Known as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI), the US Forest Service is planning a large-scale restoration of ponderosa pine forests in the Verde River watershed in central Arizona, USA. This paper uses a reduced-form econometric regression model with 1969-2010 time-series data to estimate ...

Dry forests across the United States have become subject to declining resilience and, consequently, increased vulnerability to catastrophic wildfires. These disturbances cause severe environmental and social damages and may dislodge the forest into a different ecological regime. Forests provide...

Wildfire suppression costs have been increasing since the early 1970's. With growing concern over wildfire suppression costs, our analysis addresses restoration treatment effectiveness in reducing wildfire suppression costs. We examine past fires across the Northern Arizona landscape to determine...

In this article, we develop a simulation model of the benefits and costs of managing the ponderosa pine forest ecosystem in the southwestern United States. Using the model, we evaluate and compare the economic benefits and costs of ecological restoration and hazardous fuel reduction treatments....

Fuel treatments are used in overstocked, fire-prone forests to alter wildfire behavior and reduce fire risk. Some of the benefits they provide are not captured in markets, and therefore represent unaccounted environmental externalities that can lead to inefficient decision making. This study uses a ...

Moisture content management is key to improve forest harvest residue economics for biofuel production. Branches are a large component of these residues, especially when residual bole components are diverted to pulpwood. The literature is not clear about seasonal moisture patterns for the main ...

Ponderosa pine forests in the southwestern United States of America are overly dense, increasing the risk of high-intensity stand-replacing wildfires that result in the loss of terrestrial carbon and release of carbon dioxide, contributing to global climate change. Restoration is needed to restore...

Managers masticate fuels to reduce extreme fire hazards, but the effect on fire behaviour within the resulting compact fuelbeds is poorly understood. We burned 54 masticated fuelbeds in laboratory experiments one and two growing seasons after mastication and 75 masticated fuelbeds in prescribed...

Provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood; volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies; and other related items.

Ensuring adequate conifer regeneration after high severity wildfires is a common objective for ecologists and forest managers. In the Klamath region of Oregon and California, a global hotspot of botanical biodiversity, concerns over regeneration have led to post-fire management on many sites, which ...