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In interior Alaska's 115 million acres of boreal forest, white and black spruce are the dominant tree species. Climate models suggest that the region is becoming warmer and drier, resulting in declining growth of black and white spruce, according to some researchers. These drier conditions also may lead to greater risk of stand-replacing wildfires, resulting in forests dominated by birch and aspen, which are early-successional tree species. To compare long-term growth trends of the dominant coniferous and deciduous tree species, a team of researchers with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station and the University of Alaska Anchorage analyzed tree cores collected from the Tanana Valley and measured tree-ring widths of these four tree species over the past 150 years. They also compared growth against monthly temperature and precipitation data to determine if there is a correlation between climate and growth. The team found that white and black spruce have not experienced as rapid a growth decline as earlier studies suggested; instead, their annual growth remains near the long-term mean. Of the four species examined, aspen showed the greatest recent growth decline, likely reflecting a widespread insect outbreak. Among the climate variables that will affect the future growth of these species, summer rainfall was identified as a significant factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an additional $490 million in USDA funding for wildlife prevention projects. Combined, the two announced sets of projects will address wildfire risks in 134 of the 250 high-risk firesheds identified by the Jan. 2022 USDA Wildfire Crisis Strategy. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this work is to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) for minority (African- American and Hispanic) homeowners in Florida for private and public wildfire risk reduction programs. Also to test for differences in response between the two groups. A random parameter logit and latent class models allowed us to determine if there is difference in wildfire mitigation program preferences and whether WTP is higher for public or private actions for wildfire risk reduction, and whether households with personal experience and perceiving living in higher risk areas have significantly higher WTP. We also compare FL minority homeowners' WTP values with general FL homeowners estimates. Results suggest that FL minority homeowners are willing to invest in public programs, with African- Americans WTP values twice as much as Hispanics. In addition, the highest priority for cost sharing funds would go to homeowners in areas who perceive their houses to be at high risk, and especially to cost share private actions on their own land. These results may help fire managers optimize allocation of scarce cost sharing funds for public vs private actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the same choice experiment surveys and same specification of mixed logit models are used in California (CA) and Florida (FL) to compare homeowners willingness to pay (WTP) for two types of fuel reduction programs. Comparing the WTP of homeowners in CA and FL for private and public wildfire risk reduction show that WTP for the private actions among households who perceive low to moderate wildfire risk is quite low, and probably lower than what their cost share would be for making significant wildfire risk reductions on their property and to their residence. However, these same individuals would pay substantially more for public programs to reduce wildfire risk in their neighborhoods and common/public lands around their neighborhoods. The results also suggest the highest priority for cost sharing funds would go to homeowners in areas who perceive their houses to be at high risk, and especially to cost share private actions on their own land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]