FORESTAR

General System description

System name: Forest operation and restoration for enhancing services in a temperate Asian region.

Acronym: FORESTAR

Brief overview

FORESTAR DSS was developed to promote forest sustainable management under the reformed forestry system in China.

Scope of the system

FORESTAR is composed of multiple models and practical user interfaces that are linked with spatial data. It includes functions for data query and display, statistical analysis, decision on forest management, data update and maintenance, etc. The core of FORESTAR involves three modules:

1. Forest harvesting;

   Forest stand are selected for harvesting by comparing and optimizing landscape structure. In the harvesting stands selection the parameters considered are protection (protected areas are directly excluded), operating costs, timber yield, landscape integrity, and non-wood products. Once selected, a matrix-model interface is used to optimize forest stand harvesting schemes.

2. Forest protection;

   This module identifies forest areas for protection, locates forest pest and diseases, and forecasts risk of forest fire. Protection areas are located just with the help of deterministic maps previously developed. Pest and diseases risk are evaluated in order to specify health-treatment silvicultural activities. A fire model is including supporting fire risk mapping and fire spread prediction.

1. Forest restoration;

   Three activities can be made under this module:

   • shrubs and herbs removing within five years after seedlings were planted at the harvesting sites,
   • thinning secondary forests, and
   • tending low-productivity forests

   The module can be useful for analysing the stand and silvicultural activities selection according to the funds availability, and then plan investments and apply for government funds

System origin

• FORESTAR was originally developed in the early 2000's in order to serve the purposes of the Baihe Forestry Bureau, a state-owned forest enterprise, and then modified in order to be also useful for the Benxi City Forestry Bureau, in the Jilin and Liaoning Provinces respectively, both in northeast China, neighbouring North Korea.
• FORESTAR is still in trial stage.

Support for specific issues

Economically evaluating harvesting problems taking into account constraints such as landscape protection, sustainable management, pest and diseases occurrence, fire risk, or biodiversity conservation. It can also evaluate non-wood forest productions and forest vegetation management.

Support for specific thematic areas of a problem type

• Silvicultural
• Certification
• Conservation
• Restoration
• Development choices / land use zoning
• Policy/intervention alternatives

Data and data models

Typical spatial extent of application

Input data unit is the stand, while constraints and outputs can reach forest level.

Models

Forest models

Models can predict timber and non-wood yields, and evaluate its influence into the landscape, sustainable management, pest and diseases occurrence, fire risk, or biodiversity conservation.

Decision Support

Definition of management interventions

FORESTAR pursues making long-term sustainable management of forest resources available for local foresters. It will enable forest managers to achieve both short-term utilization and long-term conservation of forest resources, allowing to increase forest stocks in the future, which under the traditional logging plans would continue to decline.

System

Architecture and major DSS components

FORSTAR was programmed with the customization MapObjects™ geographic information environment.

Usage

Although it has been developed to resolve real-world problems in China's forestry, it would be also capable to be a useful tool to scientists and learners.

Interface

FORESTAR has an user-friendly graphic interface that simplifies the use of forest inventory data and encourages data access by forestry professionals.

References

External resources

• REYNOLDS, K.M., M. TWERY, M.J. LEXER, H. VACIK, D. RAY, G. SHAO et J.G. BORGES (2008): Decision Support Systems in Forest Management. In BURSTEIN, F. et C. W. HOLSAPPLE (Eds.): Handbook on Decision Support Systems 2: Variations. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp 499-533.
• SHAO, G., L.-M. DAI, Y.-S. LI, Y.-M. LIU et G.X. BAI (2003): FORESTAR: A decision-support system for multi-objective forest management in Northeast China. Journal of Forestry Research, 14(2): 141-145.
• SHAO, G. et L.-M. DAI (2006): Linking multiple tools: a Chinese case. In SHAO, G., et K.M. REYNOLDS: Computer Applications in Sustainable Forest Management. Springer, New York, pp 239-258.