Allocation of forest management practices on public lands: Fid-Bau Portal

Allocation of forest management practices on public lands

Turner, James M.

Abstract This paper describes a process for integrating product yields, costs, and values into a planning framework which allocates broadly defined management practices on National Forest lands. Standard forest planning procedures are used to define homogeneous land units to which the practices are applied; the analytical model is an extension of those procedures. Goal-oriented allocation of the practices is accomplished by polyperiodic linear programming methods. Production goals are embodied as model constraints which govern all physical yields over time. These target constraints are also used to evaluate non-market social objectives such as scaled values of visual impact. Other considerations, as indicated by dollar values for marketable products, are incorporated into the objective function where present net worth is maximized. Sample solutions from a 10, 700-acre test site model serve to illustrate the types of information available from the model, their interpretation, and possible implications. It is shown that the model unifies and augments available information for decision making but is not a substitute for manager judgment or public opinion. Satisfaction of production goals may require significant forfeitures in net present worth as compared to the unconstrained maximum. The manager must still evaluate and balance the possible tradeoffs between production and economic oriented goals.