Practi-SFM
General System description
System name: Practical Sustainable Forest Management
Acronym: Practi-SFM
Brief overview
The Practi-SFM system is designed to facilitate the practical implementation of SFM in the management of privately owned forests in Ireland. The system comprises a multi-resource inventory protocol and a MS Excel-based DSS.
Contents
Scope of the system
Practi-SFM supports the development of a ten-year forest management plan based on a detailed multi-resource (timber and non-timber) inventory. It allows the user to develop a number of different plans which can be compared across a series of headings, for example, volume harvested, total clearfell area, fellings adjacent to watercourses, fellings in visually sensitive areas, etc. The system also facilitates collecting and updating a series of non-timber data that may be useful in achieving third party forest management certification.
System origin
- This system is the result of a COFORD-funded research project based in University College Dublin, Ireland. The project was initated in 2001. The project leader was Prof. Maarten Nieuwenhuis and the project researcher was Dr. Frank Barrett.
- The multi-resource inventory protocol was based on the criteria and indicators identified in the Irish National Forest Standard ([1]). Existing methodologies were selected and tested on a diverse privately owned estate in County Wicklow and further tested on a number of other forest areas typical of privately owned forests in Ireland. These methodologies were then adapted for use in Irish privately owned forests [2].
- The project is now in Phase II of development. It is being field-tested by Irish forest management companies with a view to developing its functionality and the inventory collection procedures. Phase II will also examine the suitability of MS Excel as a basis for the DSS and investigate the possibility of introducing optimisation at stand level.
Support for specific issues
The Practi-SFM system offers support for the user in selecting the most suitable forest management options, on a per stand basis, that will ensure that the forest as a whole is managed according to the principles of sustainable forest management.
Support for specific thematic areas of a problem type
- Silvicultural
- Certification
- Conservation
- Restoration
- Transportation
- Sustainability impact assessment (SIA)
Capability to support decision making phases (Simon Decision Making Model)
- Intelligence (searching for conditions that call for decisions): the system identifies the stands that are due for harvesting
- Design (inventing, developing, and analysing possible courses of action): the system offers a number of options for the timing and levels of appropriate harvesting operations; also offers users the opportunity to develop a number of different scenarios
- Choice (selecting a course of action from those available): the user manually selects the preferred option based on the objectives for the forest
- Monitor - the system facilitates monitoring over a 10 year period if the inventory is updated at the expiration of the plan
Related systems
The Practi-SFM system is currently not related to any other system.
Data and data models
Typical spatial extent of application
The system is designed to support the production of a management plan for privately owned forest holdings.
Forest data input
Data input is at forest stand level. Conventional timber plot data is used (plot area, plot slope, mean height, DBH distribution, etc.) as well as a range of non-timber data relating to stand health, terrain conditions, amenity use, landscape sensitivity and a range of variables used to report on biodiversity (deadwood, invasive species, evidence of wildlife).
Models
Forest models
The Practi-SFM system uses the following models:
- British Forestry Commission (BFC) Yield Models
- Irish Dynamic (ID) Yield Models
Social models
The system does not use social models but the multi-resource inventory requires input on the historical and cultural values of the site, amenity use, adjacent dwellings and the landscape sensitivity of the site.
Decision Support
Definition of management interventions
The user can intervene in all forest management decisions - harvesting scheduling, thinning intensity, type of thinning, clearfelling, species selection, underplanting, costs associated with all operations and incomes. Currently, the Practi-SFM system lists all the management options that exist for a stand based on the BFC and ID yield models (user defined operations are also possible) and simulates the growth and output associated with the selected options.
Typical temporal scale of application
The system supports the generation of ten year management plans with operations scheduled over five two year periods.
Types of decisions supported
- Management level
- strategic decisions
- administrative decisions
- operating control decisions
- Planning decisions
- organising decisions
- command decisions
- control decisions
- co-ordination decisions
- Decision making situation
- unilateral
- collegial
Decision-making processes
- Simulation (without stochasticity)
Output
Types of outputs
The output consists of a schedule of operations over five two-year periods with associated costs and incomes.
Spatial analysis capabilities
The system has a limited interactive mapping capability. Univariate and bivariate maps can be produced for a number of predefined variables, for example, retention areas, thinnings in a particular period, harvest areas adjacent to watercourses, harvesting in visually sensitive areas, etc.
Abilities to address interdisciplinary, multi-scaled, and political issues
The system was designed to support the decision making process of an individual forest owner. Issues are therefore addressed at stand and forest level. Current field-testing is investigating the possibilities for supporting decision-making at multi-forest scale.
System
System requirements
- Windows or Macintosh
- MS Excel
- GIS access for creation of map (file could also be imported)
- Development status: used in teaching and under development for potential use by private forest sector in Ireland.
Architecture and major DSS components
The current version of Practi-SFM is written in VBA.
Usage
The system is currently used to support undergraduate learning for forest management and multi-resource inventory development.
Computational limitations
The system is designed to support a ten year management period. The functionality of the system is somewhat constrainted by the limitations of MS Excel.
User interface
Familiarity with MS Excel is required to operate the system.
Documentation and support
A user manual for the DSS has been developed to support the user with inputting data and plan generation.
Installation
- The current structure requires four MS Excel files.
References
Cited references
- ↑ Irish Forest Service (2000) Irish National Forest Standard. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Dublin, Ireland
- ↑ Barrett, F., Somers, M., and Nieuwenhuis, M. (2007) Practi-SFM - an Operational Multi-Resource Inventory Protocol for Sustainable Forest Management in Sustainable Forestry: from Monitoring and Modelling to Knowledge Management and Policy Science (eds. Reynolds, K., Thomson, A., Kohl, M., Shannon, M., Ray, D. and Rennolls)
