Forest Management Planning for Timber Production: A Sequential Approach

Explicit forest management planning for timber production beyond the first few years at any time necessitates use of information which can best be described as suspect. The two-step approach outlined here concentrates on the planning strategy over the next few years without losing sight of the long-run productivity. Frequent updating of the long-range and short-range plan makes it possible to keep a dynamic posture. Instead of one single objective of maximization of discounted present net worth, there are two objectives. The short-run objecttive implicitly maximizes the volume or the discounted present net worth of timber harvested curing the first rotation, subject to equal area constraint; the long-run objective explicitly maximizes the rate of return to the land either as timber volume (MA1) or annualized land rent. The reduced size of the two problems makes this: approach extremely practical.