Business decision-making and utility economics of large landslides within National Forest System lands in the United States

Scope of the study. This dissertation research was focused on business decision-making pertaining to natural resource management of large landslides on U.S. National Forest System lands.;Findings and conclusions. Decision-making by federal managers follows direction of the US government. Therefore, decisions are heavily influenced by federal policy, which ebbs and flows in response to societal needs and desires. In this research the effects of society's economic values associated with natural resource management of large landslides was evaluated. This economic valuation indicates a trend towards positive benefits of landslide mitigation programs to the general public as measured by their willingness to contribute money to support such programs. This research also indicates that U.S. National Forest Service district rangers assign positive benefits to landslide mitigation programs as measured by their willingness to allocate a portion of management budgets to such programs. The general public apparently is not risk-averse in having business decisions completed by federal managers and these line officers are willing to take measured risk in managing the large landslide natural resources. And lastly the U.S. National Forest Service, if it makes some adjustments, is strategically well prepared to make wise economic decisions in the management of these resources.