Valuing Ecosystem Services in Fire Affected Landscapes

Masters (MA or MSc) in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Sustainability. University of British Columbia – Okanagan Campus (Conditional on Funding)

Overview:

The environmental, social, and economic impacts of wildfire are increasing in British Columbia. A century of fire suppression, forest management and land use have significantly altered forest composition and configuration resulting in landscape-scale changes to forest fuel loads. Combined with climate change, forest conditions and land use have accelerated changes to fire regimes resulting in increased fire activity and severity, which will significantly test the resilience of communities in British Columbia. Efforts to match increasing wildfire activity with suppression efforts have either failed, resulting in significant loss of property and livelihoods, or become so costly that alternative solutions are required. The 2017 fire season – the largest on record to that time in British Columbia – had an estimated $568 million in associated fire suppression costs with some 65,000 people evacuated.  Then in 2023 the area burned was more than double that in 2017.

The successful applicant will be part of a multidisciplinary team that combines expertise at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in environmental economics, humanities, visual arts, spatial sciences and remote sensing, ecological modelling, and impact assessment, to understand how wildfire risk, socio-economic factors, and cultural politics interact in the Okanagan Valley to shape attitudes and policy regarding wildfire and land use.

Socio-economic Impacts Assessment: Historic and Prospective

The socioeconomic impacts of the recently dominant approach to wildfire management will be assessed by collecting data from a variety of local government, provincial and federal agencies.  The student will develop a catalog of potential impacts, and then develop a strategy for identifying and collecting the data necessary to quantify these impacts.  The impacts are expected to include direct fire suppression costs, loss of timber value, reduction in quality of recreational sites, costs of evacuations and interruptions of economic activities, etc.

Living with wildfire means adopting a different approach to our interaction with fire and the landscape.  The historic analysis will form a basis for projecting how those costs might change under alternative management approaches.  These alternatives might include proscribed burns, fuel load management, and changes to the rules governing subdivision and development in interface zones.

The student may also have the opportunity to assist with the development of a survey instrument that will be used to measure public perceptions of the trade-offs involved in different wildfire management approaches.  Public perceptions and consequently political acceptability of alternative management approaches do not necessarily reflect cost effectiveness, and addressing perceptual issues begins by understanding what the perceptions are.

Qualifications

  • Demonstrated competencies required for the collection and analysis of secondary data (e.g. from Statistics Canada, local government budgets, etc.).
  • A strong desire to work across disciplines and a commitment to investing the time necessary for learning across disciplinary boundaries.
  • A bachelors degree that provided training in quantitative methods – data analysis and statistics.
  • Training in economics or a related field would be an asset.

Application Process

  1. Provide me (by email: janmaat@ubc.ca) with your CV, a statement of courses and grades, and a covering letter describing your interest in the project. The subject of your message must be ‘WILDFIRE ECON MA’.
  2. I will review your application material. I will follow up if your application package convinces me that you are a good fit for the position.  I will arrange a virtual meeting with you to learn more about you and address any remaining questions.  Following this meeting, I will let you know if I am willing to be your supervisor.
  3. Apply for admission to the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) program at UBC Okanagan. Note that admission to the program is determined by an admissions committee.  My willingness to be your supervisor does not guarantee admission.

Funding

  • The project funding provides $15,000 CAD per year for two years for Master’s students. If you are selected, and conditional on satisfactory performance, this amount is assured.
  • There are merit based scholarships and fellowships available. Being offered these depends on your academic standing prior to joining UBC and your ongoing performance while in the program.
  • You will have the opportunity to apply for teaching assistant positions. The IGS program at UBC Okanagan is able to place most accepted graduate students in TA position.  Your selection for such positions is based on your previous and ongoing educational experience and on the needs of the department offering the positions.  Graduate teaching assistantships pay approximately $13,500 annually, and require about 192 hours of work per academic term for two terms.