Forest Planning Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

A spatial decision support system (SDSS) was designed to help forestry planners take into consideration aboriginal land uses in eastern Canada. This SDSS permits the comparison between different harvest scenarios based on four criteria: wood procurement, accessibility, wildlife habitat and land use. Each criterion is evaluated through a set of indicators calculated by mathematical models. The SDSS operates as ArcGis9.x extension and allows one to measure spatial parameters used to calculated economic and land use indicators.

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- Forest Planning, Forest road, Case Study, Forest Management

Social capital is defined as the sum of interactions between both individuals and groups, which permit the development of rules, shared values, as well as cooperative and reciprocal links. This concept, developed by social science, can be applied as a support structure in decision making for natural resources. In particular, the quantification of social capital, divided into its respective component parts (social networks, associations and relationships with institutions) can be useful in the implementation of broad scale forest planning. The present work proposes a method to measure the structural social capital, together with forest planning field surveys, in order to highlight the potential to support participative decision making processes. The experimental implementation of the method was conducted in a mountainous area of South Italy, in the framework of an ongoing Forest Landscape Management Plan.

- by Alessandro Paletto
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- Decision Making, Social Capital, Applied Economics, Forest Planning

This paper is a comprehensive review of spatial forest-planning initiative that has been carried out in forest-management planning over the last 2 decades. It describes, first of all, the conceptual framework of spatial forest planning by identifying spatial and non-spatial forest-planning concepts. The paper focuses on the spatial considerations or problems of spatial configuration of patches including their size (opening size) and distribution, shape, adjacency or green-up delay, connectivity, proximity, and core area that make the conventional forest-management planning "spatial" powered by geographical information systems (GIS). Then, the paper explains various management approaches to conceptualize the spatial forest planning and analytical decision-making techniques, such as simulation, mathematical optimization and meta-heuristic techniques to solve the spatial forest management problem. It also provides information to measure the performance of various meta-heuristic techniques, when solving large-scale spatial problems. Also, some apparent new requirements, important needs for spatial forest planning, and important unresolved problems in spatial forest planning are identified. In conclusion, development of a hybrid-modeling technique, identification of target landscape structure, characterization of various forest values, such as biodiversity, water production, recreation, visual quality, erosion control, and an enthusiasm to implement the approach are identified important future development to spatial forest modeling.

- by Emin Baskent
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- Decision Making, Modeling, Multidisciplinary, Ecological Modelling

The appropriate role of the " public " in the planning and management of national forests in the United States is both statutorily vague and socially dynamic. Should forest management be consistent with public values and preferences for these lands? And, how should " consistency " be defined and evaluated? In 2012, a public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) study was completed for the Chugach National Forest (CNF) in Alaska (United States) that measured public values and preferences to assist future forest plan revision. Place-based public preferences were assessed for consistency with existing CNF national forest plan (2002) prescriptions and to identify areas of potential conflict over forest management direction. Public use preferences were largely consistent with forest plan prescriptions but with some exceptions. Larger-scale analysis of PPGIS preference data provides more detailed information about potential forest conflict and indicates that large-area forest management prescriptions may be too general to guide place-specific forest planning needs. We discuss the use of PPGIS methods for future forest plans, given the release of a new regulatory planning rule for the USDA Forest Service in 2012.

- by Greg Brown
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- Conflict, Natural Resource Management, Land-use planning, Forest Planning

In this paper, we developed a mixed-integer non-linear programming model that integrates access road development and a utility theoretic spatial choice model of hunters into a strategic forest harvest-scheduling model. The model was applied to an operationally sized Forest Management Agreement (FMA) area in central Alberta, Canada. The resulting behavioral model had approximately 2.6 million decision variables and about 96,000 constraints, and was used to examine the impacts of timber harvesting on hunters' preference for hunting sites. We also evaluated the impacts of various levels of hunter welfare on: (i) the degree of tradeoff between timber and hunting benefits, (ii) timber harvest schedules, and (iii) the marginal costs of producing timber products. The results showed significant tradeoffs between timber and hunting benefits and a clear link between landscape characteristics and changes and behavioral responses by hunters.

- by David Nanang
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- Business, Forestry, Modeling, Decomposition
- by Annika Kangas
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- Applied Economics, Forest Planning, Forest Policy, Uncertainty

The Commonwealth of Australia acting through the Bureau of Rural Sciences has exercised due care and skill in the preparation and compilation of the information and data set out in this publication. Notwithstanding, the Bureau of Rural Sciences its employees and advisers disclaim all liability, including liability for negligence, for any loss, damage, injury, expense or cost incurred by any person as a result of accessing, using or relying upon any of the information or data set out in this publication to the maximum extent permitted by law.

- by Martin Golman
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- Papua New Guinea, Forest Planning

Important decisions of mankind have for centuries been made using voting techniques, both in small groups and in nationwide elections. Currently, involvement of public in forestry decision making is seen as an important part of sustainable forest management, both as a means to an end and as an end in itself. In public participatory processes, issues such as fairness, representativity, and transparency are important, as well as in any election. Therefore, it is natural to utilise the achievements of voting theory also in decision support for sustainable forest management. In this article, first a review of basic voting techniques is given, along with some new techniques involving elements of fuzziness or randomness. Second, modifications of voting for multicriteria decision aid are presented and, finally, applications of voting to natural resources management are described. The applicability of voting approaches to the group decision support and participatory planning of forestry are discussed. The most significant advantages of voting methods for this kind of decision support processes were found to be their ability to deal with ordinal preferences of decision makers and ordinal evaluation data on alternatives. In addition, voting methods are comprehensive and easy to interpret. This makes the decision support process transparent and quick and convenient to implement even with large groups of people, and via information networks. D

- by Annika Kangas
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- Decision Making, Social Choice Theory, Natural Resource Management, Public Choice

We discuss the benefits of using multiple criteria decision support (MCDS) methods in forest management, briefly present some MCDS methods recently applied in forestry, and summarize experiences gained from MCDS applications in forestry. Applications of MCDS methods of varying characteristics can be found in the management planning of multiple-purpose forestry. However, the tool to be used should be chosen to fit the planning process at hand. When choosing a method, compromises must often be made. For instance, simple and easily understandable methods may mean loss of attainable information and, correspondingly, deficient analyses. More versatile methods enable deeper analyses and more complete exploitation of available data, but typically they are hard to use and understand. Simple and straightforward MCDS methods are needed in participatory approaches and in planning via information networks. Some recent studies indicate that, especially for behavioural reasons, it would be useful to use more than just one MCDS method, or hybrid approaches, in many planning situations. A further conclusion has been that interactive use of the methods greatly improves the efficiency of the planning process. #

Page 1. 115 Introduction Forest adaptation to climate and site conditions is a basic prerequisite for the mainte-nance of structure, vitality, and ecosystem functioning of European woodlands; this includes their harvesting and carbon... more

- by Magnus Löf and +1
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- Climate Change, Forest Planning, Sustainable forestry, Forest Management

- by C. Brack and +3
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- Papua New Guinea, Forest Planning

This chapter develops a framework to explore examples of adaptation options that could be used to ensure that the ecosystem services provided by forests are maintained under future climates. The services are divided into broad areas within which managers can identify specific management goals for individual forests or landscapes. Adaptation options exist for the major forest regions of the world but the scientific basis for these adaptation options and their potential effectiveness varies across regions. Because of the great variation in local conditions, no recommendations can be made that are applicable to an entire domain. The choice of management option will depend on the likely changes occurring in the forest, the management objectives of that forest, its past management history and a range of other factors. Local managers must have sufficient flexibility to choose the most appropriate suite of management options for their conditions. The current failure to implement fully the multi-faceted components of sustainable forest management is likely to limit the ability of forest management to adapt to climate change. Forest managers will need to plan at multiple spatial and temporal scales and will need to adopt adaptive collaborative management as their primary form of management. Careful monitoring and evaluation will be required, with a change in focus from outputs to outcomes.

Forest Service landscape architects sought a method for determining if people showed a preference for certain landscape-scale ecosystems and if ecological classification units could be used in visual resource management. A study was conducted on the Chippewa National Forest to test whether there was a systematic relationship between dispersed campsite locations and landtype associations (LTA) (most National Forests allow "free-choice"

- by Herbert Schroeder
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- Resource use, Forest Planning, Statistical Significance, Natural Environment

... be applied to present different management alternatives, ie it provides a tool for discussing ... Different types of approaches towards visualizations are available within the landscape and forestry ... for visualization that occur... more

- by Roland Gustavsson
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- Urban Forestry, Applied Economics, Forest Planning, Forest Policy
- by Symphorien Ongolo
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- Cameroon, Central Africa, Forest Planning, Forest Management

Conservation and enhancement of ecological connectivity is widely recognized as one of the key objectives of forest landscape management. However, practical difficulties still exist due to the lack of pragmatic and operational methodologies that can be efficiently applied for these purposes within the scope of a forest management plan. Here we present the novel integration of two recent approaches for analyzing forest structural connectivity that offers considerable synergies and potential relevant benefits for forest planning at a variety of scales. We combine the morphological analysis of forest spatial patterns with recent indices for the analysis of landscape network connectivity based on the concept of measuring habitat availability (reachability) at the landscape scale. The combination of these approaches in a single integrated workflow embraces from (1) the diagnosis and characterization at the pixel level of the forest spatial patterns and their individual constituents, which are mainly the core habitat areas and the structural connectors (bridges) between them, to (2) the assessment of their individual importance to uphold ecological fluxes as irreplaceable providers of structural connectivity. We present and show different analytical possibilities within the integrated workflow from where the manager can choose depending on the planning targets and on the characteristics of the ecological processes of interest. We illustrate the application of the combined approach in two forested areas in Central Spain with different scales and management contexts, in which the structural connectivity between forest habitat areas needs to be sustained. Our assessment was able to discriminate and highlight a concise subset of cores and bridges that concentrated most of the contribution to the overall connectivity and functioning of the forest habitat network. This provides clear guidelines on where the conservation management efforts should be targeted, allowing for many alternative areas where the rest of the management objectives and activities can be accommodated as required by the multifunctionality of forest resources. The proposed integrated approach can equally serve to identify (a) those forest areas that play a crucial role to sustain ecological fluxes that are to be promoted by management, such as the dispersal of native biota or (b) those sites where the spread of wildfires or invasive species can be halted more effectively. The potential of the proposed methodology to inform and guide forestry decisions is reinforced by the availability of the required analytical tools (Guidos and Conefor Sensinode) as freeware software packages.

- by Javier Velázquez and +1
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- Forest Ecology And Management, Invasive Species, Forest Ecology, Biological Sciences

This extension note is the eighth in a series of eight that describes a set of tools and processes developed to support sustainable forest management planning and its pilot application in the Arrow Timber Supply Area (TSA). It summarizes the criterion and indicators used to evaluate quality-of-life opportunities for the sustainable forest management (SFM) pilot basecase analysis of the Lemon Landscape Unit. The management of forests has broadened to include various social values and amenities that were considered during the development of criteria and indicators for the Arrow Innovative Forestry Practices Agreement. The quality-of-life criterion was assessed through indicators that addressed outdoor recreation opportuni-ties and visual quality of the managed landscape. This assessment was informed by public input from area residents and stakeholders. Measurable quality-of-life indicators allowed trade-offs with other resources in the SFM pilot basecase analysis; protection of these ...

- by Howard Harshaw
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- Climate Change, Outdoor Recreation, Social sustainability, Forest Planning

Public land managers are searching for frameworks for organizing and displaying social information that will make it useful in forest management and decisionmaking. On the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forests in Wisconsin, managers and researchers have used the concept of functional communities to develop such a framework. Functional communities define geographic areas in and around the Chequamegon-Nicolet where people's perceptions and use of the Forests are similar or comoatible.

- by Thomas Fish
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- Land management, Social Impact Assessment, Forest Planning, Forest Management
- by ORIANA MAGGI and +2
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- Plant Biology, Ecology, Forest Planning, Coarse Woody Debris

Abstract. New institutional economists have argued that there are many categories of institutions, including market and non-market institutions, which may prove economically efficient, specifically for public goods and common pool goods.... more

- by shashi kant
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- Human Geography, Institutional Economics, Decision Making, Human Development

A key element of conservation planning is the extremely challenging task of estimating the likely effect of restoration actions on population status. To compare the relative benefits of typical habitat restoration actions on Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), we modelled the response of an endangered Columbia River Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) population to changes in habitat characteristics either targeted for restoration or with the potential to be degraded. 2. We applied a spatially explicit, multiple life stage, Beverton-Holt model to evaluate how a set of habitat variables with an empirical influence on spring-run Chinook salmon survivorship influenced fish population abundance, productivity, spatial structure and diversity. Using habitat condition scenarios -historical conditions and future conditions with restoration, no restoration, and degradation -we asked the following questions: (i) how is population status affected by alternative scenarios of habitat change, (ii) which individual habitat characteristics have the potential to substantially influence population status and (iii) which life stages have the largest impact on population status? 3. The difference in population abundance and productivities resulting from changes in modelled habitat variables from the 'historical' to 'current' scenarios suggests that there is substantial potential for improving population status. Planned restoration actions directed toward modelled variables, however, produced only modest improvements. 4. The model predicted that population status could be improved by additional restoration efforts directed toward further reductions in the percentage of fine sediments in the streambed, a factor that has a large influence on egg survival. Actions reducing fines were predicted to be especially effective outside the national forest that covers most of the basin. Scenarios that increased capacity by opening access to habitat in good condition also had a positive but smaller effect on spawner numbers. 5. Degradation in habitat quality, particularly in percent fine sediments, within stream reaches located in the national forest had great potential to further reduce this population's viability. This finding supports current forest planning efforts to minimise road density and clear-cut harvests and to return forest stand structure in dry regions to the historical condition that promoted frequent low-intensity fires rather than catastrophic standreplacing fires, as these landscape factors have been shown to influence percent fine sediment in streams.

- by Michelle McClure
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- Open Access, Freshwater Biology, Conservation planning, Biological Sciences

Since 1987 the Region of Tuscany has been actively monitoring crown status in its forests, in order to protect them from atmospheric pollution, biotic factors and environmental change. Over this period the Region has performed periodical inventories on crown condition in publicly-owned forests (Level I network) and established a network of permanent plots (MON.I.TO., Level II -III) to study long-term changes occurring in forest ecosystems. Some of these permanent plots were later included in the national programme CONECOFOR, managed by the Ministry for Policy in Agriculture and Forest. Currently a further development of MON.I.TO. is being implemented, called MONITO III -TOpModel, the aim of which is to broaden the information potential of the monitoring system to include carbon stocks and biodiversity evaluation. This paper provides an up-to-date report on the status of the various surveys and recommends a closer connection between MON.I.TO. and the other regional information systems, especially the Regional Forest Inventory, in order to produce information that may be useful in forest planning and in Sustainable Forest Management.

- by Alberto Cozzi
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- Limnology, Air pollution, Environmental Change, Multidisciplinary

Forest management policy decisions are complex due to the multiple-use nature of goods and services from forests, difficulty in monetary valuation of ecological services and the involvement of a large number of stakeholders. Multi-attribute decision techniques can be used to synthesise stakeholder preferences related to regional forest planning because it can accommodate conflicting, multidimensional, incommensurable and incomparable objectives. The objective of this paper is to examine how the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) can be used to incorporate stakeholder preferences in determining optimal forest land-use choices. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement Programme is taken as an illustrative case for the analysis. The results show that the AHP can formalise public participation in decision making and increase the transparency and the credibility of the process.

Forest management involves multiple objectives, multiple stakeholders, complex socio-ecological and political interactions. Public involvement in forest decision making is a challenging task that involves controversies. Various participatory tools such as public consultation forums, public comment processes, opinion polls are used to consult and to obtain inputs from communities. All these methods can provide useful information but they fail to quantify the trade-offs systematically and offer little help in minimizing conflicts. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) program was implemented in response to the decades of conflicts and debate between various stakeholder groups and government over the use and management of forest resources. So far, it has not been able to minimize conflicts in the forestry sector, partly due to its poor incorporation and integration of stakeholder values. This paper uses the value functions approach in modelling stakeholder values in regional forest planning. The results of the study indicate that this method can help to incorporate value preferences effectively into the decision making process. It can also increase the transparency and credibility of the forest planning exercises such as RFA process. #

- by Jayanath Ananda
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- Decision Making, Ecological Economics, Applied Economics, Forest Planning

- by Emin Baskent
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- Decision Making, Modeling, Multidisciplinary, Ecological Modelling
- by David Martell
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- Operations Research, Multidisciplinary, Forest fire, Forest Planning

Abstract: This chapter develops a framework to explore examples of adaptation op-tions that could be used to ensure that the ecosystem services provided by forests are maintained under future climates. The services are divided into broad... more

- by Annika Kangas
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- Decision Making, Social Choice Theory, Natural Resource Management, Public Choice

Corruption appears to be the major factor which prevents proper control of long-term forest harvesting concessions by government agencies in Guyana, South America. Corruption is easily affordable because of very low forest taxes and high profits on under-declared log exports. three "rings of power" or social compacts mutually foster the prevalent illegalities.

- by Janette Bulkan
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- Civil Society, Forest Planning, Forest Policy, Forest Management

To simulate stand-level impacts of climate change, predictors in the widely used Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) were adjusted to account for expected climate effects. This was accomplished by: (1) adding functions that link mortality and regeneration of species to climate variables expressing climatic suitability, (2) constructing a function linking site index to climate and using it to modify growth rates, and (3) adding functions accounting for changing growth rates due to climate-induced genetic responses. For three climatically diverse landscapes, simulations were used to explore the change in species composition and tree growth that should accompany climate change during the 21st century. The simulations illustrated the changes in forest composition that could accompany climate change. Projections were the most sensitive to mortality, as the loss of trees of a dominant species heavily influenced stand dynamics. While additional work is needed on fundamental plant-climate relationships, this work incorporates climatic effects into FVS to produce a new model called Climate-FVS. This model provides for managers a tool that allows climate change impacts to be incorporated in forest plans.

- by Aaron Weiskittel
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- Genetics, Climate Change, Climate variability, Forest Ecology And Management

- by Michelle McClure and +1
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- Open Access, Freshwater Biology, Conservation planning, Biological Sciences

Increases in the environmental awareness of global consumers coupled with pressure from regional stakeholders has forced forest managers to demonstrate the potential implications of forest management activities for a broad range of indicators. This paper describes the construction and application of a hierarchical decision-support system for evaluating multi-objective management options for a 288,000 ha forest in northeastern British Columbia. The decision-support system includes a standlevel model, a forest estate model, a habitat model and a visualization model. A set of criteria and indicators, developed in conjunction with a public advisory committee, were used to identify key economic, ecological and social objectives. Indicators include volume harvested, gross profit, active road density, ecosystem carbon storage, age-class distribution, patch-size distribution, snag density, visual aesthetics and backcountry recreation area. A natural disturbance baseline and two alternative harvest strategies that include natural disturbance are projected and assessed with the decision-support system. The first strategy represents a dispersed harvesting approach in which cut blocks are limited to sizes <60 ha. The second strategy represents an aggregated harvesting approach in which a range of cut block sizes (up to 2000 ha) and shapes is created that more closely follows the distribution of openings generated from natural disturbance events in the region. Spatial and temporal changes in each indicator are presented and evaluated for the harvest strategies, and compared to the natural disturbance baseline where appropriate. The application of the decision-support system for strategic analysis of management options is discussed, including a review of the importance of representing the impacts of natural disturbance and the benefits and risks associated with the use of visualization techniques for presenting results to stake holder groups. #

- by Fred Bunnell and +1
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- Forest Ecology And Management, Forest Ecology, Decision support system, Biological Sciences

Identifying and characterizing the conditions of access to the forest resources are strategic to managing them sustainably and on a multifunctional basis. The Sylvaccess model presented in this article is designed to automatically map the accessibility of forests for the three main logging techniques currently used in France: skidder, forwarder and cable yarder. The model is based on spatial information and specific parameters of each logging technique. It can also integrate physical or environmental obstacles in the analysis. The outputs of the model can be used for many applications ranging from forest management and planning of logging operations to the comparison and selection of new forest roads projects.

- by Franck Bourrier and +3
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- Forest Planning, Forest operation, Cable yarding, Forest Operations

Public forests are surrounded by land over which agency managers have no control, and whose owners expect the public forest to be a ''good neighbor.'' Fire risk abatement on multi-owner landscapes containing flammable but fire-dependent ecosystems epitomizes the complexities of managing public lands. We report a case study that applies a landscape disturbance and succession model (LANDIS) to evaluate the relative effective-Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10021-009-9234-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Author Contributions: B. R. Sturtevant conceived and designed the project, analyzed model output, and led the writing of the manuscript. B. R. Miranda constructed the simulation scenarios, led the acquisition of input data and model calibration, summarized the model output, and wrote sections of the manuscript. H. S. He is a principle designer and programmer of LANDIS 4.0 who specifically contributed the fuel module for the project. J. Yang designed and programmed the fire module of LANDIS 4.0 and helped calibrate the fire regime with prototype models. E. J. Gustafson helped to design the study and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. R. M. Scheller modeled species establishment coecients as a function of soil input data from the study landscape.

- by Hong He
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- Rural Development, Strategic Planning, Fire Management, Forest fire

Forests provide inany goods and senrices and the demands for quality inforniation abotit forests ai'e continuing to increase. These demands include detailed infonnation about an incrensing range of forest characteristics and resources-both wood and non-wood based-on small, nominated units of land. For example, Kyoto-type carbon credit schemes operating at u high tier, and therefore in the rnost valuable mai'kets, require precise and unbiased estimation of carbon pools in forests at specific sub-hectare locations. Simultaiieously, landscape-level management decisions, especially those related to biodiversity, may require infermation about starid characteristics and their spatial distribution over thousands of ha or km2, I"Iistoricul appreaches fer forest im,entory were often classified into strategic!national, operationaYregional or tacticalAocal scales te support management decisions nt cen'esponding scales. However, recent trends of increased attention to the role of even individual forests in local and global economies and environments ' evidenced by intemational cenvent{ons and agreements like the Montrea] Agreernent or Kyoto Protocol, and international inonitoring of specific areas of deforestation and deR. radation ' has reduced the usefu!ness of the strntegic/operational/'tactical separation. Strategic decisions made during intemational polic>, negotiations may signifjcantly affect tactical or on ground decisions on specific forested lands, while conversely good but independent tactical decisions may put strategic managerrient goals at risk. Msagreement amongst inventories at the varieus levels (e.g. where the sum of tactical jnventories does not equal the stratigc inx,entory) increases the probability for confiict between strategic and tactical managernent decisions. 'rhis paper summarises the framework used in the National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) developed by the Comrnonwealth Goveniment of Australia to suppert policy-development especially in relation to global climute change and ferests, The framewerk al]ows for the integration of information captured through ]ong-terTn satellite sensjng, physiolegical and empirical modelling, field-based measurements and regional '`terct" inforrnation. Although pelicy-develepment is obviously at a "strategic" level, the framework is fiexible enough to also provide inforrnation at sub-hectare levels and supports seainless tactical decision-makiirg as well. The informatjon provided supports Commonwealth policy development and this paper demonstrates how NCAS also provides valuable infemiation for other inanagenient purposes ranging from tactical management of fuelwood and farm timbers at the scale of individual farm forests, through to landscape-level structural diversity and biodiversity management. Klaytvot[ls/ Carbon accounting, multi-scnle inventory, forest rnanagement, forest biodiversity

- by C. Brack
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- Forest Planning, Forest Management

In pre-industrial societies, forests provide most dai]y necessities, ranging from fuelwood to construction material and from supplementary food to fertilizer. Forestresources become even more important as the firsthand source of energy and materials for both industrial and household uses when the society tries to industrialize itself, thus making the availability of forest resources one of the key factors for successful industrializatien. In this paper, the present endowment of forest resources in the countries of South and Southeast Asia {s analyzed in a historical and geophysical perspective so as to assess their potential for industrialization from a natural resources point of view, with a special emphasis on Thailand. Though at the heavy cost of deforestatton, Thailand seems to have been one of the successful forerunners in the post-World War II Asian effort of industrial{zation, and its experience in the ordeal of deforestation and associated socioeconomic conflict should provide a good lesson for the rest of the countries in the region.

- by kitti limskul
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- Forest Planning

Landscape management denotes a forest management method that follows one specific interpretation of landscape ecology. This approach has been used to take advantage of conditions in western Mexico's temperate forests to develop a viable strategy to gradually move forest and stand level structures closer to natural conditions. Forest stands were reclassified according to their resemblance to specific stages in the successional sequence from initiation to mature stages. Other special conditions, such as roads, riparian strips, forest edges, and other structures, were explicitly considered in the forest plan, and special regimes have been prescribed to treat them. Harvest scheduling consists of a set of policies and algorithms designed to reduce fragmentation and edge effects, and increase connectivity. A case example from Jalisco, Mexico presents a summary of early results after 2 years of implementation of landscape management, which suggest that the method is operationally feasible, and that the resulting age (successional stage) distribution will display greater variability and balance in the future.

This article presents a mathematical model for the problem of production and logistics in the forest industry. Specifically, a dynamic model of mixed-integer programming was formulated to solve three common problems in the forest sector: forest production, forest facilities location and forest freight distribution. The implemented mathematical model allows the strategic selection of the optimal location and size of a forest facility, in addition to the identification of the production levels and freight flows that will be generated in the considered planning horizon. A practical application of the model was carried out, validating its utility in the location of a sawmill. The model was optimally solved using LINGO, which also allowed to evaluate its response capacity in relation to changes in information considered in the initial planning, as well as the comparison of the decisions and the solution times for different scenarios such as demand, transportation costs, timber prices and yields of the sawn process. D

- by Juan Troncoso
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- Applied Economics, Facility Location, Forest Planning, Mathematical Model

A robust method for spatial prediction of landslide hazard in roaded and roadless areas of forest is described. The method is based on assigning digital terrain attributes into continuous landform classes. The continuous landform classification is achieved by applying a fuzzy k-means approach to a watershed scale area before the classification is extrapolated to a broader region. The extrapolated fuzzy landform classes and datasets of road-related and non road-related landslides are then combined in a geographic information system (GIS) for the exploration of predictive correlations and model development. In particular, a Bayesian probabilistic modeling approach is illustrated using a case study of the Clearwater National Forest (CNF) in central Idaho, which experienced significant and widespread landslide events in recent years. The computed landslide hazard potential is presented on probabilistic maps for roaded and roadless areas. The maps can be used as a decision support tool in forest planning involving the maintenance, obliteration or development of new forest roads in steep mountainous terrain.

- by Paul Gessler
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- Human Geography, Forest Planning, Forest road, Case Study

We examined if clearcuts were selected as habitats by grizzly bears (Ursus arctos L.) in west-central Alberta during three seasons: hypophagia, early hyperphagia, and late hyperphagia. Our objectives were to describe seasonal habitat selection of clearcuts using resource selection functions at two scales. At the first scale, we assessed patch or third-order selection by comparing use (radiotelemetry) with study area-wide

- by Gordon Stenhouse and +2
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- Forest Ecology And Management, Forest Ecology, Logistic Regression, Biological Sciences

Il lavoro prende in esame lo stato attuale della pianificazione forestale in Italia ai diversi livelli. Prendendo spunto dalle normative introdotte dalla Unione Europea, vengono esaminati gli strumenti a livello nazionale, regionale, sovraziendale e aziendale nonché i principali momenti della loro attuazione nelle diverse realtà. Si pone l'attenzione anche sulla necessità di piani a livello territoriale e sull'opportunità di adottare, per il livello aziendale, uno strumento, il piano di gestione, che prenda in considerazione aspetti e valori d'uso della risorsa per un approccio volto all'applicazione della selvicoltura sistemica. In questa prima parte viene esaminata la problematica generale, l'impostazione normativa e la pianificazione a livello nazionale e regionale, con il quadro dello stato attuale tra le diverse regioni.

- by Sebastiano Cullotta
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- Forest Planning, Forest Management, Forest Management Planning

Following the development of sustainable forest management, the focus of forest planning has shifted from being exclusively concerned with timber production to encompassing other benefits of forests as well, e.g. biodiversity and recreation. This frequently results in forest planning situations with multiple stakeholders and conflicting objectives. Tools for handling these complex situations are needed, and one such tool that has been tested is the integration of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) into participatory planning.

- by fabrizio ferretti
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- Economics, Decision Making, Social Capital, Applied Economics

We present a linear fractional goal programming model to a timber harvest scheduling problem in order to obtain a balanced age class distribution of a forest plantation in Cuba. The forest area of Cuba has been severely reduced due to indiscriminate exploitation and natural disasters (fires, hurricanes, etc.). Thus, in this particular case, the main goal is to organize and regulate the forest. This involves a significant change from its current distribution by ages to obtain a more even-aged structure over a planning horizon of 25 years which coincides with the rotation age. This has been formalized as fractional goals which take into account the evolution of the forest and ensure attaining a balanced age class distribution in a progressive and flexible way. The proposed model aims at achieving this new distribution while bearing in mind the economic aspects of the forest as well as other factors. In order to test its potential we have applied the model to a Cuban plantation belonging to the forestry company ''Empresa Forestal Integral Pinar del Río''. We obtained several solutions that provided a regulated forest while respecting the economic and other targets of the decision-makers.

Given adequate models of growth and yield, and data on costs and prices, it is not too difficult to find "optimal" silvicultural regimes and rotation ages on an individual stand basis. A rigid application of these prescriptions to a forest, however, may produce unacceptable results. The annual production would vary, following a curve resembling the age distribution for the stands in the forest. Similar fluctuations would appear in the revenues, and in the labour, equipment, and finance requirements for harvesting and slivicultural operations.

- by Oscar Garcia
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- Operations Research, Forest Planning