Thinning and Prescribed Fire and Projected Trends in Wood Product Potential, Financial Return, and Fire Hazard in New Mexico
United States Department of Agriculture Thinning and Prescribed Fire and Forest Service Projected Trends in Wood Product Pacific Northwest Research Station Potential, Financial Return, and General Technical Report Fire Hazard in New Mexico PNW-GTR-605 June 2004 Roger D. Fight, R. James Barbour, Glenn A. Christensen, Guy L. Pinjuv, and Rao V. Nagubadi Authors Roger D. Fight is a research forester, R. James Barbour is a research forest products technologist, Glenn A. Christensen is a research forester, and Guy L. Pinjuv and Rao V. Nagubadi were foresters, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, P.O. Box 3890, Portland, OR 97208; Pinjuv is currently a doctoral candidate, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020, New Zealand; Nagubadi is current- ly a post-doctoral fellow, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849. Abstract Fight, Roger D.; Barbour, R. James; Christensen, Glenn, A.; Pinjuv, Guy L.; Nagubadi, Rao V. 2004. Thinning and prescribed fire and projected trends in wood product potential, financial return, and fire hazard in New Mexico. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-605. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 48 p. This work was undertaken under a joint fire science project “Assessing the need, costs, and potential benefits of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to reduce fire hazard.” This paper compares the future mix of timber projects under two treat- ment scenarios for New Mexico. We developed and demonstrated an analytical method that uses readily available tools to evaluate pre- and posttreatment stand conditions; size, species, and volume of merchantable wood removed during thinnings; size and volume of submerchantable wood cut during treatments; and financial returns of prescriptions that are applied repeatedly over a 90-year period.
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