BBER PUBLICATIONS SEARCH RESULTS

A review of U.S. Forest Service land management accomplishments, budget and litigation since complying with the National Environment Policy Act.

A construction and remodeling boom has driven the demand for lumber and far exceeded the supply, causing lumber prices to rise all over the country.

The purpose of the 2018-2019 U.S.D.A. Forest Service Region 1 Social Surveys was to examine: 1) perceptions of the purpose for federal public lands; 2) views about possible management actions on those lands; 3) opinions about possible concerns regarding federal public lands; 4) frequency of self-reported activities on federal public lands; and 5) opinions about the quantity of services provided on federal public lands. The 2019 survey is an extension of the 2018 survey which was designed to help policy-makers and planners quantify public opinions about federal public lands that are close to the home of Region 1 residents.

Forest related industries have long played a major role in Montana?s economy ? especially in the western part of the state. The decades-long drum roll of layoffs, reduced employment and mill closings have been the subject of many discussions and headlines in the media. This paper takes a systematic view of Montana?s forest industry during the past few decades and identifies the major causes of industry trends. The conclusion is that timber harvest volumes in Montana are the major factor impacting industry conditions, including employment and labor earnings. Labor productivity has generally increased in Montana?s larger timber-processing facilities, but these gains are not driving reduced employment and labor earnings in Montana?s forest industry.

The trend in Montana''s timber harvests, which has been dropping since the late 1980s, has been the major cause of declining employment and labor earnings in Montana''s forest industry.

The purpose of the 2018 U.S.D.A. Forest Service Region 1 Social Survey is to examine: ? perceptions of the purpose for federal public lands; ? views about possible management actions on those lands; ? opinions about possible concerns regarding federal public lands; ? frequency of self-reported activities on federal public lands; and ? opinions about the quantity of services provided on federal public lands. The survey is designed to help policy-makers and planners quantify public opinions about federal public lands that are close to the home of Region 1 residents. The mail and internet-administered survey provides U.S.D.A. Forest Service a rigorous, representative sample by which to gauge current public opinion. The survey was constructed to act as a benchmark that would allow possible future exploration of trends in public sentiment regarding federal public lands in U.S.D.A. Forest Service Region 1.

The U.S. Forest Service hopes to improve forest health and reduce wildfires with increased timber harvests.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the pine forests of Montana began to experience the largest mountain pine beetle outbreak in recorded history.

Could meaningful reductions in carbon emissions in Montana be accomplished in ways that are less costly in terms of jobs, incomes and economic production? An option that is rarely included in carbon policy discussions is wildfire management.

Insect and disease outbreaks in the central Rocky Mountains reached epidemic levels in the last two decades resulting in vast stands of dead trees across parts of Wyoming, Colorado and South Dakota. Both the States and the Forest Service have increased investments in forest health, hazardous fuels mitigation and safety protection on private and public lands (Wyoming State Forestry Division 2017; State of Colorado 2017; USFS MBRNF 2017). These and other treatments designed to restore ecological condition and function and reduce fire hazard require the removal of a mix of timber valuable enough to offset some of the costs along with smaller trees with limited value and markets (Wagner et al. 2000). The loss of milling infrastructure throughout the West, combined with changing management objectives on federal lands, raise questions about the industry?s ability to purchase timber of varying sizes and quality at a rate that is adequate for the forest and sustainable for the industry (Keegan et al. 2005; Keegan et al. 2006).

This report traces the flow of Oregon?s 2013 timber harvest through the primary wood products industry and provides detailed description of the structure, timber use, operations, and condition of Oregon?s forest products sector. It is the third in a series of reports that update the status of the industry every 5 years, and is based on a census of timber-using facilities conducted during 2014. Historical forest products industry changes are discussed, as well as trends in harvest, production, mill residue, and sales. Also examined are employment and worker earnings in the state?s primary and secondary forest products industry.

The Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of Montana was contracted to conduct a study on the utilization of local contractors by the Colville National Forest through the NEW Forest Vision 2020 Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) project. The purpose of the study aimed to identify and measure the opportunities and benefits the NEW Forest Vision 2020/CFLRP program is bringing to communities in the region. The BBER used records of service contracts, timber sale contracts and agreements to characterize the number of local entities (businesses, nonprofits, agencies, etc.) involved in meeting the restoration objectives of the CFLRP through the NEW Forest Vision 2020.

The objective of this poster is to describe the value and types of restoration work occurring in the Southwestern Crown of the Continent, along with who is capturing that work, and provide a baseline against which future investments made through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program could be compared.

The objective of this study is to determine the spatial distribution of businesses engaged in restoration activities in the SW Crown and measure the success of local contractors in accessing these job opportunities while comparing these trends to the surrounding region, previous years, and non-Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) projects.

Management of public lands occurs today with high levels of scrutiny and controversy. To succeed, managers seek the support, involvement, and endorsement of the public. This study examines trust as an indicator of managerial success and attempts to identify and measure the components that most influence it. A review of trust literature yielded 14 attributes that were hypothesized to contribute to trust, grouped into the three dimensions of Shared Norms and Values, Willingness to Endorse, and Perceived Efficacy. Operationalizing these attributes and dimensions, a telephone survey was administered to a sample of Montana, USA, residents living adjacent to the Bitterroot National Forest (n = 1,152). Each of the attributes was measured in the context of federal lands fire and fuel management. Structural equation modeling showed that all 14 attributes were found to be influential contributors to levels of trust. Results suggest that if managers are to maintain or increase levels of public trust, they need to consider each of trust''s attributes as they make social, ecological, and economic resource decisions.

The cost of protecting Montana during fire season is rising. Nationwide, wildfire suppression costs continually top $1 billion annually and here in Montana lawmakers allocated $42 million to pay for fire suppression this year alone. In recent years, wildfire suppression has accounted for 40 percent of the Forests Service budget compared with 10 to 15 percent in the 1990s. Economist Krista Gebert, with the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, explains how climate change, private development, and human factors all contribute to an increase in acres burned, a direct correlation to the rising costs and what can be done about it.