Question

A recent forest fire near Littleville destroyed four-fifths of the trees in Bigtree National Forest. The

forest covers 4920 km2. There is now about 30 tons of salvageable wood per km2 in the burned area. The
part of the forest that was not destroyed by fire will not be open to the salvagers. Assuming the trees are
evenly distributed throughout the park, about how long will it take to remove all the salvageable wood at
a rate of 53 1/2 tons per day? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

Explanation:

the whole forest is 4920 km².

4/5 if that was destroyed with salvageable wood :

4/5 × 4920 = 3,936 km²

there is 30 tons of salvageable wood per km², so in total :

3936 × 30 = 118,080 tons.

the wood can be removed at av rate of 53.5 tons per day.

how many days until cleaned up ?

as many days as 53.5 fits into the total amount of 118,080 :

118080 / 53.5 = 2,207.102804... days.

so, it will take about 2,207 days to remove all the salvageable wood.