Economics of harvesting uneven-aged forest stands in Fennoscandia

Abstract

This study analyzes the optimal harvesting of uneven-aged Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), and birch (Betula pendula Roth. and B. pubescens Ehrh.) stands. The analysis is based on an economic description of uneven-aged forestry using a size-structured transition matrix model and a single-tree model. The optimization problem is solved in its general dynamic form using gradient-based interior point methods. Increasing the harvesting interval decreases the annual volume yield. Assuming natural regeneration, this suggests that volume yield is maximized by uneven-aged rather than even-aged management. The present value of stumpage revenues is maximized after saw timber and pulpwood prices, interest rate, and a 15-year harvesting interval are included. The economically optimal solution with a 3% interest rate produces an annual yield of 1.9, 6.2, and 3.1 cubic meters for Scots pine, Norway spruce, and birch, respectively. Both the optimal volume yield and net present value maximization solutions converge to unique species- and site-type-specific steady states with constant harvests. The transition matrix model typically used in optimization studies is computationally less demanding than the single-tree model, but the differences in optimal solutions are more remarkable than earlier studies suggest.