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Author(s):
Paul E. Polzin, Michael S. Yuan, Ervin G. Schuster
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire & Economics

NRFSN number: 11934
FRAMES RCS number: 14040
Record updated:

Four types of economic impacts associated with the 1988 fires in and around Yellowstone National Park were studied. The park was headed for a record attendance year in 1988. Based on projections in this study, summer visitation would have increased from about 2.1 million visits in 1987 to 2.3 million in 1988 and 2.5 million in 1989, had the fires not occurred. Instead, visitation dropped to 1.7 million visits in 1988 and had risen only to 2.2 million by 1989, The visitation loss meant that expenditures based on tourism were down about $21 million in 1988, $13 million in 1989, and $26 million in 1990. Government payments related to the fires partially offset the loss of tourist expenditures. But of the $33.1 million in payments, only an estimated $10.8 million went to communities around the park. Though the fires had a minimal effect on annual tourism industry wages, summer-season wages declined more dramatically. In addition, about $715,000 in damage claims had been paid to firms and individuals in the local area by late 1992, with several major claims still awaiting settlement.

Citation

Polzin, Paul E.; Yuan, Michael S.; Schuster, Ervin G. 1993. Some economic impacts of the 1988 fires in the Yellowstone area. Res. Note INT-RN-418. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 13 p.

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