Firefights and Fuel Management: A Nested Rotation Model for Wildfire Risk Mitigation

Jonathan Keith Yoder () and Marian Lankoande ()
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Marian Lankoande: School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

No 2005-7, Working Papers from School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

Abstract: Scientists and policymakers are increasingly aware that wildfire management efforts should be broadened beyond the century-long emphasis on suppression to include more effective efforts at fuel management. Because wildfire risks change over time as vegetation matures, fuel management can be viewed as a timing problem, much like timber harvest itself. We develop a nested rotation model to examine the fuel treatment timing issue in the context of a forest environment with both timber value and non-timber values at-risk. Simulations are performed for a ponderosa pine forest and discussed with a focus on three important aspects of wildfire management: 1) the economic tradeoffs between fuel treatments, suppression, and timber harvest 2) the effects of public wildfire suppression on private fuel management incentives, 3) externality problems when non-timber values-at-risk such as wildland- urban interface property is not accounted for in private fuel management decisions.

Keywords: wildfire; fuels management; fire suppression; optimal rotation; wildfire economics. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q23 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-02
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http://129.3.20.41/eps/othr/papers/0506/0506012.pdf First version, 2005 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: FIREFIGHTS AND FUEL MANAGEMENT: A NESTED ROTATION MODEL FOR WILDFIRE RISK MITIGATION (2005)
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