Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and

Integration

Economic Uses Fact Sheet: 2

Log Hauling Cost

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Research Note

RMRS-RN-20-2-WWW

September 2004

Log Hauling Cost And Decisionmaking

Knowing the cost of fuel reduction

treatments and associated activities, such

as hauling cut trees, is essential for fire

and fuels planning. Achieving the goals

of ecosystem management may result

in an emphasis on harvest methods that

may not necessarily be the most cost

effective. For instance, managers may

cut a larger proportion of small diameter trees and trees with low economic

value, and build fewer access roads in order to reduce impacts on fish and wildlife.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that planners explore

alternatives to actions that have significant environmental impacts, and although

economics should not be a factor weighed directly against other impacts in a NEPA

context, managers will want financial information about alternatives in order to

determine what options are reasonable and how much can be accomplished with

available budgets. This fact sheet explores the main factors that determine the cost

of hauling cut trees and points the user to an interactive tool that can help plan for

those and other expenses.

Estimating Hauling Cost

In order to estimate hauling cost per green ton or per 100 cubic feet of logs, you

need to know the daily cost of a truck and driver, the expected number of loads

per day for the hauling distance, and the capacity of the log truck in weight or

volume. With this information, you can estimate the cost of hauling logs using My

Fuels Treatment Planner (MyFTP), an MS ExcelÆ-based, interactive tool being developed at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service. For some

of these variables, MyFTP will input standard default values. Specifically, the calculator assumes that the daily cost for a truck and driver is $580 and the capacity

of the log truck is 26 green tons. However, you can override the default settings

with your own values if you have them at hand.

What Information Do I Need to Have?

My Fuels Treatment Planner will prompt you with the following questions:

ï What is the expected one-way hauling distance for this project?

ï MFTP estimates the number of loads per day for this hauling distance. Do

you want to use the default value? If not, what is your estimate of the

number of loads per day?

Economics Team Co-Leads:

Roger Fight

Jamie Barbour

USDA Forest Service

Pacific Northwest Research Station

620 SW Main Street, Suite 400

Portland, OR 97205

Fuels planning: Science synthesis and integration, an interagency research/management partnership to support the Ten-Year

Fire Plan, led by Russell T. Graham, RMRS,

and Sarah M. McCaffrey, NCRS.

Synthesizing

Scientific Information

for Fire and Fuels

Project Managers

Pacific Northwest

Research Station
The Fuels Planning fact sheets are based on preliminary findings. Information from fact sheets will be synthesized in an upcoming publication.

ï The default cost per day for a driver and a truck

that hauls 26 tons is $580. Do you want to use that

value? If not, what is your assumed cost per day?

ï The default truck capacity is 26 tons. Do you want

to use that value? If not, what is your assumed

truck capacity?

ï What is the average small end diameter of the

logs?

The output will be the cost per 1,000 board feet, 100

cubic feet, green ton, and dry ton. This information can

provide managers with important information to be used

in the planning process for fire and fuels treatments.

Economics Team Fact Sheets

Look for fact sheet topics from the Economics Team including prescribed

fire costs, harvesting, log hauling, NEPA and other regulations, wood utilization, economic impacts on communities, markets for wood, and harvest equipment requirements.

Fuels Planning: Synthesis and Integration

This fact sheet is one in a series being produced as part of a larger project

supported by the USDA Forest Service to synthesize new knowledge and

information relevant to fire and fuels management. Fact sheets address

topics related to stand structure, environmental impacts, economics, and

human responses to these factors. Information in the fact sheets is targeted for the dry forests of the Inland West, but is often applicable across

broad regions of the country. For more information, please visit our Web

site at:

www.fs.fed.us/fire/tech_transfer/synthesis/synthesis_index

What About Chip Hauling?

The capacity and cost per day for a chip truck is similar

to that of a log truck. A reasonable estimate for hauling

chips is therefore the same as for logs. Most logging roads

were not designed to accommodate chip trucks, however. In many situations, especially where turning radius

is tight or when low clearance will cause the chip truck to

high center on a rolling dip or hill crest, it may not be

possible to haul chips.

Reference

Lee, H. W.; Johnson, L. R. 1996. Calculating timber removal costs under ecosystem management. Idaho Forest, Wildlife and Range Experiment Station Bulletin No.

26 [May]. 15 p.