Information and Preferences for Post-Fire Restoration Techniques in Protective Forests: A Choice Experiment Approach

As climate change increases wildfire frequency and intensity, post-fire restoration is a critical challenge in protective mountain forests. While ecological literature addresses restoration techniques effectiveness, little is known about public preferences and their responsiveness to information. This study estimates the monetary value attributed to different post-fire management strategies in the Italian Alps, using a repeated choice experiment with 1,210 residents, measuring willingness to pay (WTP) before and after providing science-based information. Results show a preference for visible, active interventions, especially reforestation and salvage logging, driven by symbolic meanings and common-sense notions of recovery. After receiving information, respondents significantly reduced their WTP for intensive practices, and socio-demographic differences narrowed, highlighting the transformative role of targeted information in aligning social preferences with ecologically sound forest management.