How Does Wildfire Impact Oregon Ag Land?

Wildfires pose economic and environmental threats as well as health concerns across the nation, especially here in the west. With the frequency and intensity of these fires increasing over recent years, what impact have those fires had on agricultural lands?

A Fire Is Not Needed To Negatively Impact Farmland Value

Oregon State University’s Ken Annan and Dan Bigelow looked to answer that question in a recent paper. Bigelow noted grassland and pastures across Oregon saw the most pronounced negative impacts from wildfires, not only from the destruction, but also a drop in land value. He noted areas prone to wildfires, saw land prices drop roughly 27% per acre.

“Of course, it's catastrophic if the land itself burns, but if some nearby land burns, that sort of, you can think sending a signal through the land market that's then kind of capitalized in the form of lower prices for that land in the future,” Bigelow said.

He added the threat of wildfire is not just limited to the destruction of property.

“Things like, livestock health, that's really hard to measure, especially over a broader scale," Bigelow said. "Labor productivity, that's another thing. You know, there's a lot of research here in Oregon about, you know, wine grapes, right, because that's such a big industry here. But you can think about the price of land as kind of, indirectly, not explicitly, but, it captures in some sense the future net income that would accrue to the landowner. And that future net income is going to be a function of all of those other things."