Marc McDill - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Marc McDill

Journal of forestry, 2002

... An estimated 3,000 to 3,500 workers are associated with the 1,200 to 1,800 log-ging firms in ... more ... An estimated 3,000 to 3,500 workers are associated with the 1,200 to 1,800 log-ging firms in Pennsylvania (Wallace 1993; Lewis 1996). ... 8 Journal of Forestry • September 2002 Matthew J. Keefer, James C. Finley, AE Luloff, and Marc E. McDill ...

Remote Sensing

This paper describes a new method for detecting individual tree stems that was designed to perfor... more This paper describes a new method for detecting individual tree stems that was designed to perform well in the challenging hardwood-dominated, mixed-species forests common to the northeastern U.S., where canopy height-based methods have proven unreliable. Most prior research in individual tree detection has been performed in homogenous coniferous or conifer-dominated forests with limited hardwood presence. The study area in central Pennsylvania, United States, includes 17+ tree species and contains over 90% hardwoods. Existing methods have shown reduced performance as the proportion of hardwood species increases, due in large part to the crown-focused approaches they have employed. Top-down approaches are not reliable in deciduous stands due to the inherent complexity of the canopy and tree crowns in such stands. This complexity makes it difficult to segment trees and accurately predict tree stem locations based on detected crown segments. The proposed voxel column-based approach ha...

Localized management of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) involves the removal of matria... more Localized management of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) involves the removal of matriarchal family units with the intent to create areas of reduced deer density. However, application of this approach has not always been successful, possibly because of female dispersal and high deer densities. We developed a spatially explicit, agent-based model to investigate the intensity of deer removal required to locally reduce deer density depending on the surrounding deer density, dispersal behavior, and size and shape of the area of localized reduction. Application of this model is illustrated using the example of abundant deer populations in Pennsylvania, USA. Most scenarios required at least 5 years before substantial deer density reductions occurred. Our model indicated that a localized reduction was successful for scenarios in which the surrounding deer density was lowest (30 deer/mi²), localized antlerless harvest rates were ≥ 30%, and the removal area was ≥ 5 mi² . When the s...

Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 2014

ABSTRACT The area restriction model for harvest scheduling problems can be formulated using mixed... more ABSTRACT The area restriction model for harvest scheduling problems can be formulated using mixed integer programs. The three different formulation types are cluster packing, cell aggregation, and the assignment formulation. Within the cell aggregation subgroup there is an exact formulation, the cover constraint (CC) approach; and an inexact formulation, the stand-centered approach. The cover constraint formulation has significantly more constraints than the stand-centered formulation. A computational comparison between these two methods is completed using cutting planes and constraint combinations using the CPLEX solver package. The CC approach as cutting planes was superior based on solution time. If formulation time were included with solution time, then the CC approach remains superior. The maximum harvest area is a significant factor of solution time. In addition, the percentage of total cutting planes used to solve the problem was examined.

The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal ac... more The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University policy or ...

Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Nov 1, 2002

An individual tree growth modeling system was developed for the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) - ... more An individual tree growth modeling system was developed for the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) - shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) forest type in Louisiana using USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. In this study, the loblolly pine - shortleaf pine forest type was divided into three species groups: loblolly pine, other pines, and hardwoods. The growth

Mathematical and Computational Forestry Natural Resource Sciences, 2010

Forest Science, Dec 31, 2005

Forest Science, Nov 30, 2010

ABSTRACT This work uses a Cost+Loss approach to estimate the optimal investment in inventory info... more ABSTRACT This work uses a Cost+Loss approach to estimate the optimal investment in inventory information for forest planning. A bootstrapping approach is used to simulate the impact of different inventory intensities on the quality of decisions in a linear programming harvest scheduling model. Multiple formulations of the harvest model based on varying inventory intensities are used to calculate the value of a variable labeled Loss that measures the monetary losses resulting from the use of imperfect yield information in the harvest model. The variable Loss and the cost of obtaining the inventory information are used to estimate empirical relationships between their expected value and the amount of inventory information (number of inventory plots and number of experimental plots) used in the harvest models. These two relationships are combined to give an explicit estimate of the expected Cost+Loss as a function of the inventory intensity variables. This Cost+Loss relationship is minimized to estimate optimal number of inventory plots and the optimal number of experimental plots. An example is developed with radiata pine information from southern Chile. Results for this example suggest that current practice uses too many experimental plots and too few inventory plots.

Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2006

Forest Science, 1993

ABSTRACT Optimal solutions to some 2500 linear programming formulations were compared to examine ... more ABSTRACT Optimal solutions to some 2500 linear programming formulations were compared to examine the impact of forest regulation constraints. The solutions demonstrate that regulation can be expensive, with no simple rules available to describe how a regulated forest can best be achieved or what rotation age should be used for the regulated forest. The optimal rotation age can be longer or shorter than the Faustmann rotation, but results strongly suggest that the optimal rotation will be close to the Faustmann rotation if long conversion periods are used. The cost of regulation can be sensitive to the length of the conversion period, the initial age distribution of the forest, stability constraints on harvests during the conversion period, and the range of management options and rotation ages possible. Large cost savings are sometimes possible with relatively small increases in the length of the conversion period. The need to hold land idle during the conversion period can substantially increase the cost of regulation. FOR. SCI. 39(2):321-347.

Tree Physiology, Dec 1, 2005

Forest Science, Mar 31, 2009

ABSTRACT Public forests have many conflicting uses. Designing forest management schemes that prov... more ABSTRACT Public forests have many conflicting uses. Designing forest management schemes that provide the public with an optimal bundle of benefits is therefore a major challenge. Although a capability to quantify and visualize the tradeoffs between the competing objectives can be very useful for decisionmakers, developing this capability presents unique difficulties if three or more conflicting objectives are present and the solution alternatives are discrete. This study extends four multiobjective programming methods to generate spatially explicit forest management alternatives that are efficient (nondominated) with respect to three or more competing objectives. The algorithms were applied to a hypothetical forest planning problem with three timber- and wildlife-related objectives. Whereas the ε-Constraining and the proposed Alpha-Delta methods found a larger number of efficient alternatives, the Modified Weighted Objective Function and the Tchebycheff methods provided better overall estimation of the timber and nontimber tradeoffs associated with the test problem. In addition, the former two methods allowed a greater degree of user control and are easier to generalize to n-objective problems.

Natural Resources and Environmental Issues, 2002