Headwaters Economics, a Montana nonprofit research organization, is analyzing the cost of retrofitting homes in Hawaii. The study will take into account increased contractor and labor expenses, common architectural characteristics and the availability of fire-retardant materials, said Kimiko Barrett, senior wildfire research and policy analyst.
“It’s hard to find a place where there isn’t a risk of climate disaster,” said Patty Hernandez, director of the community development nonprofit Headwaters Economics. “We need leadership and investment to avoid disasters by building communities that are prepared.”
The Forest Service and the Bozeman-based research group Headwaters Economics run a program called Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire, which provides fire expertise to local governments.
“Retrofitting a Home for Wildfire Resistance” suggests that some of the most effective strategies to reduce the vulnerability of homes and neighborhoods to wildfire can be done affordably.
Guidance for how to build housing given the increased risks of wildfires is available from organizations such as Headwaters Economics, which recently released “Building for Wildfire in Montana: Protecting Communities with Statewide Wildfire Safety Standards.”
According to a Headwaters Economics report, between 1990 and 2016, over 43,000 acres — equivalent to 146 square miles — were converted from open space to residential development.
In May of 2023, GIS instructor and analyst at Montana State University’s Geospacial Core Facility Jackson Rose and Headwaters Economics’ Kristin Smith traveled to Glendive in order to collect light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data along a 1.24-mile span of the east Yellowstone River.
Building homes to these standards is comparable to using traditional building strategies, according to a recent report from Montana-based Headwaters Economics.
A recent report by the U.S. Forest Service in partnership with Headwaters Economics and Pyrologix reveals over 115 million people—more than one-third of the U.S. population—live in counties with high wildfire risk, and more than 48 million buildings are found within these areas.
Doug Green, a program manager for the Community Planning Assistance Wildfire Program at Headwaters Economics, agrees that wildfire risk can be lowered and worked with the city and the county in years past to try and develop local codes and regulations.
A newly updated wildfire risk map could help level the playing field for rural communities who don’t have the resources to conduct their own wildfire risk assessments, according to the independent research group Headwaters Economics.
“When done correctly, a hazard mitigation plan can help the community get behind projects and prioritize them, as well as help the community reflect on the risks they have and try to do something about them,” said Kristin Smith, a lead researcher for Headwaters Economics, a Montana-based nonprofit that helps communities with land management.
“We know a great deal about how to build smarter, durable, more sustainable homes in high-risk areas,” said Kimiko Barrett Ph.D., wildfire research and policy lead at Headwaters Economics. “We know from decades of research, laboratory experiments, and post- fire analyses that building materials, structural design and neighborhood layout are critical determinants of a home’s survival from a wildfire. So it is really a scale issue because it has to occur at all scales.”
An analysis last year by the nonprofit Headwaters Economics found that “low-capacity” communities, which tend to be rural, lacked the staff and expertise to compete in previous federal grant competitions.
Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics released a comprehensive guide for confronting urban wildfire risk in May.
Headwaters Economics determined that the nation-spanning Great American Rail-Trail, if completed, would bring an estimated $16 million in annual visitor spending, $800,000 in annual tax revenue and 210 new jobs to Montana with its 427 miles through the state.
Wildfires threaten nearly one-third of U.S. residents and buildings, according to a new government analysis that suggests the risk is greater than previously known. The Forest Service, working with Montana researchers, took a new approach to measuring wildfire risk and limited its historical analysis to the 15 years between 2004 and 2018.
Kelly Pohl, the associate director of Headwaters Economics, which partnered with the Forest Service on the site, said risk is growing as the climate warms and dries, and more homes are built in the wildlands.
Wildfires threaten nearly one-third of U.S. residents and buildings, according to a new government analysis that suggests the risk is greater than previously known.
The Forest Service, working with Montana researchers, took a new approach to measuring wildfire risk and limited its historical analysis to the 15 years between 2004 and 2018.
Megan Lawson, an economist with Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics — an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit — said in an interview with The Sheridan Press that communities themselves may best be able to recognize when short-term rental listings become a problem.
