Cost analysis of experimental treatments on ponderosa pine watersheds

Abstract

The purpose of the Beaver Creek Pilot Watershed project is to evaluate the effects of vegetative changes on water, sediment, soil, forage, recreation, and wildlife yields, and to determine the subsequent risks from fire, insects, and disease. Located just south of Flagstaff, Arizona, this project is currently developing multiple use production data for alternative land management practices. A wide range of vegetation treatments have been experimentally tested on watersheds in both the juniper and ponderosa pine zones. This report contains an analysis of treatment costs in the ponderosa pine zone to provide relationships for economic evaluations and estimation of project planning costs. The estimates include costs of precommercial thinning and slash disposal, by Forest Service crews (force account work), but not costs of commercial product removals. If thinning and piling activities are to be accomplished as sale purchaser work, or by contract, these estimates will also be useful for determining contract costs.

Opportunities for increasing water yields and other multiple use values on ponderosa pine forest lands /

“…Since treatment costs are covered in detail in another paper (Turner and Larson 1974), only a brief summary of costs will be presented here. A general model applicable to both experimental and forest operations was obtained by relating costs to basal area removed.…”

“…Because treatments with high initial costs may have lower costs at future cuts, evaluation of a treatment alternative on the basis of initial costs could be very misleading unless future product flows and costs are accounted for and discounted back to present. This procedure can be handled internally by a multiple use allocation model which considers costs and yields at appropriate intervals throughout the planning horizon (Turner 1974).…”

Cattle Grazing and Wood Production with Different Basal Areas of Ponderosa Pine

“…As more trees are removed in the initial treatment (moving up the curve from point A toward point D) more initial costs are incurred. The cost of completely converting a ponderosa pine stand to grass (point D) is $30 to $4O/acre more expensive (Turner and Larson, 1974) than managing the stand at point C. When variations in costs for initial stand improvement are included, the economic optimum level of management moves to some point between points C and B, or between, say, about 45l and 60 ft2 of tree basal area.…”