Linear Programming (LP) was used to provide information about trade-offs between timber production and wildlife practices for Maryland's Pocomoke State Forest. The information was to be used as an aid by the Forest managers to find the combination of desired products which would most closely meet the overall goal for the Forest. The objective for the Forest over the rotation was maximum sawtimber production consistent with sound management practices for other products, mainly wildlife.
An initial LP model of the Pocomoke Forest was developed with the objective function to maximize the sawtimber production over a 60 year rotation. Different methods of forest regulation were tried in the model to see which would give the highest volume obtainable over the rotation without undue fluctuations in periodic volume and acres cut. Thinning in feasible stands was included in the model at age 30 and 40. Solutions to the model when thinning was included were compared with solutions to the model without thinning.
Wildlife management practices were then included in the model as constraints. Any wildlife management practice which the managers wished to consider, and which potentially interfered with maximum .sawtimber production, was included in the model. When each wildlife objective was added to the model, a new solution was obtained. This solution was compared to the one obtained before the constraint was included. The amount of timber given up to introduce each wildlife management practice on the Forest was determined.
If the wildlife managers can estimate the increase in wildlife benefits brought about by a specific wildlife management practice, a decision can then be made, whether or not the introduction of the wildlife management practice on the Forest is justifiable.
Advantages and problems of the model were discussed with some suggestions for future study. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/70553 |
| Date | January 1972 |
| Creators | Halterman, Bernard G. |
| Contributors | Forestry |
| Publisher | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | ix, 88 leaves, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 38845136 |
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