Evaluating the Salvage Value of Fire-Killed Timber by Helicopter—Effects of Yarding Distance and Time Since Fire

Abstract

Abstract Recently, large areas of federal lands in the western United States have been subject to wildfire. Concerns about hastening restoration, soil disturbance, and road building have prompted consideration of helicopter logging. Normal planning procedures on federal lands are not sensitive to the rapid decline in the recoverable economic value of fire-killed timber. The economic value of fire-killed timber is dependent on logging costs and time since tree death. A model is developed to calculate value of fire-killed timber as a function of time since death and yarding distance using helicopters as the preferred logging method. Applications of the method to tactical planning are discussed.