Annual timber procurement planning with bucking decisions

The problem we consider is a practical multiple-period wood procurement planning problem in the Eastern Canadian context. The forest cut blocks are large and heterogeneous; they have different densities and the diameter of the trees varies. This is a difficult forest management problem because it integrates two related problems: the forest bucking problem with a cut-to-length (CTL) bucking system and the multi-facility supply planning problem. The choice of the areas to harvest in each period and how to harvest them affects the assortments provided to the mills. We must decide which areas to harvest in each period so that the demands of the various wood-processing facilities are satisfied. Moreover, we must indicate how to harvest the different cut blocks according to the bucking priority list and the quantity of harvested logs from each block to transport to the sawmill. In this paper, we extend the procurement model presented in Dems et al. [10] to more detailed multiple-period planning. We develop a mixed integer linear model, and we propose two heuristic approaches that quickly generate an initial feasible schedule of cut blocks. Computational results from an Eastern Canadian forestry company are presented.