Three scientists with experience in forest restoration economics - Dennis Becker, University of Minnesota, Debra Larson, Northern Arizona University and Eini Lowell, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland - recently published an detailed report in which they quantify harvest-related costs associated with three different restoration strategies for use in Southwest ponderosa pine forests in which the risk of catastrophic wildfire is high.

Not surprisingly, the strategies - full restoration with a 16-inch limit on the diameter of trees that can be harvested, intermediate restoration with no diameter limit and minimal restoration with a 16-inch diameter limit - yield varying results where costs and profitability are concerned.

The bottom line: forest policy restrictions that limit the size of ponderosa pines that can be removed from overstocked and dying forests in the Southwest affects profitability and thus the need for taxpayer subsidy.

Click here to go to the "Biomass" page and to read the USFS report.