Reducing hazardous fuels on nonindustrial private forests: factors influencing landowner decisions

In mixed-ownership landscapes, fuels conditions on private lands have implications for fire risk on public lands and vice versa. The success of efforts to mitigate fire risk depends on the extent, efficacy, and coordination of treatments on nearby ownerships. Understanding factors in forest owners’ decisions to address the risk of wildland fire is therefore important. This research uses logistic regression to analyze mail survey data and identify factors in forest owners’ decisions to reduce hazardous fuels in the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) ecosystem on the east side of Oregon. Results suggest that owners who live on or near their land and are aware of wider landscape conditions may be important partners in fire risk mitigation and forest restoration. Results also suggest that incentives, including markets for wood products (e.g., logs and biomass) that come from fuels reduction treatments, are important for harnessing owners’ potential to mitigate fire risk.