Ecosystem Service Valuation through Wildfire Risk Mitigation: Design, Governance, and Outcomes of the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project (FWPP)

Forests

Erik Nielsen¹  Roy Miller¹  Ching-Hsun Huang² 

[1] School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, 525 South Beaver Street, P.O. Box 5694, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA;School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, 200 East Pine Knoll Drive, P.O. Box 15018, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA;

关键词: payments for ecosystem services;    watershed services protection;    wildfire mitigation;    community wildfire protection;    partnership governance;    fuels reduction;    fuels treatment;    PWS institutional design;    collaborative forest management;    cost-avoidance;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f8050142

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The full value of benefits rendered from healthy watersheds is difficult to estimate, and ecosystem service (ES) valuation sometimes necessarily occurs in the form of costs incurred or avoided. Along these lines, social-ecological systems including Payment for Watershed Services (PWS) are increasing in frequency and can help land management entities to bridge budget shortfalls for funding needed watershed restoration forestry treatments. The Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project (FWPP) is a bond-financed wildfire risk mitigation partnership and PWS program in Northern Arizona, the only forest management project that utilizes a municipal bond as the financial mechanism in conjunction with a partnership governance structure to invest in federal land management. The purpose of this research was to describe this new governance structure to understand the potential benefits to communities and federal land management agencies for protecting watershed services. Data were derived from document review and key informant interviews (n = 9). FWPP institutional design and governance structures were tailored to maximize community strengths and encompassed several advantages over traditional federal land management models; these advantages include increased collaboration and institutional support, financial security, and public approval. The FWPP represents an innovative PWS system that can help showcase unique community and federal forest management partnerships that benefit watershed health in western US communities.

【 授权许可】

Unknown