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Project ID: 05-1-1-09

Year: 2005

Date Started: 07/25/2005

Date Completed: 01/03/2007

Title: Pilot Study: Improving BAER Calculation of Values-At-Risk

Project Proposal Abstract: The increased scrutiny of all wildfire related expenditures requires improvements in cost-benefit accounting systems including methods to assess values-at-risk downstream of burned areas. Working under very tight timelines, Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) teams are required to demonstrate that the value of resources to be protected by emergency response treatments exceeds the costs of the treatments to be applied. Several limitations compromise effective calculation of values-at-risk: current valuation guidelines are insufficient, data to support direct valuation of specific resource items are often difficult to obtain, scientific knowledge and data to support calculation of the commodity values are not sufficiently organized to be efficiently and effectively used, and the difficulty of accounting for non-commodity resources. This pilot project proposes to review current BAER valuation procedures and determine the feasibility of developing standard procedures and decision support tools to guide calculation of values-at-risk downstream of burned areas. The objectives of this pilot project will be met through literature review, direct observation and interview of BAER personnel, and on-line research with follow-up interviews to discover and evaluate potentially useful databases. The project is proposed under rapid response because of the need to directly observe and evaluate current resource valuation procedures during BAER team assignment. Also, this pilot project seeks to identify possible means to improve pre-incident planning and to facilitate rapid, well-organized, pre-planned response. We anticipate that results from this project may establish foundations to develop standard and clear procedures to calculate values-at-risk using the best data and science available. We envision a process that produces well documented, defendable result and that can be rapidly implemented by BAER personnel without undue complexity or increase in workload.

Principal Investigator: Peter R. Robichaud

Agency/Organization: Forest Service

Branch or Dept: RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Moscow

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	David E. Calkin	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Missoula
Co-Principal Investigator	J. Greg Jones	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Missoula
Federal Cooperator	James Saveland	Forest Service	RMRS-Natural Resources Research Center

Project Locations

Consortium

Alaska

Appalachian

California

Great Basin

Great Plains

Lake States

Oak Woodlands

Northern Rockies

Northwest

Pacific

South

Southern Rockies

Southwest

Tallgrass

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

There are no deliverables available for this project.

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documents are available for this project.

Brief

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