Optimal crosscutting: any effect on optimal stand management?

Abstract

Trees harvested in cuttings are usually partitioned into timber assortments, for instance, saw logs, poles and pulpwood logs. Since different assortments have different prices, the way in which harvested stems are crosscut affects the incomes of the forest landowner. Optimal crosscutting aims at maximizing the total value of the assortments obtained from the stems. Although forest research has developed several algorithms for optimal crosscutting, it has rarely been included in the optimization of stand management. Treatment prescriptions are often based on analyses in which the value of harvested trees is calculated without considering the whole set of timber price categories and without simulating the crosscutting of harvested trees. This may lead to biased conclusions about optimal stand management. This study proposed a fast and flexible method for optimizing the crosscutting of harvested trees in the context of stand management optimization. The method employs simulated annealing to find the optimal combination of log lengths, separately for each harvested tree. The results calculated for case study stands suggest that optimal crosscutting leads to longer rotation lengths than obtained in analyses where the values of harvested trees are predicted with more simple methods. Optimal crosscutting increases the incomes of forest landowner and the proportions of the most valuable saw log assortments. The proportion of harvested pulpwood decreases.