Effects of Scale Economics of scale should be recognized in comparing National Forest management costs with costs of tribal management. Forest Service Ranger districts typically exceed 100,000 acres and can also draw pooled resources and expertise from National Forest supervisor offices which are often responsible for four or more districts. Thus, they enjoy economy of scale. This has been reinforced through consolidation of National Forests, ranger districts, and the establishment of work centers. A management study of private forest land management in the Pacific Northwest (Figure A.9) showed that management costs for smaller properties were more costly to manage than larger properties. A similar relationship was observed on tribal forests surveyed in IFMAT III. More recently (2019), the Forest Biometrics Research Institute (FBRI) plotted forest administration costs from 52 owners in the Pacific Northwest (Figure A.10). Administrative costs for a 50,000-acre forest were about $30/acre and a 300,000- acre forest was $20/acre per year.
Figure A.9. Forest management costs ($/acre) as a function of size of ownership from a 1989 study of 17 private forest lands in the Pacific Northwest (IFMAT III).
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Figure A.10. Annual administration costs as a function of forest acres. Administrative costs include staff, buildings, vehicles, and roads (reproduced from FBRI, 2019).
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Seedlings in a greenhouse on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in California. PHOTO CREDIT: VINCENT CORRAO
68 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States
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