The influence of wildfire risk reduction programs and practices on recreation visitation

Eric M. White; Samantha G. Winder; Spencer A. Wood

doi:10.1071/WF24036

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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The influence of wildfire risk reduction programs and practices on recreation visitation

Eric M. White ^A ^* , Samantha G. Winder ^B and Spencer A. Wood ^B

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, Oregon, USA.

^B Outdoor R&D, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

^* Correspondence to: eric.m.white@usda.gov

International Journal of Wildland Fire 33, WF24036 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF24036

Submitted: 20 February 2024 Accepted: 29 October 2024 Published: 28 November 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

The increasing extent and severity of uncharacteristic wildfire has prompted numerous policies and programs promoting landscape-scale fuels reduction.

Aims

We used novel data sources to measure how recreation was influenced by fuels reduction efforts under the US Forest Service Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program.

Methods

We used posts to four social media platforms to estimate the number of social media user-days within CFLR landscapes and asked: (1) did visitation within CFLR Program landscapes between 2012 and 2020 change in a manner consistent with the pattern on nearby lands, and (2) was there a relationship between the magnitudes of specific fuel treatment activities within CFLR landscapes and visitation to that landscape?

Key results

In aggregate, visitation to the CFLR landscapes changed at a rate mirroring the trend observed elsewhere. Within CFLR landscapes, pre-commercial thinning and pruning had slight positive influences on visitation whereas prescribed burning and managed wildfire had slight negative influences.

Conclusions

Fuel treatments can have a modest influence on visitation, but we didnot find any wholesale changes in visitation within CFLR landscapes.

Implications

Social media and other novel data sources offer an opportunity to fill in gaps in empirical data on recreation to better understand social-ecological system linkages.

Keywords: Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, digital mobility data, ecosystem services, fuels reduction, recreation user-days, recreation visitation, risk reduction program, social media data, volunteered geographic information.

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