Cost Shared Wildfire Risk Mitigation in Log Hill Mesa, Colorado: Survey Evidence on Participation and Willingness to Pay

1 Wildland-urban interface (WUI) homeowners who do not mitigate the wildfire risk on 2 their properties impose a negative externality on society. To reduce the social costs of wildfire 3 and incentivize homeowners to take action, cost sharing programs seek to reduce the barriers that 4 impede wildfire risk mitigation. Using survey data from a WUI community in western Colorado 5 and a two-stage decision framework, we examine residents' willingness to participate in a cost 6 sharing program for removing vegetation on their properties and the amount they are willing to 7 contribute to the cost of that removal. We find that different factors motivate decisions about 8 participation and about how much to pay. Willingness to participate correlates with both 9 financial and non-monetary considerations, including informational barriers and wildfire risk 10 perceptions, but not with concerns about effectiveness or visual impacts. Residents of properties 11 with higher wildfire risk levels are less likely to participate in the cost sharing than those with 12 lower levels of wildfire risk. We find widespread, positive willingness to pay for vegetation 13 removal, with the amount associated negatively with property size and positively with 14 respondent income. These results can inform the development of cost sharing programs to 15 encourage wildfire risk mitigation on private property. 16 17 Brief Summary 18 We analyze survey data from a wildland-urban interface community for residents' 19 willingness to participate in, and pay for, cost shared wildfire risk mitigation. Results suggest 20 residents participate both to address costs and to acquire property-specific information. Risk 21 perceptions positively correlate with participation, but assessed risk levels negatively correlate 22 with participation. 23 Survey evidence on cost shared wildfire risk mitigation