Evaluating Alternative Prescribed Burning Policies to Reduce Net Economic Damages from Wildfire

We estimate a wildfire risk model with a new measure of wildfire output, intensity-weighted risk and use it in Monte Carlo simulations to estimate welfare changes from alternative prescribed burning policies. Using Volusia County, Florida as a case study, an annual prescribed burning rate of 13% of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of agricultural economics 2007-02, Vol.89 (1), p.63-77
Main Authors: Mercer, D. Evan, Prestemon, Jeffrey P., Butry, David T., Pye, John M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural areas
Agricultural capital
Agricultural economics
Agricultural industry
Agricultural management
Agricultural policy
Agricultural sector
Agriculture
Case studies
Costs
econometrics
economic damage
economic impact
Economic models
Expected values
Expenditures
Fire
Fire breaks
Fire damage
fire intensity
Fire services
Florida
Forest & brush fires
Forest fires
Forest management
Forest service
Forests
inelastic supply
Modeling
Monte Carlo method
Monte Carlo simulation
Optimization
policy
policy analysis
Prescribed burning
Prescribed fire
Production functions
Public lands
Q230
Q280
Q580
Risk
risk assessment
Risk management
Simulation
simulation models
social welfare
stochastic dominance
Studies
supply
U.S.A
Waste management
wildfire
Wildfires
wildland fire management
Wildlife
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Description
Summary:We estimate a wildfire risk model with a new measure of wildfire output, intensity-weighted risk and use it in Monte Carlo simulations to estimate welfare changes from alternative prescribed burning policies. Using Volusia County, Florida as a case study, an annual prescribed burning rate of 13% of all forest lands maximizes net welfare; ignoring the effects on wildfire intensity may underestimate optimal rates of prescribed burning. Our estimated supply function for prescribed fire services is inelastic, suggesting that increasing contract prescribed fire services on public lands may produce rapidly escalating costs for private landowners and unintended distributional and "leakage" effects.
ISSN:0002-9092
1467-8276
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8276.2007.00963.x