A New Economic Report Highlights the Benefits of Prescribed Burns
A recent report underscores the financial advantages of prescribed burns and thinning projects for wildfire management. Released by the Bozeman-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), this report emphasizes that strategic fuel treatments in Pacific Northwest national forests can yield significant savings in firefighting costs. The economic analysis, supported by peer-reviewed research, indicates that for every dollar invested, there is a $5 to $6 return in reduced firefighting expenditures.
The research further reveals that across the western U.S., investing in national forest fuel treatments results in an average benefit of $3.73 per dollar through avoided smoke and property damage. Frederik Strabo, a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis, noted the importance of using real treatment data from Forest Service datasets in their economic wildfire research, which historically relied on hypothetical data. Strabo highlighted the comprehensive fuel treatment database they utilized to evaluate the impact of these treatments on wildfire behavior.
The PERC report also discusses the efficacy of larger, landscape-scale projects, spanning 2,400 acres or more, which yield greater returns. It suggests modernizing the Forest Service’s collaboration with private firms in timber sales to enhance the scale of fuel treatments. U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz has stated that such treatments are now a priority, driven by renewed forest plans.
This report surfaces amid legislative efforts, including initiatives by Sen. Tim Sheehy, to promote fuel reduction work and expand the Good Neighbor Authority, facilitating state and federal partnerships on forestry projects. However, these efforts face challenges, including federal workforce cuts. In 2025, Montana experienced a 13% reduction in Forest Service employees, impacting the state’s federal public lands management significantly.
Strabo emphasized that legal challenges to forestry projects are common, often fueled by a lack of understanding and mistrust between environmental groups and public agencies. He stated that some environmental litigation poses significant hurdles to conducting necessary fuel treatments. The PERC study also pointed out that natural fire return intervals are disrupted, asserting that fuel treatments align with ecological balance.
