Year of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Name

Forestry

Department or School/College

W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation

Committee Chair

Dr. Elizabeth Dodson

Commitee Members

Elizabeth Dodson, John Goodburn, Nathaniel Anderson, Steven Hayes

Keywords

Forestry, Forest Operations, ponderosa pine, restoration, cost, productivity

Subject Categories

Forest Management | Forest Sciences

Abstract

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and other mixed conifer forests of the United States southern Rocky Mountains (SRM) evolved under a low-severity, high-frequency fire regime. With the arrival of Euro-American colonists, fire was excluded from most forests, causing stands to grow dense and become prone to uncharacteristic high-severity crown fires. To combat wildfire threat, restoration treatments are frequently used to restore historic stand structure and function, effectively reducing high-severity fire risk. However, these treatments may be costly and little information is available regarding the forest operations used in the SRM. In this thesis, five forest operations were studied in 2017 to quantify and benchmark cost and production rates. Individual contractors were then provided a set of suggestions to improve their operational efficiency, ranging from proper equipment use, to obtaining different types of machines and using different harvest systems. In 2018, we followed up with three of the five operations and observed their “improved” operations and calculated updated cost and production rates. In 2017, we found that the average cost of a forest operation was $26.92 gt-1 ($24.42/ton) of logs produced. If forest residues were comminuted as part of treatment, on average they cost $9.17 gt-1 ($8.32/ton) to produce. In 2018, after “improvements” had been implemented by contractors, we found that operations were on average 18% more cost effective. Biomass energy opportunities exist in this region as forest restoration efforts continue but current operations are largely restricted by market forces.

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© Copyright 2019 Lucas Patrick Townsend