Partnering with planners to develop tools for financial analysis of fuel treatments

Abstract

The financial analysis component of the fuel synthesis project was guided by the general specifications of the broader project. The project was requested on behalf of specific users (fuel treatment planners), to address specific questions (how to design and implement fuel treatments), and with specific attributes (easily learned and used by people with little or no background in economics or financial analysis). The strategy for designing analysis and information to meet this need was to involve the target user group and managers in design, testing, and implementation of the tools. The result is a set of tools that appear to be being adopted more quickly and more widely than any previous financial analysis tools that the authors have developed. Copyright © 2007 by the Society of American Foresters.