Evaluation of Silvicultural Treatments and Biomass Use for Reducing Fire Hazard in Western States

Several analyses have shown that fire hazard is a concern for substantial areas of forestland, shrubland, grassland, and range in the western United States. In response, broadscale management strategies, such as the National Fire Plan, established actions to reduce the threat of undesirable fire. Available budgets are insufficient to pay for vegetative management on all acres where fire threat is considered unacceptable. The purpose of this report is to begin to identify locations in the west where fire hazard reduction treatments have a potential to "pay for themselves" at a scale and over a long enough time to make investment in additional forest product processing infrastructure a realistic option.