Abstract: |
We examined the costs of fuels treatments at the landscape level from ecological and economic perspectives. We set up a model using MAGIS (Multiple-resource Analysis and Geographic Information System), to examine landscape changes in response to thinning and prescribed burning on forested lands including wildland-urban interface areas. Our objectives are to assess treatment types based on changing costs, budget levels, and tradeoffs between two objectives: ecosystem restoration and hazard reduction. Specifically, we wish to address the following questions: How do social costs affect accomplishments in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI)? How do costs affect allocation of fuels management resources between wild lands and the WUI? Can we fully restore ecosystems, and at what cost? How do budget levels affect allocation of fuels management resources? |
