Healthy Forests, Secure Drinking Water: Valuing Forest Resilience for Communities

Written By Travis Warziniack

Healthy forests are critical infrastructure for drinking water systems.

This research project evaluates how forest condition, land use change, and wildfire risk affect drinking water reliability and treatment costs—and how proactive forest management can reduce long-term risks to communities. By combining ecosystem service valuation with applied decision analysis, the project generates actionable evidence to support investments in forest restoration, source water protection, and innovative financing tools such as Forest Resilience Bonds.

Focus: Ecosystem service valuation, drinking water protection

  • Ecosystems: Forested watersheds

  • Risks addressed: Wildfire, development, water quality degradation

  • Decision contexts: Utility planning, watershed protection, forest investment

  • Geography: Western U.S. (scalable to other regions)

  • Status: Ongoing research program

  • Outputs: Peer-reviewed publications, valuation frameworks, decision support

The Problem We Address

Many communities rely on forested watersheds for clean, affordable drinking water—but these systems are increasingly threatened by wildfire, land development, and climate-driven stressors. When forests are degraded, downstream utilities and ratepayers face higher treatment costs, infrastructure damage, and increased supply risk.

Despite this, the economic value of forest-based water services is often undervalued or excluded from investment and land-use decisions. This gap limits communities’ ability to justify proactive forest management and to attract long-term, blended financing.

What This Research Does

This project develops and applies economic valuation approaches that make forest–water linkages visible and decision-relevant.

Key research elements include:

  • Valuing how forest condition influences drinking water treatment costs and reliability

  • Quantifying avoided damages from wildfire and development in source watersheds

  • Integrating ecological change, risk, and uncertainty into economic analysis

  • Translating valuation results into metrics suitable for investment and financing decisions

Why It Matters for Funders and Communities

This research directly supports:

  • Source water protection planning for utilities and municipalities

  • Forest investment strategies that stack water, wildfire, and ecosystem benefits

  • Conservation finance mechanisms and pay-for-performance models by identifying beneficiaries and value streams

  • Grant applications and capital planning that require credible economic justification

By clarifying who benefits, by how much, and over what time horizon, the work helps bridge the gap between forest management and financial decision-making.

Research Outputs and Ongoing Work

Project outputs include:

  • Peer-reviewed publications on forests, wildfire risk, and drinking water economics

  • Applied valuation frameworks suitable for utility and watershed planning

  • Case studies demonstrating how forest investments protect downstream water users

  • Methodological guidance for communities exploring resilience financing

Recent and related publications are linked below and updated automatically as new work is published.

Opportunities for Collaboration

This is an active research program, we welcome collaboration with:

  • Postdoctoral researchers interested in applied environmental economics, ecosystem services, or natural capital accounting

  • Utilities and municipalities seeking to evaluate source water protection investments

  • NGOs, tribes, and watershed groups developing forest restoration strategies

  • Investors and intermediaries exploring conservation financing tools

If you are interested in partnering, piloting methods, or supporting applied research, please get in touch.

Travis Warziniack