Planning timber harvest activities with geographic information/decision support systems
Abstract
Planning timber harvesting activities is a costly and time-consuming process. As tract size and the length of the planning period increase, more site specific information is required to prepare adequate harvest plans. Traditionally, harvest planners have relied on personal experience and "rules of thumb" to guide them through this planning process. However, the harvest planner may not be able to utilize these traditional planning techniques when dealing with large tracts due to the increased data demands of the planning process. This thesis describes a terrain classification method and the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) for short-term harvest planning that combines the data handling, storage, and retrieval advantages of a geographic information system with the decision modeling capabilities of operations research models. The terrain classification system characterizes the terrain of forested areas in northern Maine in terms of slope, ground strength, and surface roughness. The DSS consists of three major components: the geographic information system, a library of decision models, and a graphics interface. The geographic information system contains information on stand types, volumes by species, roads, water bodies, and the terrain classification developed as a part of this project. The model library consists of three decision models: a linear programming module to select stands for harvest, a heuristic allocation module to determine the harvesting system to be used to harvest the stands, and a minimum-spanning-tree/shortest path module to determine the location of roads to access harvested stands. The graphics interface provides a linking mechanism between the geographic information system, the decision models, and the harvest planner. The terrain classification system and the DSS provide the harvest planner with an efficient means of evaluating the large amount of data required in planning harvesting operations on large tracts. The DSS provides a method of utilizing operations research techniques in the planning process without precluding the use of the harvest planner's experience. However, the effectiveness of the DSS can be limited by the type and amount of information contained in the geographic information system.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Reisinger, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Forestry|Operations research
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