Constrained Optimization for Addressing Forest-Wide Timber Production

Optimization models are important tools for integrating objectives in forest management planning. Timber management objectives are difficult to address without considering complex environmental conditions, other ownership objectives, and forest management policies. Typically, to learn about management opportunities, model applications involve multiple scenarios and tradeoff analysis. Study areas tend to be large with analyses challenging because of model size needs for addressing many facets of the situation. The trend is to decompose large problems into linked subproblems with feedback between analyses. A better understanding of forest management situations can be obtained by integrating forest management decision-making with timber supply chain analyses developed from wood users’ perspectives. Uncertainty surrounds forest management decision-making situations, with analyses expanding recently to address strategies for collecting forest inventory information and recourse opportunities to help reduce risks associated with an uncertain future.