Balancing timber production and habitat conservation of Okinawa Rails (Gallirallus okinawae): Application of a harvest scheduling optimization model in subtropical forest in Okinawa, Japan

Abstract

Finding the right balance between timber production and the management of forest-dependent wildlife species, present a difficult challenge for forest resource managers and policy makers in Okinawa, Japan. A possible explanation of this can be found in the unique nature of the forest management area which is populated with various kinds of rare and endangered species. This issue has been brought to light as a result of the nomination of northern Okinawa Island in 2018 as a candidate for World Natural Heritage site. The nomination has raised public awareness to the possibility of conflicting management objectives between timber extraction and the conservation of habitat for forest-dependent wildlife species. Managing exclusively for one objective over the other may fail to meet the demand for both forest products and wildlife habitat, ultimately jeopardizing the stability of human and wildlife communities. It is therefore important to achieve a better balance between the objective of timber production and conservation of wildlife habitat. Despite the significance of this subject area, current ongoing discussions on how to effectively manage for forest resources, often lack scientific basis to make sound judgement or evaluate tradeoffs between conflicting objectives. Quantifying the effect of these forest management activities on wildlife habitat provides useful and important information needed to make forest management and policy decisions. In this study we develop a spatial timber harvest scheduling model that incorporates habitat suitability index (HSI) models for the Okinawa Rail (Gallirallus okinawae), an endangered avian species found on Okinawa, Japan. To illustrate how the proposed coupling model assembles spatial information, which ultimately aids the study of forest management effects on wildlife habitat, we apply these models to a forest area in Okinawa and conduct a simple simulation analysis.