title: A case study of forest management planning using a new heuristic algorithm.
abstract: We present an approach to generate and evaluate different silvicultural development paths and to optimize the development of a Norway spruce stand, using a long-term planning horizon. To generate a silvicultural path, the maximum stand density was applied. At each thinning event, three possible thinning intensities (10, 20, 30% of the stem number per ha) were randomly chosen. A search algorithm known as modified Accelerated Simulated Annealing (mASA) was used to estimate the optimum combination of stand paths for a given forest as a whole. Production and economic management objectives were considered and then compared. The economic criterion was the Expected Stand Value (ESV) with a 4% discount rate. The generated data set of 38 Norway spruce stands (comprising a total of 123.8 ha) was used in the case study. The result with the best combination of paths was presented in a digitized forest map. Forest management simulation was performed using a specially developed computer program, for a planning horizon of 20 years. The mASA proved to be an effective search method for identifying optimum paths.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Waldinventur und Waldwachstum, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany. jseo@uni-forst.gwdg.de
authors.forename: Jeong-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vilcko
authors.forename: Sofía
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sánchez Orois
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kunth
authors.forename: Yeong-Mo
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: von Gadow
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009864:Ontario; D028222:Picea / Q000254:growth & development*