Integrated Forest Planning Across Multiple Ownerships and Decision Makers

Abstract

Abstract Social evaluation of public and private land-use planning of forests and rangelands is increasingly integrated across multiple land ownerships and resolved in a politicized forum of multiple decision makers. Multicriterial optimization models have limited utility for decision analysis in this environment as they must be formulated from the perspective of a single decision maker. A flexible integer programming model is demonstrated as a useful and appropriate tool to simulate and explore the collective options in a multiple ownership integrated planning (MOIP) problem. Multiple budget constraints are featured in this model as a vehicle by which resource contributions from both landowners and nonlandowners can be explicitly recognized. The hypothesis that MOIP problems define a positive sum game is supported by analyzing the data set of published national forest plan Draft Environmental Impact Statements (DEIS) for California data set. For. Sci. 37(1):200-226.