Forest Planning at the Landscape Level

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Forest Planning at the Landscape Level

• John Sessions
• Forest Engineering

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Overview

• Why Make a Plan?
• What is in a Plan
• Levels of Planning
• Some Forest Goals and Issues
• An Example Strategic/Landscape Plan

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Why Make a Plan?

• To delineate the goals for the forest
• To describe how the forest will be managed
• To guide the activities on the forest
• To project and display the consequences of
  proposed actions
• To utilize and display a reasoned approach to
  managing a forest
• To stimulate and integrate creative ideas for
  forest management
• To satisfy a law or regulation

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What is in a Forest Plan ?

• Goals for the forest
• How the forest will be managed to meet the
  goals
• The effects and outputs of such management in the
  short and long run
• How the plan will be monitored

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Levels of Planning

• Strategic Planning Long term, generally
  non-spatial
• Landscape Planning Smaller Areas, short term,
  generally spatial
• Operational Planning Small Areas, very short
  term, high spatial detail

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Some Strategic Planning Goals

• Maximize asset value
• Ensure sustainable forest structures for some mix
  of timber production, wildlife, fish, and
  recreation
• Provide forest protection

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Some Landscape Planning Issues

• Visual Management
• Distribution of stand structures needed to
  maintain wildlife habitat and watershed condition
• Legal requirements (maximum size of regeneration
  harvest)
• Road management

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Some Operational Planning Issues

• Detailed harvest planning including
• Harvest system selection
• Road location and design
• Landing location
• Stream protection and restoration
• Maintenance of wildlife habitat
• Site preparation
• Fuel reduction

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Example of a Strategic/Landscape Plan The
Elliott State Forest
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Goals

• Provide a non-declining flow of forest products
• Accelerate creation of forest structure to
  provide target levels of nesting and foraging
  habitat for the spotted owl and nesting habitat
  for the marbled murrelet
• Accelerate improvement of habitat for salmon

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Planning Requirements

• Recognize logging feasibility of harvest
  settings, coordinate regeneration harvests, limit
  opening size, satisfy green-up requirements
• Recognize thinning opportunities near roads
• Limit the magnitude of activities adjacent to
  reserve areas

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Land Classification and Activities

• 94,000 acres
• 150 year planning horizon, 5 yr periods
• 2,700 forest stands
• 57,000 parcels
• 1,900 logging settings
• 576 forest types
• 60 thinning prescriptions per forest type
• 20 alternative final harvest ages
• 400 thousand decision variables

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Decision Variables 7 integer variables per
parcel

• Which silvicultural prescription (px) should be
  assigned to each parcel to meet spatial and
  temporal goals for the existing stand?
• When should each existing stand be harvested and
  replanted?
• What silvicultural px should be assigned to the
  new stand and when should the new stand be
  harvested and replanted?
• What silvicultural px should be assigned to the
  second new stand and when should the this stand
  be harvested and replanted?
• What will be the silvicultural prescription of
  the third new stand?