The study investigated the site conditions, locations, practices and costs of 45 thinning projects of forest plantations done by Taiwan Forest Bureau in 2001. A quantitative thinning cost model based on the empirical data was set up by multiple regression method, and it was used to estimate thinning costs under certain conditions. The study result indicated that thinning cost was determined mainly by location of forestland, the number of thinned trees and whether or not hauling logs from forest. The necessary conditions of forestland to be feasible for thinning are: the slope of forestland less than 25%, the distance from logging road less than 600 meters, and keeping good stocking level after thinning 400 trees per hectare.