"BALLPARK" TREATMENT ACREAGE OBJECTIVES

By Tom Nelson (Sierra Pacific Industries)

1. Group Selection Acreage

Managed landbase = 1.63 million acres (Editor's note: This acreage estimate preceded the GIS analysis that resulted in an estimated 1.56 million acres available for management)

Average "rotation" = 175 years (150 years on Site I-II and 200 years on Site III-IV.

Acres treated = 1,630,000 acres/175 years

= 9,314 acres per year; (round to 9,300 acres per year)

= 0.57% of landbase treated per year

2. Individual Tree Selection Acreage ("Thinning from below" for fuels reduction)

Average entry cycle = 20 years

Therefore: 5% of managed landbase is treated per year.

5% of 1,630,000 acres = 81,500 acres

subtract 9,300 acres of group selection = 72,200 acres

Assume:

a) 25% of treated watersheds are within SAT watercourse zones, therefore 75% of landbase is available for treatment.

75% of 72,200 acres = 54,150 acres

b) 50% of acreage will not require treatment, therefore:

50% of 54,150 acres = 27,075 acres, round to 27,000 acres per year

3. Fuelbreak Construction/CASPO treatments

Assume initial objective to subdivide QLG landbase into 50,000 acre treatment blocks.

a) Gross acreage = 2.5 million acres (4,000 square miles), therefore:

2,500,000 acres/50 blocks = 50,000 acres per block (80 square miles per block)

b) Fuels reduction on two sides of each block (other two sides considered as overlap) @ 5 chains wide (330 feet),

therefore:

Total Objective = 50 blocks @ 80 square miles per block

= 50 x 8.94 miles per side x 2 sides

= 894 miles of initial fuel reduction @ 5 chains wide

= 35,760 acres per year (round to 36,000 acres per year)

75% of 72,200 acres = 54,150 acres

4. EXAMPLE - Yearly Targets = 10 watersheds that are approximately 9,000 acres each.

a) Group Selection = 9,300 acres (groups)

9,300 acres / 10 watersheds = 930 acres per watershed

2 acres per group = 465 group selection units per watershed annually.

b) Individual Tree Selection/Thinning = 27,000 acres

27,000 acres / 10 watersheds = 2,700 acres / watershed

c) Fuelbreak Construction = 45 miles x 5 chains (330 feet) wide

PLUS 45 miles (underburn previous years' fuelbreak construction)

d) Watershed Restoration

e) Planning = 2 years in advance for all projects above (a - d)

f) Monitor:

i) 10 watersheds (water quality, fisheries) prior to selection harvests

ii) 10 watersheds (water quality, fisheries) after harvest but prior to
restoration projects (d)

iii) 10 watersheds, after restoration work

iv) Owls - 20 Protected Activity Centers (PACs), as treated

v) Economic trends - outputs, receipts, employment

TCN 11/29/93 QLG.bpkobj