Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and

Integration

Economic Uses Fact Sheet : 9

Mechanical Treatment Costs

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Research Note

RMRS-RN-20-9-WWW

June 2005

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

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

How Much Will It Cost to Use Mechanical Treatment?

Although fuel reduction treatments are widespread, there is great variability and

uncertainty in the cost of conducting treatments. Given specific site variables and

management objectives, how much will it cost to treat hazardous fuels using mechanical fuel reduction techniques? Researchers from the Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, have developed a model for estimating the

per-acre cost for mechanical fuel reduction treatments.

The information for this

fact sheet was provided

by Dave Calkin at the

Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, Montana.

The data for this analysis come from a

survey of USDA Forest Service District Fire Management Officers conducted during the spring of 2004. Mechanical treatments occurring between

2001 and 2003 identified within the

National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS) were

sampled for Western Forest Service

Regions (Regions 1–6). Data were collected on direct treatment costs, management objectives, and physical site

characteristics. Although these models

do a good job of identifying factors that

Implementing a mechanical fuel reduction treatment. The program can assist with predicting the

cost of a mechanical treatment based on local variables (photo courtesy of John Szymoniak).

influence the costs of treatments, individual fuel treatments are unique, and the

associated costs remain highly variable. Therefore, these cost estimates should

only be used as a rough first estimate.

Factors Affecting Mechanical Treatment Cost

• Size of area to be treated

• Fire regime

• Elevation

• Fuel load

• Management objectives

• Whether site is in wildland-urban interface (WUI)

• Forest Service Region

The PNW Research Station has developed an interactive computer-based spreadsheet called My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP, see RMRS-RN-20-4-WWW

Revised) that can help with planning fuel reduction treatments. The cost model

described in this fact sheet is contained within My Fuel Treatment Planner, which

is available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/data/soft.htm.

Examples of mechanical fuel reduction treatment costs for four landscape

scenarios are shown in table 1.
The Fuels Planning fact sheets are based on preliminary findings. Information from fact sheets will be synthesized in an upcoming publication.

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

Table 1—Four examples of mechanical cost estimates.

Estimated cost

Variables per acre

100-acre Douglas-fir $167

Fire Regime III (35–100 yrs. mixed severity)

3,000 ft elevation

20 tons per acre

Fuel reduction objective

WUI

Region 6

200-acre ponderosa pine $292

Fire Regime I (0–35 yrs. light severity)

3,500 ft elevation

10 tons per acre

Protect WUI objective

WUI

Region 1

1,000-acre mixed conifer $35

Fire Regime IV (35–100 yrs. stand replacement)

2,000 ft elevation

15 tons per acre

Forest health objective

No WUI

Region 5

20-acre lodgepole pine $117

Fire Regime III (35–100 yrs. stand replacement)

5,000 ft elevation

15 tons per acre

Forest health objective

No WUI

Region 6

Selected References

Berry, A. H.; Hesseln, H. 2004. The effect of the wildland-urban interface on prescribed burning costs in the

Factors affecting mecvhanical treatment cost include fuel load, elevation, and fire regime.

Pacific Northwestern United States. Journal of Forestry.

102(6): 33–37.

Cleaves, D. A.; Haines, T. K.; Martinez, J. 1999. Prescribed

burning costs: trends and influences in the National Forest System. In: Proceedings of the symposium on fire

economics, planning and policy: bottom lines. Gen.

Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-173. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest

Research Station: 227–288.

González-Cabán, A. 1997. Managerial and institutional

factors affect prescribed burning costs. Forest Science.

43(4): 535–543.

González-Cabán, A.; McKetta, C. W. 1986. Analyzing fuel

treatment costs. Western Journal of Applied Forestry.

1(4): 116–121.

Hesseln, H. 2000. The economics of prescribed burning: a research review. Forest Science. 46(3): 322–334.

Rideout, D. B.; Omi, P. N. 1995. Estimating the cost of

fuels treatment. Forest Science. 41(4): 664–674.