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General System description

System name: Ecosystem Based Multiple Use Forest Management Model

Acronym: ETÇAP

Brief overview

ETÇAP is an ecosystem based forest management planning software that allows both evaluating the current estate of a forest ecosystem and preparing specific management plans for a given management objectives under various constraints.

Scope of the system

• tool encourages decision maker to discover new problems or opportunities by exposing to new information or results
• tool helps decision makers in recognizing upcoming problems for which solutions have been developed previously
• tool allows decision maker to actively create new knowledge when faced with a new problem and to develop novel solutions
• tool allows decision maker to capture knowledge, making it available to decision makers who are seeking solutions from previously solved problems

System origin

• Developed by Emin Zeki BAŞKENT, Sedat KELEŞ and Ali İhsan KADIOĞULLARI • ETÇAP is in this moment ready to be used in some forest management planning units (Kızılcasu-Cide; Gürgendağ-Edremit; Honaz-Denizli and Akseki-İbradı) in Turkey and will be soon adapted to other Turkish regions after evaluation by the Forest Management Department in Turkish Forest Service

Support for specific issues

Inventory compilation, harvest scheduling, timber-water-carbon production or prediction, soil protection, yield prediction, biodiversity conservation, spatial planning

Support for specific thematic areas of a problem type

• Timber cruising
• Silvicultural
• Certification
• Conservation
• Development choices / land use zoning
• Policy/intervention alternatives
• Spatial layout of interventions

Capability to support decision making phases

(NOTE I do not quite know what to do with this, as I do not understand it myself, although it seems related to system use)

(Click here to see a more detailed explanation)

• Intelligence (The current conditions of the forest can be analysed with various management strategies to achieve targets and a spatially configured harvest schedules be prepared.)
• Design (The simulation tool runs the different management possibilities among the restrictions imposed by the input data to understand forest dynamics.

The optimization tool projects the current state of a forest into a target forest under various management prescriptions with objectives and constraints.)

• Choice (Heuristic tools are used in order to ensure the spatial layout of the best management option chosen by the manager. )
• Monitor (Not implemented.)

Related systems

• AROBEM (empirical growth and yield model inherent in ETÇAP)
• ETÇAPKlasik
• ETÇAPSimulation
• ETÇAPOptimization
• ETÇAPKombineOptimization

Data and data models

Typical spatial extent of application

The normal spatial application level of ETÇAP is the forest level with various stands. Yet the spatial resolution of the model is the stand, the smallest identifiable unit of forest area.

Forest data input

ETÇAP input information are inventory data that can be imported from files with .xls or .mdb extensions with a specific format. The input data required depends on the characteristics of the stand. Three groups of data are needed for the model; the current area of the stands generated by a GIS software, current status of each stand measured with inventory sheets for per area growth and yield characteristics (in each plot: the plot size, diameters of all stems, ages of some stems, age and dominant height for a number of stems, and ten-last-years growth for some trees) and the other support tables (volume table, empirical yield table, site index table, product assortment table and financial value table) characteristics In order to allow spatial layout of a harvest schedule for visualization and generation of maps, compartments, forest stratifications and analysis areas have to be set and related to each polygon (a sub-compartment =stand) with geographic files

If necessary describe other types of required data (economic, social)

Type of information input from user (via GUI)

Forest management strategies with specific objectives and constraints have to be developed as shown in the user interface. More than one goal may be selected to address multi-objective management of forests. The indicated targets as management objectives are both yield-economic goals and conservation targets.

Models

Forest models

Models implemented in ETÇAP simulate silvicultural treatment schedules according to the stand variables previously given based on both optimization and simulation techniques. Currently ETÇAP has implemented models for the management of either even-aged, uneven-aged, pures or mixed forest stands of any species that have the growth and yield data

Social models

-Not available yet

Decision Support

Definition of management interventions

The user lays out the alternative management prescriptions as sequences of silvicultural treatments; how, when (time of harvest, regeneration methods, thinnings, etc.) and where (a stand or a contiguous group of stands) the treatments could be conducted in order to achieve the previously chosen management targets.

Typical temporal scale of application

Strategic and tactical planning

Types of decisions supported

• Management level
  • Strategic decisions
  • Operating control decisions
• Management function

Decision-making processes and models

• Traditional simulation
• Simulated annealing
• Random ascent
• Linear programming

Output

Types of outputs

• Stand level table and graphical outputs showing the temporal changes of its parameters
• Forest level outputs showing the performance of forest dynamics based on selected performance indicators in various display formats (bar chart, line chart, table format)
• Forest level map display depicting the long term harvest schedules (regeneration, thinning, and aforestation)

Spatial analysis capabilities

• integrated capabilities
• facilitates links to GIS
• provides standard data import/export formats
• allows spatial query
• statistics by area

Abilities to address interdisciplinary, multi-scaled, and political issues

Evaluate interactions between different basic information types (biophysical, economic, social).

System

System requirements

• Operating Systems: (Windows)
• Other software needed (GIS, LINDO, Access and other free software development kits)

Architecture and major DSS components

Desktop client-server system of architecture is in place

Usage

Research level use, government use

Computational limitations

No limitation on the number of stands as long as hardware components (RAM and disk space) are not limiting. Time horizon for optimization is about twice the rotation period.

User interface

In-hose developed GUI is available

Documentation and support

No manual is ready now

Installation

• Level of effort to become functional
• No costs for the current version
• Allows the download/utilization of a trial version

References

Cited references

External resources

• Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Forestry Forest Management Department website (inactive)
• Baskent EZ, Terzioglu S, Baskaya S 2008. Developing and implementing multiple-use forest management planning in Turkey, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Volume: 42 Issue: 1 Pages: 37-48.
• Başkent, E.Z., Başkaya, Ş., and Terzioğlu, S. 2008. Developing and implementing participatory and ecosystem based multiple use forest management planning approach (ETÇAP): Yalnızçam case study, Forest Ecology and Management 256: 798–807