Understanding the labor supply for conducting wildfire hazardous fuel reduction treatments

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly critical for societies to understand how costs and benefits associated with natural disasters and their mitigation activities are allocated across economic actors. Although higher rates of wildfire hazard mitigation would be expected to increase jobs in the forestry and logging sector, scientific examination of the magnitude of such impacts has been scarce. This research helps to close this research gap by evaluating how labor markets in Western U.S. counties have responded to the mechanical wildfire hazardous fuel reduction treatments carried out on national forests in 10 states. Econometric analysis of quarterly data, 2018–2022, suggest that these treatments generate statistically significant and positive, but limited, impacts on jobs in the forestry and logging sector and in the wood products sector in the U.S. West. The positive effects partially offset the overall long-run decline in forestry and logging sector jobs.Given that the employment impacts of mechanical treatments vary geographically, our results imply that strategies could be developed that maximize the positive job effects of treatments by varying investment levels across regions.

Citation

Korhonen, Jaana; Prestemon, Jeffrey P. 2025. Understanding the labor supply for conducting wildfire hazardous fuel reduction treatments. Climate Risk Management, 50: 100768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2025.100768