Severe Weather
Forests are vulnerable to severe weather. Severe weather events can cause immediate losses for landowners, and the broken and uprooted trees left in the wake of a storm increase the risk that wildfires, disease, and pest outbreaks will cause secondary damage to the surviving trees. For example, timber producers in the Southern United States are faced with the regular risk of damages from intense hurricanes. Evidence suggests that timberland investors under hurricane threat could benefit by diversifying their holdings geographically. It might be particularly beneficial to favor areas far enough from coastal counties to minimize catastrophic losses from such storms but close enough to benefit from market-level price enhancements resulting from regional inventory losses. The sections that follow investigate factors of vulnerability and management of risks associated with severe weather, including an in-depth review of hurricane-related impacts.
To further review impacts of severe weather, consider reading the following Environmental Threats Case Studies:
Evaluating the Vulnerability of Maine Forests to Wind Damage
- The Influence of Forest Management on Vulnerability of Forests to Severe Weather : Excessive wind, ice, and snow regularly cause major disturbances to forests in many parts of the world, significantly impacting both ecological conditions and economic returns to forest landowners.
- Economic Impacts of Hurricanes on Forest Owners : This section presents a conceptual model of the economic impacts of hurricanes on timber producers and consumers, offers a framework indicating how welfare impacts can be estimated using econometric estimates of timber price dynamics, and illustrates the advantages of using a welfare theoretic model, which includes: (1) welfare estimates that are consistent with neo-classical economic theory, and (2) wealth transfers among various market participants that can be evaluated.
Encyclopedia ID: p3275
