The forest products industry has made use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Forest Growth and Yield Models (FGYM), and Timber Harvest Optimization Routines (THOR) for many years. However, the primary development of these technologies has been proprietary, limited to certain geographic regions of the country, and/or restricted to use on mainframe computers. Limited published research is available on the integration of these valuable management technologies. The project is developing a highly integrated package that allows the forest manager to use forest stand information contained within a GIS as input into a FGYM. Spatially oriented projections of future stand volume are created for incorporation into the GIS. The projections are also used as input into a THOR. The optimization routine gives the forest manager the economically optimum and scheduling solution that meets mill, harvesting equipment, and personnel constraints. This package is microcomputerbased and relies on the Erdas "GISMO" GIS modeling language. Initial program development focuses on the Great Lakes region. The program architecture is robust, thus permitting export to other forest regions and to agriculture.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: The project has great potential usage by managers of medium to large forest products operations and some potential usage by smaller forest products units.
