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Across the U.S., one of seven manufactured homes is in a neighborhood with high flood risk, according to a Headwaters Economics analysis, a figure that is only expected to rise due to climate change.

This feedback loop is what Headwaters Economics calls the “amenity trap”. Our research shows that fast-growing amenity destinations across the Mountain West are wrestling with these same challenges and finding creative solutions to avoid being loved to death.

“People don’t understand how much income comes into the state in the form of non-labor income,” Martin said, referring to a 2015 study conducted by Headwaters Economics.

A complete structure loss tally for the Carlton Complex fire doesn’t appear to exist. But according to Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research group that compiled a national wildfire structure loss dataset from federal statistics, it consumed at least 471 structures.

Kimiko Barrett, a wildfire researcher with Headwaters Economics, said there are several reasons people live — and are moving to — these locations, including out of necessity.

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A new report from Headwaters Economics and the Hispanic Access Foundation (HAF) finds that Latinos face substantially higher flood risks in the country.

“We’re seeing year after year that there are many communities that are low-capacity or rural that are just not getting this money,” said Kristin Smith, a climate expert at Headwaters Economics research group in Montana who analyzed BRIC allocations.

“We’re seeing year after year that there are many communities that are low-capacity or rural that are just not getting this money,” said Kristin Smith, a climate expert at the Headwaters Economics research group in Montana.

Rural communities continue to be left out of federal funding opportunities even amid efforts from the Biden administration to invest in rural America, according to a new analysis. 

Project selections are often skewed toward communities that already have more resources, particularlykey local government positions and expertise, according to a recent analysis from nonprofit research group Headwaters Economics.

Gallatin County is 69% more susceptible to flooding than all other counties in the country and its most vulnerable residents face the highest risk, according to a new analysis from Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics.

“We as a culture must fundamentally rethink wildfire and what it means to coexist with increasing risk,” said commission member Kimiko Barrett, of Montana-based Headwaters Economics.

Kimiko Barrett, lead wildfire policy analyst at Headwaters Economics, said she expects many federal firefighters to move on rather than take a pay cut in the coming weeks. 

“And you’ll see at the same time, concurrently rising wildfire risks,” she said.

“These fires and the way that they are behaving right now are not going to be as extreme as they are going to be in the next decade. We have yet to see the full fruition of climate change come to light and how it’s going to influence wildfire behavior,” said Kimiko Barrett, lead wildfire researcher and policy analyst at nonprofit research group Headwaters Economics.

“Mobile homes are the most common affordable housing strategy in the United States,” said Kristin Smith, who researches flood recovery at the think tank Headwaters Economics, “And I think a lot of people don’t know that.”

“Policy is this slow-moving thing, but the market can be very responsive,” Megan Lawson, a researcher at the Montana think tank Headwaters Economics, said. “If you have a disproportionate share of homebuyers who are either investors or folks moving in with cash — that’s when you see the exponential price increases.”

As a first step, the agency should account for existing trails and roads, said Megan Lawson, an economist for Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research firm based in Montana.

There are thousands of popular hiking trails in the Mountain West, but until recently it’s been difficult to measure just how many people use them. Now, the nonprofit Headwaters Economics is combining infrared counters with fitness tracking apps to accurately measure trail use so that land managers can get a better sense of how to spend on recreation improvements.

A report from Headwaters Economics showed that communities with fewer staff and less expertise were less likely to win grants from a federal wildfire-defense program. The Forest Service is trying two new tools to help these places, which tend to be rural, be more successful.