Regional cost share necessary for rancher participation in brush control

This paper uses biophysical and economic simulation models to assess the proposed large-scale brush-control programs in four regions of the Edwards Plateau area in Texas. The objective of the brush control is to increase off-site water yields. For representative ranches in three of the four regions, brush control decreases the net present value. For these three regions to break even on brush control costs, there would need to be cost sharing of 7 to 31% of the total costs. Consequently, the state of Texas would have to supply a significant investment for large-scale brush-control programs to be feasible.