Economic Impact of Fire on Forest Product Values in the Appalachian Regions of Kentucky and Tennessee

This project has been developed to pilot test a procedure for estimating wildfire timber devaluation in upland hardwood stands. If successful this project will provide state and regional data on wildfire degradation directly for the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. A successful study will also provide a template that could be used to predict economic loss due to fire in all other geographic regions not limited to just the needs of the Southern region. The overall objective of the pilot project will be to provide estimates of timber devaluation to eastern Kentucky and eastern Tennessee forests resulting from the occurrence of wildfire regimes common to the Appalachian region. The results will provide estimates of the overall value (dollar) lost to wildfires through timber devaluation in the study area and will also provide dollar loss on a per acre basls for differing topographic positions (a variable known to influence fire occurrence and severity) and their associated forest types. Data from this can be coupled with wildfire occurrence data to estimate value loss on an Appalachian region, state, or local basis. It may also be possible to use this information to provide loss estimates for individual wildfire events.