Wildfire and the Economic Value of Wilderness Recreation

The idea that wildfires play an integral role in maintaining healthy forests has begun to change the ways that scientists, managers, and the general public view fire policy and programs. New approaches to forest management that seek to integrate natural disturbances with the provision of goods and services valued by people impose a greater need for a full accounting of the economic effects of wildfire (as well as other disturbances). In addition to the effects that forest fires have on commodities and assets that are traded in markets, such as timber and residential structures, fires also affect the condition and value of public goods that are not traded in markets, such as outdoor recreational sites. Understanding the economic consequences of wildfires on the provision and value of public goods requires the use of non-market valuation methods (Champ et al. 2003). The goal of this chapter is to demonstrate how wildfires affect the demand for, and value of, Wilderness recreational sites, which is illustrated using the travel cost method. Wilderness areas provide the public with a special opportunity to observe the effects of wildfires on natural processes in fire-adapted ecosystems. Lightningcaused fires are sometimes allowed to bum in Wilderness areas (a prescribed natural fire) when conditions are deemed suitable. Management ignited prescribed fires are also used to reduce fuel loads and mimic natural processes (Geary and Stokes 1999). Although fire suppression activities are permitted in Wilderness areas, management of forest regeneration and succession after a wildfire (including timber salvage and tree planting) is not permitted. Consequently, Wilderness areas provide a natural laboratory where visitors can experience firsthand the ecological dynamics following the occurrence of wildfire. Since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, more than 100 million acres of wild lands have been included in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Recent estimates suggest that roughly 15 million annual visits were made to