A Forest Management Planning Model Integrating Silvicultural and Transportation Activities

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of integrating the analysis of timber management, forest road building and maintenance, and transporting logs. The aim of such analysis is to provide tools for the decisionmaking process in long-range forest planning. A mixed integer linear programming model is developed to maximize discounted revenues from the sale of timber net of road construction and maintenance, timber management, and transport costs. The main complexity of this model, which precludes a straightforward formulation, arises from the need to gain access to an area before it can be managed. Artificial variables and relations are introduced to avoid an unmanageably large number of 0-1 integer variables.