Cost and productivity of two mechanical fire hazard reduction methods: mastication and thinning

Two different methods of fire hazard reduction were selected for study in order to understand the productivity and costs associated with each. These methods included mechanical mastication of fuels and an integrated harvesting system used for fuel reduction thinning. Understanding of these methods will aid in the selection of machine type or system combination appropriate to the treatment area. Work-study and timestudy methods coupled with standard machine rate calculations were used to evaluate cost and productivity. Systematic random sampling was determined to be the preferred method of work sampling for mastication due to its accuracy and ease of implementation. Mastication treatment cost was determined to be $326.10/ac or $29.51/ton of fuel and was highly sensitive to the machine production rate. Integrated harvesting costs were $0.42/ft3 and $52.41/BDT (bone dry ton). The grinder had the highest hourly cost of any of the integrated harvesting system machines and its unit production cost was highly sensitive to varying utilization rates. These results should help researchers and land managers understand cost and productivity to aid in future estimation of fuel hazard reduction costs in fire-prone western ecosystems.