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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
This article presents and discusses research with the aim of developing a stand-level management
scheduling model for short-rotation coppice systems that may take into account the risk of wildfire. The use of
the coppice regeneration method requires the definition of both the optimal harvest age in each cycle and the
optimal number of coppice cycles within a full rotation. The scheduling of other forest operations such as stool
thinning and fuel treatments (e.g., shrub removals) must be further addressed. In this article, a stochastic dynamic
programming approach is developed to determine the policy (e.g., fuel treatment, stool thinning, coppice cycles,
and rotation length) that maximizes expected net revenues. Stochastic dynamic programming stages are defined
by the number of harvests, and state variables correspond to the number of years since the stand was planted.
Wildfire occurrence and damage probabilities are introduced in the model to analyze the impact of the wildfire
risk on the optimal stand management schedule policy. For that purpose, alternative wildfire occurrence and
postfire mortality scenarios were considered at each stage. A typical Eucalyptus globulus Labill. stand in Central
Portugal was used as a test case. Results suggest that the proposed approach may help integrate wildfire risk in
short-rotation coppice systems management scheduling. They confirm that the maximum expected discounted
revenue decreases with and is very sensitive to the discount rate and further suggest that the number of cycles
within a full rotation is not sensitive to wildfire risk. Nevertheless, the expected rotation length decreases when
wildfire risk is considered
Description
Keywords
stochastic dynamic programming wildfire risk forest management eucalypt coppice system
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Forest Science 58(4) 2012, p. 353-365
Publisher
Society of American Foresters