What do forest fires really cost?
Abstract
A seven-year quest to estimate forest fire costs in Colorado revealed a number of losses not usually considered. Catastrophic fires result in direct costs, rehabilitation costs, impact costs, and special value losses. They are wildfire events that imperil public health, safety, or welfare and result in significant degradation of the environment, substantial loss of property, and often death or injury of people. While each fire is unique, a series of large fire case studies, primarily in ponderosa pine forests, are used to develop a progression of cost estimates. The author concludes that damages to forest watershed values in the arid West may ultimately result in the most serious, long-term costs of large fires. A contrasting case study where fire has been a regular component of the forest ecosystem is used to question the tacit acceptance of very costly, extremely damaging catastrophic fires as natural events.
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Associated costs including loss of forest products, other values and resources, and personal property may total several thousand dollars per ha for large fires.
“In addition, associated costs, including the loss of forest products, other values and resources, and personal property, may total several thousand dollars per ha for large fires (e.g., Lynch 2004).”
From The Effects of Forest Fuel-Reduction Treatments in the United States (2012) · cites this paper as Lynch 2004
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Research works printed but not linked: 5
- COLORADO DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 2002. Report on the health of Colorado's forests. Denver, CO: Colorado De- partment of Natural Resources. 24 p. COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY. 1995. The hourglass fire at Pingree Park. Ft. Collins, CO: Colorado State For- est Service. 6 p. FIRE AND AVIATION MANAGEMENT. 1995. Fire suppres- sion costs on large fires: A review of the 1994 fire season. USDA Forest Service. 57 p. GRISSINO-MAYER, H., W. ROMME, M. FLOYD, and D. HANNA. 2004. Climatic and human influences on fire regimes of the southern San Juan mountains, Col- orado, USA. Ecology 85(6):1708-1724.
- HACKETT, J. 2003. Colorado's 2002 Fire Season: Chal- lenges for many, opportunities for others. Colorado Forestry Association Journal 17-18
- KENT, B., K. GEBERT, S. MCCAFFREY, et al. 2003. Hay- man fire case study. Social and economic issues of the Hayman fire. RMRS-GTR-114. Rocky Mountain Re- search Station. Ft. Collins, CO: USDA Forest Ser- vice. pp. 315-388.
- LYNCH, D., W.H. ROMME, AND M.L. FLOYD. 2000. For- est restoration in southwestern ponderosa pine. Jour- nal of Forestry 98(8):17-24.
- LYNCH, D., AND K. MACKES. 2003. Costs for reducing fuels in Colorado forest restoration projects. p. 167-175 in Conference proceedings Fire, Fuel Treat- ments, and Ecological Restoration. Rocky Mountain Research Station. RMRS-P-29. Ft Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Effects of Forest Fuel-Reduction Treatments in the United States
Stephens, S. L., McIver, J. D., Boerner, R. E. J., Fettig, C. J., Fontaine, J. B., Hartsough, B. R., Kennedy, P. L., & Schwilk, D. W. (2012) · BioScience · doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.6.6 · Cited by 411 · see citing works
Human and biophysical influences on fire occurrence in the United States
Hawbaker, T. J., Radeloff, V. C., Stewart, S. I., Hammer, R. B., Keuler, N. S., & Clayton, M. K. (2013) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1890/12-1816.1 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
A Risk-Based Approach to Wildland Fire Budgetary Planning
Thompson, M. P., Calkin, D. E., Finney, M. A., Gebert, K. M., & Hand, M. S. (2013) · Forest Science · doi:10.5849/forsci.09-124 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lynch, D. L.
- Affiliations
- Colorado State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lynch, Dennis L.
- Venue
- Journal of Forestry
- Published
- 2004-09-01
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 42-49
- ISSN
- 0022-1201 (ISSN-L)
- 1938-3746
- OpenAlex
- W2994095527
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Forestry (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Keywords
- wildfire damage, catastrophic fire, ponderosa pine forests, watershed degradation, rehabilitation costs, fire case studies
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