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“There’s great interest in how to make smart investments up front before people’s lives are ruined,” said Patty Hernandez, executive director of Headwaters Economics.

“Since wildfirerisk.org launched in 2020, there have been 2 million views of the website,” said Kelly Pohl, associate director of Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group that helps manage the user dashboard.  

“Programs like BRIC really help us avoid these ballooning disaster costs that we’ve seen, by simply being more proactive,” says Kristin Smith, a researcher who studies disaster funding at Headwaters Economics, a think tank that studies development and land management decisions. “We pay a little now or a lot tomorrow.”

As disasters have grown in frequency and severity, so too has the strain on public finances and the urgency to update budgeting practices, especially in the states, to help public officials plan for changing spending needs.

Federal government funding is a “cornerstone” of Montana’s economy, according to a recent report from Headwaters Economics. The report analyzes the effect of potential cuts to the federal workforce amid reduction under the Trump Administration.

A new roof on a 2,500-square-foot, single-story, single-family home averages $21,810, according to a study by the IBHS and coauthored by Headwaters Economics. A wildfire-resistant roof including vents, fascia, soffits, and gutters costs about $27,670.

Between 1970 and 1989, timber earnings accounted for 37% of Skamania County locals’ income, according to a report from the independent research group Headwaters Economics.  By 2014, timber accounted for just 1% of total earnings. 

Home insurance is one of those things you need to have and hope to never need. But as risk from climate disasters increases, many homeowners are finding it more and more difficult to obtain an affordable policy.

According to a report put together in March by MNA and Headwaters Economics, for every $1 of federal tax dollars Montana sends in, the state receives $1.40 back. Federal grants comprise 43% of the total annual revenue for the state government, which is larger than the national average.

Kimiko Barrett, a research and policy analyst with Headwaters Economics, discusses why wildfires pose a particularly difficult challenge to state budgets and local communities.

There are more than 1,100 communities in 32 states across the US with characteristics similar to those that burned in the LA fires…according to a new analysis done by the research organization Headwaters Economics.

The Montana Nonprofit Association hired Headwaters Economics of Bozeman to create a report called “Potential Impacts of Federal Cuts to Montanans and Montana’s Economy,” which the organization says details “the significant role of federal funding in the state’s economic landscape…”

A 2017 study by Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group, found that Western rural counties with more public land have had greater economic growth, including in jobs and personal income, than those with little public land.

Megan Lawson studies the effects of outdoor recreation at Headwaters Economics. She said when people aren’t spending at businesses, that diminishes local government and statewide tax revenue. “When a wildfire is happening, visitors aren’t going to be coming to town,” Lawson said.

If homes are being rebuilt, they should be built with wildfire in mind because unfortunately we do know that risks are increasing,” says Kimiko Barrett, senior wildfire researcher at Headwaters Economics, a non-profit think tank. “History repeats itself. This will not be the only time that L.A. experiences a catastrophic wildfire.”

A recent Headwaters Economics analysis found 1,100 communities in 32 states shared similar risk profiles to places recently devastated by urban wildfires. A ‘Firewise’ movement HWMO helps communities like Kahikinui become Firewise.

An analysis by the research group Headwaters Economics found that replacing a 2,000-square-foot home under the state’s fire building requirements increases the cost by, at most, $15,000.

Start with federal government data, and specifically with this United States Department of Agriculture web page, which defines four crucial terms: likelihood, intensity, exposure and susceptibility.

“Headwaters Economics found that, with the exception of isolated cases, public lands will likely not offer a solution for the country’s housing shortage,” said Patty Hernandez, the organization’s executive director. “What’s more, many of these public land units, which initially appear suitable for housing, occur in areas with extreme wildfire risk, adjacent to airports, lack infrastructure, or have other qualities that make them inappropriate or unfeasible choices for housing.”