Application of time-cost trade-off model in forest management projects: The case of Oak decline project

Abstract

Oak decline has been observed periodically in the different parts of the world. We conducted this study to evaluate the project control in this phenomenon. In this paper, the project control methods have proposed to be useful tools to deal with oak decline. The aim of the study is twofold: (i) define and schedule a set of activities and determine times for those activities in the Control of Forest Decline Project (CFDP) using the Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) method; (ii) apply the Critical Path Method (CPM) within the context on how to reduce the project time by increasing operating costs and crashing the activities. In crisis management, ``golden time'' is defined for doing activities and controlling the crisis, which has a greater role than other times. The analysis confirmed that the problem of forest decline is an ecological problem and its root lies in participatory management with the local community. We also found that the time crashing is not economically efficient to the CFDP except for two activities: public information and stakeholder analysis.