Annual visitation and economic benefits of recreation from 2017-2022 estimated for Forest Service lands within ten initial investment landscapes of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy

This data publication contains vector data (shapefile and geopackage) representing visitation and economic benefits estimated at the fireshed level within the ten initial investment landscapes of the USDA Forest Service Wildfire Crisis Strategy, which are within Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. Visitation was estimated using digital mobility data (geolocated social media posts) and established methods for calculating the economic benefit of recreation to forest sites. Data include estimates of annual visitation and economic benefits between 2017 and 2022 for 163 fireshed polygons.
Tools and initiatives to prioritize landscapes for restoration and fuels reduction, such as the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, should incorporate human values, including recreation values. Adequately incorporating recreation values into landscape prioritization requires consistent, fine-grain spatial data on recreation uses and values, yet recreation data are typically unavailable at that resolution. These data provide estimates of recreational use and the associated economic benefits of existing recreation by fireshed, which is the spatial resolution that is commonly used in landscape prioritization.