Cataloging Information
Public Perspectives of Fire Management
Fire & Economics
Fire & Recreation
Visitors to National Forests in Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming were asked how their visitation rates would change with the presence of a high-intensity crown fire, prescribed fire, and a 20-year-old high-intensity fire at the area they were visiting. By using pairwise t-tests, visitors to forests in Colorado showed a statistically significant decrease in recreation trips per year with the presence of a recent crown fire, a smaller but still significant decrease with a recent prescribed burn, and with a 20-year-old high-intensity fire. A multivariate test of the effect of fire on the demand curve for recreation was conducted by using the travel cost method. The multivariate test indicates that years since last fire does have a statistically significant effect on visitation in Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming, although the effect is very small.