Short Abstract: Recent catastrophic wildfires increased our awareness of their potential negative impacts and the importance of a coherent national fire policy. This session summarizes key research findings that inform national policy, including the economic impacts of wildfires and the efficacy of fuel treatments applied at broad scales. The session also highlights urgent economic research needs.

Summary: Significant catastrophic wildfire events in 1998 in Florida and in 2000 in the West have increased our awareness of the extent of damages arising from wildfires in the U.S. They also have raised questions about the trade-offs, both biophysical and social, between suppression, fuel treatments, and wildfire damages. National fire management policy is intended to increase the level of vegetation management on government lands in fire prone regions. The principal goal of such treatments is to reduce risks of catastrophic damages. Yet little is known about the extent to which treatments applied broadly across landscapes will result in reduced damages from wildfire. National policy is based on an understanding of how fuels and weather conditions affect fire behavior at small scales, using that understanding to recommend large scale activities. This presupposes similar effects at broad spatial and long time scales, as well as similar responses to weather and climate, ignition risks, and varying land uses. Economic research and analysis can evaluate the extent of wildfire damages on local economies, optimal treatment locations, the aggregate costs of such treatments, and the benefits from reduced wildfire damages.

This session will explore recent findings from applied econometric and optimization research. Issues covered will include economic impacts of wildfires in timber markets and the broader economy, landscape level and broad scale wildfire risk assessment, techniques used to evaluate the efficacy of vegetation management, optimal suppression strategies, and an evaluation of urgent research needs in wildland fire economics and policy.

Presenters:

Jeffrey Prestemon, Research Forester, USFS (jprestemon@fs.fed.us). The economics of timber salvage after wildfire in the Northern Rockies.

J. Keith Gilless, Professor, Univeristy of California at Berkeley (gilless@nature.berkeley.edu). Alternate approaches to initial attack.

Karen Lee Abt, Research Economist, USFS (kabt@fs.fed.us). Impacts of wildfire on local tourism industries in the Northern Rockies

Anthony Westerling, Post-doctoral scientist, University of California at San Diego (leroy@ucsd.edu). Economic implications of seasonal wildfire forecasting.

David T. Butry, Economist, USFS (dbutry@fs.fed.us). Identifying economically optimal locations for prescribed burning in Florida.

Douglas Rideout, Professor, Colorado State University (doug@cnr.colostate.edu). NFMAS and economics: a return to first principles.

Hayley Hesseln, Associate Professor, University of Montana (hayley@forestry.umt.edu) The impact of wildfire on the long-run sustainability of a local economy.