Earth Economics has recently released a report assessing the economic impact of the 2013 Rim Fire. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission commissioned this report which addresses fire impact on a range of ecosystem service values.
As of September 17, 2013, the Rim Fire covered over 256,000 acres of land and direct firefighting costs were estimated at over $127 million. This report was compiled using satellite data from September 17, 2013, before the fire was fully contained, and represents a conservative underestimation of lost ecosystem benefit and direct costs.
The study categorized the overall burn area into eight distinct vegetation types and valued them based on 10 of 18 identified environmental benefits.
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Vegetation Type |
Environmental Benefits |
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Overall first year benefit losses are estimated at between $100 million to $736 million. The report also identified pre-fire values of environmental benefits ($210 million to $1.5 billion) and available carbon storage ($101 million to $782 million). These values represent estimated total value of these resources and while these benefits have not been wholly lost following the fire, it will take decades if not longer for them to fully recover.
The report also identifies additional benefit losses from fire stress mortality, long term human health costs, and ecosystem services damage from snow pack, soil structure, and water filtration degradation among others. These are important issues that were not specifically considered due to a lack of primary local data at time of assessment but represent additional strain on the economics of ecosystem management.
With large scale high severity wildfire becoming more common throughout California, the cost of suppression is rapidly becoming a major issue in lands management.
This report presents a detailed look into the various costs incurred by a large scale wildfire event many of which can be avoided or offset by alternative management strategies. It remains to be seen how these lost services and values will affect the overall cost of the Rim Fire moving into the future, but this report shows the immediate first year's loss already representing a significant portion of the overall available environmental utility.
For the full report, click the link below:
