513 Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: A Global View An Evaluation of the Economic Tradeoffs of Fuel Treatment and Fire Suppression on the Angeles National Forest Using the Fire Effects Tradeoff Model 1 Mark D. Schaaf, 2 Marc A. Wiitala, 3 Maarten D. Schreuder, 4 David R. Weise 5 Abstract In this study, the Fire Effects Tradeoff Model (FETM) was used to evaluate the economic tradeoffs between fuels treatment and fire suppression on the Angeles National Forest located in southern California of the United States. FETM uses historical weather data, fire history data, current vegetation maps, prescribed-fire planning data, fuels treatment and wildfire costs and benefits, and surface and stand composition data to simulate the future annual wildland fire area burned, landscape composition, smoke emissions, and the present net value of fire suppression and fuels treatment over any time period. Five fire suppression and fuels treatment alternatives were evaluated, combining one of two fire suppression program options with five prescribed-fire intensities ranging from 0 to 52 percent of the available chaparral area per decade. Our results show that maintaining a larger suppression program with a low level of fuels treatment substantially reduces the wildfire area burned. However, the increased costs associated with this program are not met with a commensurate reduction in resource loss and suppression costs. Similarly, our results show that a smaller fire suppression program coupled with an aggressive prescribed-fire treatment option substantially reduces the wildfire area burned, but the increased costs of treatment are likewise not met with a commensurate reduction in resource loss and suppression costs. We found instead that a smaller and less costly fire suppression program, matched with a moderate intensity fuels treatment program targeting only the highest loading classes of chaparral, provides the most cost-beneficial fire protection strategy for the study area. Introduction In the United States today, an estimated 79 million hectares of state and federal forests and rangelands, an area twice the size of California, face high risk of large- scale wildfire and are in need of ecosystem restoration. Effective fire suppression and prevention over the past decades has resulted in the present accumulation of dense undergrowth, brush, and dead-and-down woody debris uncharacteristic of fire- adapted forest and rangeland ecosystems (GAO 1999). This unhealthy ecosystem condition, combined with recent drought conditions, disease and insect infestations, 1 An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the second international symposium on fire economics, policy and planning: a global view, April 19–22, 2004, Córdoba, Spain. 2 Principal Scientist, Air Sciences Inc., 421 SW 6th Avenue, Suite 1400, Portland, Oregon 97204. 3 Operations Research Analyst, Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, Oregon 97205. 4 Forest Ecologist, Air Sciences Inc., 421 SW 6th Avenue, Suite 1400, Portland, Oregon 97204. 5 Supervisory Research Forester, Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, California 92507.