Understanding the role of land use type and topographic features in shaping wildfire regimes received much attention because of the intensification of wildfire activities. The intensifying wildfires in the western United States are a great concern both for the environment and society. We investigate the patterns of wildfire occurrence in the western United States at the landscape level by using 118 wildfires with areas greater than 405 ha in the study year of 2018. The selection ratios were calculated to measure fire preference with regard to land cover type, slope, and aspect. The results suggest that grasslands, steeper slopes, and south-facing aspects were more susceptible to wildfires in the western United States. Additionally, there were regional variations in wildfire susceptibility in Washington, Oregon, and California. The most wildfire-prone land cover type in Washington was mixed forests, whereas that in Oregon and California was grassland. The findings of this study improve the understanding of the role of land use changes and topographic features in shaping wildfire patterns in the western United States, providing insights for managing wildfire risks for forest management strategies at the landscape level.

The forest products industry (FPI) is an important component of local, state, regional, and national economies. Thus, assessing its economic contribution can provide valuable information to policymakers and forestry interests. IMPLAN, an input–output model, was used to assess the economic contribution of the FPI in 13 US southern states for the year 2009, individually as well as regionally, and to compare it with that in 2001, the last comprehensive study of the industry in the South. Two aspects of economic contribution, direct impacts and associated economic multipliers, were estimated for three primary FPI sectors (lumber and wood products, paper and allied products, and wood furniture). The FPI in the South employed 470,000 individuals and generated $133 billion of gross output. The industry's employment decreased by 33.9 percent while gross output increased by 15.1 percent between 2001 and 2009. Study findings reveal that the FPI reduced employment relative to total industry output to maintain production during the recession period providing evidence of capital substitution for labor. This implies that despite the disproportionate impacts of the great recession of the 2000s, the industry is still an important component of the South's economy. Thus, this article will provide insights about how the economic contribution of the FPI changes over time. In addition, results of this study will be helpful in identifying important industry shifts and help formulate policies and regulations to support the FPI.

State agencies and universities often use IMPLAN software and data to quantify economic contributions of forest-product industries in specific regions. Since IMPLAN software is designed to estimate economic impacts rather than economic contributions, adjustments have to be made to the direct effect values to avoid overstating the results of the analysis. Two economic contribution analysis approaches are most common: internal adjustments to the IMPLAN software and external adjustments of the input values by using output multipliers. Results suggest that both methods of contribution analysis produce similar total effects, but their approaches of handling direct effects are substantially different. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are discussed, and the importance of adjustments to obtain economic contribution estimates as opposed to economic impact estimates is highlighted. Furthermore, practitioners are cautioned to follow the steps carefully and explain which, between the two contribution analysis methods, was used in their analysis.

Open spaces, including waterfront areas, are critical to coastal communities and provide many benefits, including recreation opportunities, economic development, ecological benefits, and other ecosystem services. However, it is not clear how values of waterfront ecosystem services vary across geographical areas which prevents development and adoption of site-specific natural resource conservation plans and suitable long-term land management strategies. This study estimated the monetary value of distance to different waterfront types in coastal counties of Mississippi and Alabama (U.S.) using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) approach as an extension to a traditional hedonic pricing method (HPM). In addition, the study utilized publicly available data from the U.S. Census Bureau instead of certified rolls of county property assessors and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data which can be costly and difficult to obtain. Residents valued most waterfront types which was reflected in greater assessed prices for houses in proximity to these waterfronts. However, the value of ecosystem services associated with waterfronts differed geospatially. The marginal implicit prices ranged from −$6343 to $6773 per km depending on a waterfront type. These estimates will be useful to city developers, land-use planners, and other stakeholders to make more informed and balanced decisions related to natural resource preservation associated with coastal areas, land-use planning, and zoning. In addition, information from this study can be used in developing healthy living environments where local economy can benefit from increased property tax revenues associated with waterfronts and their ecosystem services.