{"pk":65837,"title":"The benefits of oak woodland restoration can exceed the costs of treating conifer encroachment","subtitle":null,"abstract":"<p>Woody encroachment is a common threat in many fire-dependent ecosystems throughout the world. In northwestern California, conifer encroachment threatens the survival of deciduous oak woodlands and rangeland habitats, resulting in many negative impacts to flora and fauna biodiversity and livestock production. This study characterizes the benefits and costs of oak woodland restoration projects where Douglas fir is removed, weighing the timber value of the encroaching Douglas fir trees with the costs of removal and the value of post-restoration forage. Through a series of interviews and surveys, coupled with additional data collection and literature review, we found that the benefits of oak restoration through the removal of the Douglas fir encroachment exceeded the costs of treatment for landowners on average.</p>","language":"eng","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives  4.0","short_name":"CC BY-NC-ND 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\n\nNonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.\n\nNoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.\n\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"cost-benefit analysis"},{"word":"conifer encroachment"},{"word":"oak woodlands"},{"word":"forest management"}],"section":"Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6w5032b5","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Nicolas","middle_name":"","last_name":"Polasek","name_suffix":"","institution":"UC Berkeley","department":"Agricultural & Resource Economics","country":"United States"},{"first_name":"Ellen","middle_name":"M.","last_name":"Bruno","name_suffix":"","institution":"UC Berkeley","department":"Agricultural & Resource Economics","country":"United States"},{"first_name":"Jeffery","middle_name":"W.","last_name":"Stackhouse","name_suffix":"","institution":"UC Agriculture and Natural and Resources","department":"UC Cooperative Extension, Humboldt and Del Norte counties","country":"United States"},{"first_name":"Yana","middle_name":"","last_name":"Valachovic","name_suffix":"","institution":"UC Agriculture and Natural and Resources","department":"UC Cooperative Extension, Humboldt and Del Norte counties","country":"United States"},{"first_name":"Lenya","middle_name":"N.","last_name":"Quinn-Davidson","name_suffix":"","institution":"UC ANR Fire Network","department":"","country":"United States"}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2026-05-22T00:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/californiaagriculture/article/65837/galley/50475/download/"}]}