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Economically Optimal Wildfire Intervention Regimes

Author

Listed:
  • Prestemon, Jeffrey P.
  • Mercer, D. Evan
  • Pye, John M.
  • Butry, David T.
  • Holmes, Thomas P.
  • Abt, Karen L.

Abstract

Wildfires in the United States result in total damages and costs that are likely to exceed billions of dollars annually. Land managers and policy makers propose higher rates of prescribed burning and other kinds of vegetation management to reduce amounts of wildfire and the risks of catastrophic losses. A wildfire public welfare maximization function, using a wildfire production function estimated using a time series model of a panel of Florida counties, is employed to simulate the publicly optimal level of prescribed burning in an example county in Florida (Volusia). Evaluation of the production function reveals that prescribed fire is not associated with reduced catastrophic wildfire risks in Volusia County Florida, indicating a short-run elasticity of -0.16 and a long-run elasticity of wildfire with respect to prescribed fire of -0.07. Stochastic dominance is used to evaluate the optimal amount of prescribed fire most likely to maximize a measure of public welfare. Results of that analysis reveal that the optimal amount of annual prescribed fire is about 3 percent (9,000 acres/year) of the total forest area, which is very close to the actual average amount of prescribed burning (12,700 acres/year) between 1994-99.

Suggested Citation

  • Prestemon, Jeffrey P. & Mercer, D. Evan & Pye, John M. & Butry, David T. & Holmes, Thomas P. & Abt, Karen L., 2001. "Economically Optimal Wildfire Intervention Regimes," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20470, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea01:20470
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.20470
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    Cited by:

    1. Marian Lankoande & Jonathan Yoder, 2005. "Firefights And Fuel Management: A Nested Rotation Model For Wildfire Risk Mitigation," Others 0506012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Isabel Mendes, 2018. "Social risks of forest fires: a methodological proposal for their monetary evaluation," Working Papers Department of Economics 2018/02, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Mendes, Isabel, 2010. "A theoretical economic model for choosing efficient wildfire suppression strategies," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 323-329, June.
    4. Lankoande, Mariam D. & Yoder, Jonathan K., 2004. "Wildfire Fuels Management: A Nested Rotation Approach Applied To Ponderosa Pine Forests," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20007, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

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    Keywords

    Resource /Energy Economics and Policy;

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