Year of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Economics

Department or School/College

Economics

Committee Chair

Dr. Douglas Dalenberg

Committee Co-chair

Dr. Matthew Taylor

Commitee Members

Dr. Carl Seielstad, Dr. Erin Belval

Publisher

University of Montana

Abstract

Using personnel data from the Resource Ordering and Status System (ROSS) this paper analyzes the relationship between personnel and prescribed burn frequency for the San Juan National Forest. Prescribed burning is used as a tool for mitigating wildfire risk by removing hazardous fuels but faces many barriers from policy to systemic disincentives. Personnel unavailability is one of these barriers that consistently challenges managers on National Forests when attempting to conduct prescribed burns. An instrumental variables approach is used to estimate the impact of personnel unavailability on managers decisions to conduct prescribed burns between 2014 and 2022. Estimates do not support the hypothesized negative relationship between resource unavailability on the likelihood of prescribed burns, potentially due to limitations in the data including a small sample of prescribed burns and relying on personnel unavailability as a proxy for personnel availability. However, the framework of this study provides a contribution to enhance and guide future research on this topic by empirically testing this hypothesis, providing a causal estimate, and creating a unique dataset.

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© Copyright 2023 Trevor Finney