| Has DSS development
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Ireland-PractiSFM multi-resource inventory and decision support for private forest owners.Description of DSS development +
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| Has DSS development stage
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| Has country
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Ireland +
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| Has decision making dimension
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Single decision maker +
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| Has decision stage
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organization +
, intelligence +
, design +
, choice +
, monitoring +
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| Has decision support techniques
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Ireland-PractiSFM multi-resource inventory and decision support for private forest owners.Decision support techniques +
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| Has description
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Irish forest managers, faced with the task … Irish forest managers, faced with the task to implement Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) principles while at the same time satisfying the forest owner’s goals and objectives, require effective and efficient multi-resource survey and decision support tools in order to produce management plans that are realistic, practical and sustainable. The PractiSFM (Practical Sustainable Forest Management) research project was an attempt to address these needs.
The PractiSFM DSS was developed in incremental stages within Microsoft Excel using the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) integrated development environment (IDE). VBA offers the advantages of fast performance, tight integration with the host application, and the ability to build solutions without the use of additional programming tools. Microsoft Excel’s familiarity to the end user group, its widespread availability, its user-friendliness and its relatively low cost compared to other proprietary systems were also considered advantages. The PractiSFM DSS comprises three main modules which control the functionality of the application. This functionality includes production of inventory data entry forms, validation of inventory data, production of stand timber and non-timber forecasts, generation of reports and control of interactive mapping and goal analysis functions. Data requirements for the program are provided in the form of keyboard input through forms and dialogs, and data in lookup tables.
The first component of the PractiSFM System comprises a multi-resource forest inventory protocol, consisting of a standardised set of protocols for observing, assessing and recording multi-resource forest inventory data at the stand-level scale, which has been developed in accordance with the criteria and indicators as identified in the Irish National Forest Standard.
In the second component, the PractiSFM option generation module, the harvest simulation or timber forecasting tools (Fig. 1) are based on the British Forestry Commission Yield Class system and the Irish Dynamic Yield models developed for Sitka spruce, Douglas fir and Norway spruce. Estimated thinning and clearfelled timber harvest volumes associated with particular silvicultural treatments may also be entered manually into the DSS, in cases where Irish forest growth projection models have yet to be developed (e.g. for continuous cover systems and for broadleaf species). The option generation module is used to create an option matrix, which represents a series of 10-year harvest scheduling and replanting treatments for each stand in the forest. The option generation module incorporates interactive dialogs and uses stand stocking, basal area, yield class, average growing stock, user defined thinning parameters and other calculated stand summary statistics as inputs to guide the creation of realistic stand management option sets. Non-timber data for each option is also included in the option matrix.
The third component of PractiSFM is a planning module for simulation of forest conditions over a 10-year planning period. The component provides an interactive map, visual tools and graphic and tabular reports that can be used to analyse the effects of different management scenarios over the 10-year planning period. The module can be used to generate planning scenario information at a forest and stand level, such as timber volume/value assortments, area of visually or environmentally sensitive forest, area affected by harvesting operations, changes in deer cover and food habitat, cumulative deadwood volumes, productive man hours and operational cash flow. The outputs from the PractiSFM system have the additional potential to facilitate the standardisation of management plan reporting and feed into the national forest information system. The combination of the developed PractiSFM multi-resource inventory protocol and software has proven to be flexible in dealing with a range of forest characteristics and owner’s objectives.
The system was developed with continuous input from undergraduate and post-graduate students who used the prototype systems during management planning projects, and in close cooperation with a forest management consultancy company. At a later stage, two other management companies became involved as field testers and they provided feedback on the usefulness and user-friendliness of the system. The system is currently being used by the management company involved in the project and by the university.lved in the project and by the university. +
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| Has end date
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2012 +
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| Has full name
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PractiSFM multi-resource inventory and decision support for private forest owners +
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| Has goods and services dimension
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Market wood products +
, Market services +
, Non-market services +
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| Has knowledge management processes
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Ireland-PractiSFM multi-resource inventory and decision support for private forest owners.Knowledge management process +
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| Has location
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All privately owned forests +
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| Has objectives dimension
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Multiple objectives +
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| Has reference
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Barrett, F., Nieuwenhuis, M. and Doyle, M. … Barrett, F., Nieuwenhuis, M. and Doyle, M. (2010) 'PractiSFM - Multi-Resource Inventory Protocol and Decision Support System: a Model to Address the Private Forest Resource Information Gap in Ireland'. Irish Forestry, 64 (1 & 2): 5-20.
Barrett, F. and Nieuwenhuis, M. (2009) 'A Decision Support System Linking Forest Policy with Sustainable Forest Management Planning in Private Forests in Ireland' In: Stephen P. Grossberg (eds). Forest Management. New York, USA: Nova Science Publishers.
Barrett, F., Somers, M. and Nieuwenhuis, M. (2007) 'PractiSFM - an Operational Multi-resource Inventory Protocol for Sustainable Forest Management' In: Reynolds, K., Thomson, A., Shannon, M., Kohl, M., Ray, D. and Rennolls, K. (eds). Sustainable Forestry in Theory and Practice. United Kingdom: CABI.Theory and Practice. United Kingdom: CABI. +
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| Has responsible organisation
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University College Dublin +
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| Has spatial context
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Spatial with no neighbourhood interrelations +
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| Has spatial scale
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Forest level +
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| Has start date
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2004 +
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| Has support for social participation
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Ireland-PractiSFM multi-resource inventory and decision support for private forest owners.Support of social participation +
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| Has temporal scale
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Medium term (tactical) +
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| Has type of owner organization
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higher or secondary education establishment +
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| Has wiki contact e-mail
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maarten.nieuwenhuis@ucd.ie +
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| Has wiki contact person
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Maarten Nieuwenhuis +
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| Has working group theme
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Dss development process +
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| Has queryThis property is a special property in this wiki.
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Ireland-PractiSFM multi-resource inventory and decision support for private forest owners +
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| Categories |
Case +
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| Modification dateThis property is a special property in this wiki.
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25 April 2013 15:01:44 +
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