Prescribed fire and other fuel-reduction treatments can create significant ecological benefits and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. Now, two new papers attempt to attach dollar figures to those impacts.
One of the studies found that over seven recent years, U.S. Forest Service projects helped communities avoid $2.8 billion in fire-related harm.
"For every dollar that the Forest Service spends, we find that the public saves $3.75 in property loss, smoke, and health impacts from wildfire smoke and carbon emissions," said Frederik Strabo, lead author on both of the papers.
Another study found that between $5 and $6 in suppression costs are saved with every $1 spent on fuel mitigation. The Property and Environment Research Center also summarized both papers' findings.
However, not all prescribed fires and other treatments are created equal. The research shows that larger projects — those above 2,400 acres — are more likely to have positive impacts.
"And that was because they not only were more effective at reducing fire spread and severity, but they were also more likely to interact with a wildfire across [their] effective lifetime," Strabo explained.
Even though the savings estimated were measured in the billions of dollars, Strabo acknowledged that they pale in comparison to the hundreds of billions of dollars in harm associated with wildfires every year.
"When you think about the scale of the problem and how it's only going to continue to get worse," Strabo said, "and seeing how these current benefits are really small, it kind of just goes to show that they're kind of a drop in the bucket."
"If we really want to address the crisis, we really need to start scaling them up and start thinking about how we can better design these treatments to have a larger impact," Strabo added.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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