The development costs for the No Action Alternative would be fUnded 

 from the current Forest Improvement (FI) account. The development 

 costs for the Action Alternative would be funded from FI money received 

 from the purchaser. 



4. Forest Improvement (FI) cost is based on the program wide cost and cost to maintain 

 the ongoing staffing, stand and road maintenance freatment needs for the current year and 

 right-of-way acquisition. Money collected under FI from a purchaser provides the 

 ftinding for the State to accomplish projects such as free planting, site preparation, slash 

 treatment, pre-commercial thinning, road maintenance, road acquisition and for some 

 timber sale related activities. Thus, the State is able to improve the long-term 

 productivity of timber stands on State land and maintain or acquire access for future 

 revenue producing projects. The current FI fee for the Northwest Land Office is $52.25 

 per MBF. 



5. Limitations of the economic analysis are: 



1) Only known costs and benefits that are related to timber harvesting activities or 

 other revenue producing activities are considered. 



2) None of the potential benefits associated with leaving trees (i.e. snag 

 recruitment, structural diversity, aesthetics, wildlife habitat, nutrient cycling, etc. 

 are considered directly in this analysis. 



47 



