Abstract
Wildfire has become a larger threat to human life and property with the proliferation of homes into the wildland urban interface and warming climate. In this study we explored Alaskan homeowner preferences for wildfire risk mitigation in the wildland urban interface using discrete choice experiments to better understand the drivers of their risk mitigation actions. Estimates of willingness-to-pay for private mitigation actions are increased with wildfire risk reduction for all respondents. Willingness-to-pay for private mitigation is also positively associated with the presence of thinned fuel treatments on nearby public lands, but is estimated to decrease if cleared fuel treatments are present on public lands. Our study concludes that homeowners minimize wildfire risk while maintaining neighborhood amenity values. Additionally, findings suggest that there is an optimal amount of neighborhood participation to motivate individual risk mitigation actions, as well as having a say in the mitigation actions on public lands.
Highlights
The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is where communities meet and intersperse with undeveloped wildlands
Homeowners were most willing-to-pay for reducing fuels on their property when 1–4 neighbors participated in fuel reduction actions, fuels were reduced on public lands by thinning, and the risk to themselves and the neighborhood was reduced by 50%
Since WTP estimates were similar for no neighbors mitigating and five or more neighbors mitigating, this middle ground suggests that there is a balance between preserving amenity value and contributing to the social good
Summary
The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is where communities meet and intersperse with undeveloped wildlands. WUI areas are vulnerable to wildfire, yet development in these zones is the fastest growing land use type in the contiguous U.S, up. Alaska’s WUI share similar vulnerabilities to WUI areas in general [2]. Even though Alaskan boreal forest fuel buildup from suppression isn’t as impactful as other areas [3], excess fuels in the WUI can make fires burn hotter and more severely. Anthropogenic climate change is altering wildfire risk in the Alaskan WUI. Climate change has already begun to intensify wildfire activity in portions of the western
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