negative or positive effects on other outputs. 

 Levels of range management were changed, 

 while levels, of managing other resources (tim- 

 ber, water, and environmental quality) re- 

 mained unchanged. It was not a part of the 

 Forest-Range Environmental Study to investi- 

 gate the impacts of different management levels 

 of timber, water, or environmental quality upon 

 the environment. 



THE FOREST-RANGE 

 ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTION 

 ANALYTICAL SYSTEM (FREPAS) 



The Forest-Range Task Force and its work- 

 ing groups needed an analytical tool that would 

 facilitate full and objective consideration of a 

 complex mass of data on resource supply and 

 demand as this relates to changing national 

 policies and Federal agency objectives. 



To provide the type of analysis needed for 

 this study, an analytical tool known as the 

 Forest-Range Environmental Production Ana- 

 lytical System (FREPAS) was developed. 



This system allocates forest-range resources 

 to the required production in terms of grazing 

 and other outputs. By this allocation, the cost 

 of meeting production requirements is mini- 

 mized, and guidelines are provided by which 

 resource managers can analyze the relative 

 need and value of such future projects as re- 

 vegetation, drainage, or fencing. 



The analytical system was predicated on two 

 basic ideas. First, the realization that resources, 

 although substantial, are limited and, therefore, 

 more consideration should be given to the set- 

 ting of priorities for their use. Second, that 

 the development of management and planning 

 tools offers some promise for a rational estab- 

 lishment of priorities and subsequently effec- 

 tive action. 



By including a number of quantitative fac- 

 tors, a system has been developed in which 

 man is viewed as a part of the environment. 

 The amount of investment in materials is to 

 be kept as low as possible. Finally, the essen- 

 tial measure of success in this system is not 

 production of consumptive items alone: it also 

 includes achieving a quality environment — the 

 production of non-consumptive resources. The 

 system recognizes that production of food and 

 fiber is necessary to the existence of mankind; 

 but it also recognizes that mankind needs nat- 

 ural beauty, wildlife, and a stable environment. 

 Immediate economic benefit or economic 

 growth, thus, is not the primary objective cri- 

 teria of this system. 



FREPAS was developed by modifying the 

 Generalized Agricultural Production Analytical 

 System (GAP AS) which the Economic Re- 



search Service had completed in 1968 for 

 determining food and fiber production objec- 

 tives on private agricultural land. This system 

 came to light during the search for an already- 

 built analytical tool that could solve the produc- 

 tion problems inherent in the forest-range. 



GAPAS is based upon the theory of com- 

 parative advantage and employs the mathe- 

 matics of linear programming. It mathemati- 

 cally computes a combination of cropping pat- 

 terns and soil groups that will most efficiently 

 meet the projected production goals specified. 



In 1970 and 1971 Economic Research Service 

 and the Forest Service cooperated in modifying 

 the GAPAS model to meet forest-range needs. 

 The result was the Forest-Range Environmen- 

 tal Production Analytical System. It utilizes 

 the concept of joint physical products from a 

 single land use and evaluates associated envi- 

 ronmental values. 



In the FREPAS system investment costs are 

 minimized by using linear programming. This 

 mathematical technique determines the opti- 

 mum allocation of resources to obtain a par- 

 ticular objective. This concept permits the 

 simultaneous consideration of both the produc- 

 tive capacity of the resources and the relative 

 demand for the various products needed. By 

 mathematically minimizing the costs of achiev- 

 ing an output level among resource-use choices, 

 each acre is employed at its highest or best 

 use with respect to that particular requirement. 



The premise of cost efficiency is best used for 

 long-run analysis because of the adjustment 

 necessary for short-run, uneconomical, external, 

 and internal situations. The system assumes 

 current technical relationships because future 

 production coefficients are unknown. And if an 

 analysis that minimizes cost is to be useful, 

 it must be assumed that resource managers will 

 overcome inertia, lack of knowledge, and other 

 restraints, and will move toward the most prof- 

 itable adjustment. 



The conventional linear programming model 

 assumes a timeless, static environment and ig- 

 nores the effects of a decision's impact on op- 

 portunities and choices during subsequent time 

 periods. In an effort to reduce errors in 

 conclusions derived from such a model, the 

 FREPAS system externally controlled the 

 shifts in production from the acreage existing 

 in the 1970 situation. 



The procedure is conceptually sound for spe- 

 cific uses of the model. The principal objective 

 is to estimate, in the best and least biased man- 

 ner possible, the future productive capacity of 

 the several ecosystems. Use of this model 

 assumes that the location of production will 

 shift as production cost is reduced within clear- 

 ly defined bounds, based on judgment and evo- 



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