Harvesting fragmented boreal forest: system selection using a simulation-optimization approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nordic forests, such as those found in Canada were known to offer opportunities for large and relatively homogeneous harvesting blocks. Increased fragmentation of forests makes operation planning more difficult and affects costs of road building and machinery relocation. Currently, the diversity of systems used for forest operations in eastern Canada represents only a fraction of existing alternatives. It might be that at least one alternative outperforms the systems currently used in the fragmented boreal forest. Hence, a subset of potential systems was identified in a preliminary evaluation of harvest systems in fragmented operations. From this sample, the objective is to develop a mathematical model to identify the harvest system with the lowest wood procurement cost in fragmented boreal forests. The candidate systems were simulated and optimized using a static deterministic approach. According to our results, the best systems in fragmented forests involve fewer machines, hence a lower relocation cost. Two CTL systems outperformed all others. The system using removable crane self-loading trucks for transport and the one using the forwarder for loading both resulted in 4 $/m3 (USD) advantage over the third least expensive system in the most fragmented harvest sites. The proposed model can be directly applied to assess harvest systems in other parts of the world with similar forest fragmentation challenges.