| Abstract |
In the U.S. West, the area burned in wildfires has been increasing in recent years leading to a greater number of burned recreation destinations. In addition, prolonged periods of dense smoke have inundated both recreation destinations and urban settings. As climate change progresses and the frequency and severity of natural disturbances, such as wildfire, floods, and windstorms, increases we need to improve our understanding of how wildfire, smoke, and burned landscapes influence recreation behavior. In this presentation, we briefly synthesize the current literature on how recreation behavior is influenced by burned landscapes and discuss findings from our recent efforts, using traditional and crowd-sourced approaches, to understand the response of recreationists to wildfire and smoke. The research literature exploring how burned landscapes influences recreation use levels in the U.S. West is limited (McCaffrey et al 2013). Stated-preference studies exploring the welfare implications for recreationists from hypothetical burned landscapes account for much of the literature (Bawa 2017). Fewer studies have been completed on actual burned landscapes. In general, research conducted in-situ has found that any reductions in recreation visitation in recently burned landscapes is short-lived and modest and visitor satisfaction is largely unchanged (e.g., Brown et al. 2008, Love and Watson 1992). |
