Why is the preferred alternative more economically efficient than the current direction?
Forest Service budgets over the next decade are expected to, at best, remain constant, or perhaps decline. The SNFPA Review found the current direction too complicated and costly to implement and the planned acres of fuels treatments were not being accomplished. By cutting a few medium-sized trees to help offset the costs of removing many more small-diameter trees, which have little or no commercial value, more funds can be available. This means existing funding will accomplish more acres of fuel reduction near communities and in strategically-selected areas to slow the rate of fire spread across the landscape. The annual cost of fuels treatments on the same number of acres under the current direction is $54 million compared to $49 million under the preferred alternative. In addition, the current direction yields an annual net value of byproducts of $8 million, the preferred alternative yields $30 million. The value of the byproducts can off-set the treatment costs and results in less
