to uncharacteristic wildfire, 4) Identify needs and priorities for new assessment methods and tools, and for new decision-making protocols, and 5) Describe a protocol for decision-making where considerations of short and long-term risks/benefits and uncertainty are primary.