Introducing SYSPROP—A Software Tool to Identify Small but Economically Viable Timber Parcels in the Pacific Northwest

Abstract The past several decades have seen a steady decline in timber harvest rates from many parts of the United States, particularly the Pacific Northwest. Although various factors fuel this decline, one of the principal drivers is increasing rates of parcelization of the landscape. Increasingly parcelized forested landscapes tend to be more challenging to log—both because urbanization rates are somewhat correlated with parcelization but also due to the additional administrative overhead in securing logging rights in increasingly smaller parcels. The purpose of this note is to introduce SYSPROP, a tool to aid in the automatic identification of economically viable parcels for logging. We conclude with a case study of a small logging company operating in Washington State that used this tool to identify several promising parcels.