Approaches to integrated strategic/tactical forest planning

Traditionally forest planning is divided into a hierarchy of planning phases. Strategic planning is conducted to make decisions about sustainable harvest levels while taking into account legislation and policy issues. Within the frame of the strategic plan, the purpose of tactical planning is to schedule harvest operations to specific areas in the immediate few years and on a finer time scale than in the strategic plan. The operative phase focuses on scheduling harvest crews on a monthly or weekly basis, truck scheduling and choosing bucking instructions. Decisions at each level are to a varying degree supported by computerized tools. A problem that may arise when planning is divided into levels and that is noted in the literature focusing on decision support tools is that solutions at one level may be inconsistent with the results of another level. When moving from the strategic plan to the tactical plan, three sources of inconsistencies are often present; spatial discrepancies, temporal discrepancies and discrepancies due to different levels of constraint. The models used in the papers presented in this thesis approaches two of these discrepancies. To address the spatial discrepancies, the same spatial resolution has been used at both levels, i.e., stands. Temporal discrepancies are addressed by modelling the tactical and strategic issues simultaneously. Integrated approaches can yield large models. One way of circumventing this is to aggregate time and/or space. The first paper addresses the consequences of temporal aggregation in the strategic part of a mixed integer programming integrated strategic/tactical model. For reference, linear programming based strategic models are also used. The results of the first paper provide information on what temporal resolutions could be used and indicate that outputs from strategic and integrated plans are not particularly affected by the number of equal length strategic periods when more than five periods, i.e. about 20 year period length, are used. The approach used in the first paper could produce models that are very large, and the second paper provides a two-stage procedure that can reduce the number of variables and preserve the allocation of stands to the first 10 years provided by a linear programming based strategic plan, while concentrating tactical harvest activities using a penalty concept in a mixed integer programming formulation. Results show that it is possible to use the approach to concentrate harvest activities at the tactical level in a full scale forest management scenario. In the case study, the effects of concentration on strategic outputs were small, and the number of harvest tracts declined towards a minimum level. Furthermore, the discrepancies between the two planning levels were small

New decision support tools for forest tactical and operational planning

Doutoramento em Engenharia Florestal e dos Recursos Florestais - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaThe economic importance of the forest resources and the Portuguese forest-based industries motivated several studies over the last 15 years, particularly on strategic forest planning. This thesis focuses on the forest planning processes at tactical and operational level (FTOP). These problems relate to harvesting, transportation, storing, and delivering the forest products to the mills. Innovative Operation Research methods and Decision Support Systems (DSS) were developed to address some of these problems that are prevalent in Portugal. Specifically, Study I integrates harvest scheduling, pulpwood assortment, and assignment decisions at tactical level. The solution method was based in problem decomposition, combining heuristics and mathematical programming algorithms. Study II presents a solution approach based on Revenue Management principles for the reception of Raw Materials. This operational problem avoids truck congestion during the operation of pulpwood delivery. Study III uses Enterprise Architecture to design a DSS for integrating the operations performed over the pulpwood supply chain. Study IV tests this approach on a toolbox that handled the complexity of the interactions among the agents engaged on forest planning at regional level. Study V proposes an innovative technological framework that combines forest planning with forest operations' control

GIS applications in forest operations and road network planning: An overview over the last two decades

A systematic literature review was settled to investigate the application of GIS in terms of methods, complexity and accuracy to support decision on forestry operations and forest road network planning. A comprehensive search for relevant studies was performed to retrieve as many relevant international scientific publications dealing with forestry operations and forest road network planning in the period 1996\u20132015. The analysis was based on the development of a systematic literature review comprising three steps: \uf0de implementation of the database searches by well-defined search terms \uf0de identification of all the publications meeting the requirements of the search terms by abstract \uf0de choice of the most relevant publications analysis of the contents. In this review, \ubbGIS and forest operations\uab includes all the descriptors dealing with GIS ap- plied to support forest operations decision and analysis, while \ubbGIS and forest roads\uab includes all the papers dealing with the analysis, management and planning of forest road or forest road networks. A total of 372 references and 82 publications were selected for the analysis as they were clearly in conformity with the review topics (GIS applications in forest operations and road network planning). The analysis showed that GIS has also been applied successfully and unambiguously to har- vesting and transportation engineering in forest operations management. Further to the pre- vailing use concerning applications to support tactical planning, a significant number of recent publications have turned successfully to GIS applied at operational level. Again, despite the prevailing use concerning applications to support tactical planning, a significant number of recent publications have also turned successfully to GIS applied at operational level with the topics of Forest Operations Management in terms of optimization, productivity and safety analysis. By considering the recent evolution and improvement of GIS technology and the increasing availability of spatial data, as well their improvement in quality and resolution, the application of GIS in forest harvesting and transportation engineering as well as in forest operations management will expand in the near future

Hierarchical forest management planning and sustainable forest management in the boreal forest

In keeping with international efforts to encourage sustainable forest management, new legislation, regulations, and certification criteria have been brought into effect across boreal regions of the world in the past decade or less. These initiatives have established hierarchical systems of forest management planning that consider multiple uses of the forest and various aspects of sustainable forest management at different scales. We describe the systems established in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden. Most jurisdictions employ some form of three-level planning framework, in which strategic, tactical, and operational plans and considerations are presented with successively greater detail and spatial explicitness. However, planning scales and time horizons vary considerably, as does the level of consideration given to biodiversity and social concerns. We examine these systems in the context of sustainable forest management, raising a number of questions to be addressed in future research, adaptive management, and policy reform. In particular, we note (1) a need of new landscape and regional planning tools to evaluate the long-term and large-scale impacts of various land uses and (2) a general lack of responsiveness to global carbon and climate change concerns

Incorporating operational road planning constraints into an integrated tactical level harvest-scheduling and road-planning model

At the operational scale of forest planning, the location of roads, in a complex terrain, is a decision of major economic importance. The objective is to locate a network of roads connecting pre-selected cut-blocks, at minimal cost, subject to a host of feasibility constraints. The location of the pre-selected cut-blocks is a made at the tactical level of planning, and the decision is made with relative indifference to the cost of the connecting these blocks at the operational scale of planning. The objective of this thesis is to design and evaluate an optimization model by which the location of an operationally feasible road-network can be made simultaneously with the selection of cut-block locations. The underlying assumption of this undertaking is that the optimal locations of both cut-blocks and operational roads are interdependent Our methods are summarized in three steps: first, an exhaustive library of candidate roads is generated, using an operational-scale, road location model; second, a subset of these roads is selected in a tactical planning model which optimally schedules the harvest of cut-blocks and location and construction of roads simultaneously; and third, the tactical solution is mapped, enabling inspection of road-locations at the scale of 50m X 50m. This innovative approach was tested on a portion of the Kenogami Forest, in Ontario, and the results demonstrate its feasibility and ability to reduce road-construction costs. We conclude that the approach is useful for three reasons: first, it can reduce the total cost of constructing a road-network; second, it facilitates innovation in tactical planning by making operational road-location planning methods relevant to tactical level modeling; and finally, it can be practiced on large forests

ESTIMATES OF FOREST CHARACTERISTICS DERIVED FROM REMOTELY SENSED IMAGERY AND FIELD SAMPLES: APPLICABLE SCALES, APPROPRIATE STUDY DESIGN, AND RELEVANCE TO FOREST MANAGEMENT

Information and knowledge about a given forested landscape drives forest management decisions. Within forest management though, information that adequately describes various characteristics of the forested environment in the spatial detail desired to make fully informed management decisions is often limited. Key metrics such as species composition, tree basal area, and tree density are typically too expensive to collect using ground-based inventory methods alone across broad extents for forest level planning (thousands of ha) at fine spatial detail that permit use at tactical spatial scales (tens of ha). However, quantifying these metrics accurately, in spatial detail, across broad landscapes is important to inform the management process. While relating remotely sensed data to classical ground-based survey data through modeling has shown promise for describing landscapes at the spatial detail need to inform planning and tactical scale projects, questions remain related to integrating both sources of data, sample design, and linking plots to remotely sensed data. This dissertation addresses critical aspects of these questions by: quantifying and mitigating the impact of co-registration errors; comparing various sample designs and estimation techniques using simulated ground-based information, remotely sensed data, and a variety of modeling techniques; developing enhanced image normalization routines; and creating an ensemble approach to estimating various forest characteristics that describe species composition, basal area, and tree density. This dissertation address knowledge gaps in the fields of forestry, remote sensing, data science, and decision science that can be used to efficiently and effectively inform the natural resource management decision-making process at fine spatial resolutions across broad extents

A Simulation Model Outline for the Hungarian Forest Sector

The model presented in this paper describes the structure of the Hungarian forest sector. The planning of the sector at a national and company level as well as the mechanism of regulation concerning production, investments, and consumption are also investigated and the exports and imports linked. One of the most important objectives is to create this model in order to study the behavior of the system so as to aid the decision making both in strategic and tactical areas. Apart from forestry the model also includes the wood processing activities

Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Accounting of Forest Operations in FPInterface

Developed by FPInnovations, FPInterface is an operational-level simulation platform for forest supply activities from the harvest site to the mill gate. The software can model, simulate and optimize forest operations directly from the GIS planning maps. The analysis is done at the block level for a forest management unit and provides the cost and volumes of all products harvested from the selected blocks. The basic platform allows for cost calculations of harvesting, road construction, transport and regeneration. Additional modules are also available for optimizing transport routes, biomass supply flow and cost estimates, operational scheduling and value chain decisions. The software offers a tactical and operational forest planning tool in the context of Canadian forest operations. FPInterface considers all fossil fuel inputs and biomass outputs based on product specifications, harvesting decisions, equipment selection, road network and stand conditions. Therefore, the software offers an opportunity for the development of functionalities for greenhouse gas emissions accounts and carbon budgets for woody feedstock. The main objective of this paper is to describe the calculation of carbon ratio in a module of the FPInterface software. Furthermore, a scenario analysis was conducted, where the usability of the module was demonstrated. The objectives of the analysis were to show the impact of tree size on carbon emissions and to compare different supply chains for biomass in terms of carbon ratios. Keywords: carbon emissions, forest planning, logging operations, biomass, FPInterface. Received 28 September 2010, Revised 21 January 2013, Accepted 27 January 2013

An analysis of the state of the forest and some management alternatives for the Östad estate

This report contains strategic and tactical plans for Ostad foundations forest estate. The plans are produced by means of the Forest Management Planning Package (Jonsson et al., 1993, see Remarks) and Arc View, a Geographical Information System (GIS). The Ostad estate is located 40 kilometers east of Gothenburg at lake Mjorn (58° N, 12°30'E). It comprises a total area of about 4600 hectares, of which roughly 3500 hectares are productive forest land. The dominant soil type is sandy moraine. The average site quality is moderate for southern Sweden conditions (the site quality is 8. 1 m3/ha/yr). More detailed data about the forest is found in chapter 4. The landscape has high scenic values, and is at many places broken by hills, steep cliffs and lakes. Large parts of the forest were intensively cut during the 1950-1960' sand efforts have been made during the last decades to increase the stocking. Close to the manor is a peninsula (about 160 hectares large), named Djurgarden, with former pasture land which now is afforested, to a large extent by valuable hardwood. The Ostad estate and foundation has an interesting history. From 1774, when the estate was donated by a wealthy merchant, N. Sahlgren, and until the end of Second World War, it served as a home and educational institution for youngsters from poor family conditions. Later it was the site for a forestry college. Since about 15 years the aim of the foundation is to support forestry and agricultural education and research, by providing both land for experimental activity and monetary funds. The estate is also famous for being once the home manor (in the 1750's) of J. Alstromer, the man who "brought the potato to Sweden". The planning has been carried out by students at the faculty of forestry from SLU Umea, during the course Forest Management Planning (SPLB 1). The forest inventory was done from Sept. 24 to Oct. 3 1997 and the data was processed and analyzed from Dec. 1997 to Jan. 16 1998. The report presents nine alternative harvesting plans on the strategic and tactical level. The alternatives differ with respect to interest rates and (future) price lists. Which alternative is to be considered as the optimal management plan is in the hands of the decision-makers for the Ostad foundation. The planner is not supposed to take a standpoint on the interest rate or price development. The purpose of the FMPP is to develop a strategic forestry plan for the estate analyzed. The FMPP contains the most important components for goal formulation, inventory, forecasts and optimization. The strategic result can then be used in the following tactical planning with help of statistical methods. The tactical plans are produced using GIS. The goal of the tactical plan is to fulfil the results of the strategic plan, with regards to the cutting level and economical results for the next 5 to 10 years. In the tactical planning other important factors are considered, such as co-ordination of the forestry activities, nature-conservation values and landscape-planning

The effectiveness study of primary forest road traffic infrastructure – an alternative to study of primary forest opening or just a short-term solution?

Planiranje šumskih prometnica, kao prva, nezaobilazna i vrlo važna faza uspostavljanja optimalne/najbolje moguće mreže primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture na terenu, može biti na: 1) strateškoj, 2) taktičkoj te 3) operativnoj razini. Strateško i taktičko planiranje odnose se na planiranje cjelokupne mreže primarnih šumskih prometnica, dok se operativno planiranje odnosi na planiranje pojedinačne šumske ceste. Rezultat taktičkog planiranja primarnih šumskih prometnica je, ili bi bar trebala biti, Studija primarnog otvaranja šuma pojedine gospodarske jedinice (dalje: Studija).Nepostojanje (pod)zakonske obveze izrade Studije, dokumenta u kojemu bi se objedinili svi rezultati rada pri taktičkom planiranju primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture na razini gospodarske jedinice, predstavlja velik problem pri optimizaciji primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture, poglavito neotvorenih ili nedovoljno otvorenih šuma. Unatoč čestom ukazivanju na navedeni problem, ali i na mogućnosti njegova rješavanja/umanjenja, kroz značajan broj radova različitih autora koji su se u svojem znanstvenom radu bavili problematikom otvaranja šuma, rezultati istraživanja i konkretne preporuke do danas nisu naišle na širu primjenu u operativnome šumarstvu.Tijekom izrade Programa Ruralnog razvoja Republike Hrvatske za razdoblje 2014.–2020. (dalje: Program), EU je zatražila od Republike Hrvatske da osmisli dokument kojim će se analizirati i ocijeniti kvantiteta i kvaliteta prostornog rasporeda primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture određene gospodarske jedinice, utvrditi potreba daljnjega primarnog otvaranja šuma, definirati položaj idejnih trasa planiranih šumskih prometnica te uskladiti gustoća mreže primarnih šumskih prometnica na taktičkoj razini s preporučenim vrijednostima pojedinog reljefnog područja na strateškoj razini planiranja primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture.U okviru Pravilnika o provedbi mjere M04 »Ulaganja u fizičku imovinu«, podmjere 4.3. »Potpora za ulaganja u infrastrukturu vezano uz razvoj, modernizaciju i prilagodbu poljoprivrede i šumarstva«, tipa operacije 4.3.3. »Ulaganje u šumsku infrastrukturu« iz Programa ruralnog razvoja Republike Hrvatske za razdoblje 2014.–2020. (NN 106/15) (dalje: Pravilnik) se nalazi prilog 1 – Obrazac za izradu Elaborata učinkovitosti mreže šumskih prometnica – primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture (dalje: Elaborat), koji je u potpunosti zadovoljio postavljene kriterije EU.U radu se: 1) kritički raščlanjuju osnovne sastavnice Elaborata s posebnim naglaskom na njegovu sastavnicu B. – Analiza postojeće mreže primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture, 2) detaljno pojašnjava metodologija izrade registra primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture, 3) opisuju novodefinirani kriteriji određivanja gustoće primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture, 4) u odnos se radi međusobne usporedbe dovode Elaborat i Studija, te 5) donose se preporuke o budućim aktivnostima usmjerenima ka poboljšanju taktičkog planiranja primarne šumske prometne infrastrukture.The Effectiveness Study of Primary Forest Road Traffic Infrastructure – an alternative to Study of Primary Forest Opening or just a short-term solution?Planning forest roads, as the first, inevitable and very important stage in establishing optimal i.e. best possible primary forest traffic infrastructure network, can be on: 1. strategic, 2. tactical and 3. operational level. Strategic and tactical planning level relate to planning of the entire primary forest road network, while operational planning refers to the planning of an individual forest road. The result of the tactical planning of primary forest roads is, or at least should be, the Study of Primary Forest Opening of an individual management units (hereinafter: The Study).The absence of legal obligation in producing the Study, the document in which all work results of tactical planning primary forest traffic infrastructure, at the management unit level, would be consolidated, is a major problem in the optimization of primary forest traffic infrastructure, particularly in unopened or insufficiently opened forest areas. Despite frequent emphasizing to this problem and the possibilities of its solving/reduction, a significant number of papers by various authors who have in their scientific work dealt with the issue of forest opening, research results and applicable recommendations are still not used broadly in practical forestry.While establishing Program of Rural Development in Republic of Croatia in period from 2014 to 2020, EU authorities have requested from Croatian authorities a document which includes analysis and evaluation data, regarding the quantity and quality of the primary forest traffic infrastructure network spatial distribution of a specific management unit, which will determine the need of further primary forest opening, which will also define concept design alignment of planned forest roads and will accord primary forest road density at the tactical level with the recommended values of individual relief area categories on the strategic level of primary forest traffic infrastructure planning.In the Bylaw on measure implementation M04 »Investments in physical assets«, by-measure 4.3 »Grant for investments in development, modernization and customization of agriculture and forestry«, operation type 4.3.3 »Investments in forest infrastructure« from the Program of Rural Development in Republic of Croatia in period from 2014 to 2020 (NN 106/15) (hereinafter: The Bylaw) holds an appendix No. 1 – Form for the Effectiveness Study of Primary Forest Road Traffic Infrastructure (hereinafter: The Effectiveness Study), which was completely satisfactory to EU authorities’ requests.This paper will: 1) critically analyze the basic components of the Effectiveness Study with special emphasis on the component B – Analysis of the existing primary forest traffic infrastructure network, 2) explain in details the methodology of primary forest traffic infrastructure registry production, 3) describe the newly defined criteria for determining density of primary forest road infrastructure, 4) define the relationship and differences of the Effectiveness Study and the Study of Primary Forest Opening, and 5) give recommendations on future activities aimed at improving tactical planning of primary forest traffic infrastructure