Objectives this project uses an interdisciplinary framework and survey based methods to assess landowner knowledge and demand for prescribed fire programs and policies that impact burning on private…

This $315,690 cooperative agreement from the Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region funds research through the Pennsylvania State University on prescribed fire programs and policies impacting private land burning. Under the Joint Fire Science Program, the research will assess landowner knowledge, demand, and willingness to pay for prescribed fire services through an interdisciplinary framework combining survey methods, case studies, and stated preference economic techniques. Products will include landowner knowledge assessments, measures of psychology and choice, and case studies to facilitate information sharing. Insights on landowner perspectives, values, and preferences will guide education and potential cost-share interventions to support more resilient land management outcomes across regions and landowner categories in California. The novel incorporation of stated preference methods aims to elucidate contexts for voluntary landowner participation versus cost-shared programs.

Objectives this project uses an interdisciplinary framework and survey based methods to assess landowner knowledge and demand for prescribed fire programs and policies that impact burning on private lands. We hypothesize that landowner interest and willingness to pay for burning is a function of tradeoffs in risk and benefits and the types of resources and assistance made available to owners. Data types include knowledge assessments, psychological measures, and economic measures of choice (i.e., preferences, willingness to pay). Case studies of landowner experiences will also be built to facilitate information transfer across peers.3. Benefitsthe design of this project allows for the targeted application of both education and economic interventions across different categories of landowners in different regions of california. Understanding the psychological schema of landowners who burn (i.e., knowledge, perceptions attitudes and perceived social norms) can help guide educational interventions to support more resilience outcomes. A better understanding of utility, or the value, of prescribed fire benefits to landowners and their preferences for support (e.g., PBA s, liability laws) can elucidate contexts in which landowners are willing to assume the costs of burning, compared to contexts where cost share may need to be used. Moreover, economic values in the form of predicted consumer demand can be used to direct the expansion of programs and consultant services that support private lands burning. The economic aspect of this project is particularly novel since the PI, melissa kreye, is one of the few social scientists using stated preference methods in the context of prescribed fire. Combining this work with a series of case studies also provides a nice counterpart, by offering a more contextualized understanding of landowner behavior within a broader picture.