Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: FIA BioSum: a tool to evaluate financial costs, opportunities and effectiveness of fuel treatments.

Author: Fried, Jeremy; Christensen, Glenn.

Date: 2004

Source: Western Forester. September/October

Description: FIA BioSum, a tool developed by the USDA Forest Services Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program, generates reliable cost estimates, identifies opportunities and evaluates the effectiveness of fuel treatments in forested landscapes. BioSum is an analytic framework that integrates a suite of widely used computer models with a foundation of attribute-rich, statistically representative sample data for forested landscapes. The framework builds the analysis using comprehensive forest condition data collected by the FIA Program and GIS transportation layers that represent the costs of moving harvested material to processing sites. The analysis predicts gross revenues for delivered merchantable wood based on current product prices and "dirty chips" derived by chipping whole-tree-harvested small trees and the tops and limbs of larger trees. The dirty chips are suitable as feedstock for wood-fired electrical generating facilities, with an assumed value of $18 per green ton. FIA BioSum also predicts harvest costs, hauling costs, and the amount of wood and dirty chips that could be accumulated at each processing site.

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Citation

Fried, Jeremy; Christensen, Glenn.  2004.  FIA BioSum: a tool to evaluate financial costs, opportunities and effectiveness of fuel treatments..   Western Forester. September/October