Financial analysis of fuel treatments

The purpose of this paper is to provide information and discussion that will be helpful in promoting thoughtful design of fire hazard reduction treatments to meet the full range of management objectives. Thoughtful design requires an understanding of the costs and potential revenues of applying variations of fire hazard reduction treatments in a wide range of stand conditions. This paper draws extensively on the My Fuel Treatment Planner (MyFTP) software to highlight and illustrate the effect of treatment variables on the cost and net revenue from fire hazard reduction treatments in dry forest types of the Western United States. Treatments covered are thinning with or without utilization, prescribed fire, and mastication. For thinning with removal to a landing, costs can be estimated for four ground-based systems, four cable systems, and two helicopter systems.