Evaluating forest product potential as part of planning ecological restoration treatments on forested landscapes

Abstract

As landscape scale assessments and modeling become a more common method for evaluating alternatives in integrated resource management, new techniques are needed to display and evaluate outcomes for large numbers of stands over long periods. In this proof of concept, we evaluate the potential to provide financial support for silvicultural treatments by selling timber harvested during treatments designed to achieve non-timber objectives such as fire hazard reduction or wildlife habitat improvement. We introduce the concept of dimensionless indices to describe and compare physical accessibility, harvest and hauling costs, and potential revenue from wood products. These indices are combined into a composite utilization index that portrays the relative potential of each polygon for wood utilization and associated cost offsets from integrated resource management activities. To illustrate these concepts, we simulate vegetation dynamics, management interventions, and natural disturbances over a 100-year period and summarize results into both tabular outputs and maps for a 178,000 ha landscape with more than 50,000 stands.