be positive. To date the department has not received any interest in a conservation 

 license, commercial berry picking, mushroom harvesting or any other alternative revenue 

 producing activity for this project area. 



> Concern was raised that DNRC should consider all project-level costs and weigh 

 these against returns to the school trust. 



Costs that are related to the timber sale program are only tracked at the Land Office and 

 Statewide level. Project level costs for individual timber sales are not tracked 

 individually. An annual cash-flow analysis is conducted on the DNRC forest product 

 sales program. Revenue and costs are calculated by land office and Statewide. The 

 revenue-to-cost ratios are a measure of economic efficiency. A ratio value less than 1 .0 

 means that the costs are higher than the revenues (losing money). Ratios greater than 1.0 

 means revenues are higher than the cost (making money). A ratio equaling 1 .0 means 

 that the costs equal the revenues. Actual revenue-to-cost for the years 1995 through 2003 

 can be found in the Economic Section in Chapter 3. The average revenue-to cost ratio for 

 the SWLO for this period is 2.01, which means that for every $1.00 in cost the 

 department produces $2.01 in revenue. This issue will receive further analysis in 

 Chapters 3 and 4. 



Visual 



> A concern was raised that the proposed action would have undesirable visual 

 impacts. 



Concern was expressed that the proposed action would change the view shed for the area. 

 Most people would view the proposed sale area from the county road, which follows 

 Upper Willow Creek. The USPS has harvested two timber sales, which contained cutting 

 units that are highly visible from the county road. Both of these sales. Upper Willow 

 Creek and Alder Niles, were harvested within the last 15 years. This issue will receive 

 further analysis in Chapters 3 and 4. 



Safety 



Increased traffic from logging trucks, which would result from implementation of 

 an action alternative, may cause a temporary increase in safety hazards for people 

 using the Upper Willow Creek Road. 



There are several blind curves on the Upper Willow Creek road. This road appears to 

 have been designed with little consideration for commercial traffic. Existing hazards are 

 accentuated when logging trucks and other commercial traffic try to use the road system 

 concurrent with residents and recreational users. Several collisions and close calls have 

 occurred during past timber sale activity. 



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