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

Mariam D. Lankoande and Jonathan K. Yoder

No 12959, Working Papers from Washington State University, School of Economic Sciences

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: Resource/Energy; Economics; and; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:wsuewp:12959

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.12959

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