A decision support system to simulate and compare silvicultural scenarios for pure even-aged larch stands

Abstract

In sustained forest management, it is particularly useful to test the adequacy of various silvicultural scenarios, but decision-making is also becoming increasingly complex because forest managers have to simultaneously meet several different objectives in response to society demands. In order to help forest managers make appropriate choices in silvicultural systems, we propose a SDSS (Silvicultural Decision Support System) that applies to pure and even-aged larch stands (Larix sp.) in lowland areas where site conditions are similar to those encountered in Southern Belgium. Its main purpose is (i) to predict the influence of silvicultural treatments on stand evolution and (ii) assist forest managers in comparing different scenarios with respect to predefined goals. This SDSS consists in three modules designed to elaborate silvicultural scenarios involving (i) stand growth prediction and thinning simulation; (ii) assessment of indicators selected to define the scenarios referring to wood production, financial, technico-economic and ecological components, tree stability and wood quality; and (iii) comparison of the scenarios on the basis of the set of previously assessed indicators (multi-criteria analysis). User-friendly "MGC_Larch" software helps managers to formulate, evaluate and compare different silvicultural scenarios for larch. © INRA, EDP Sciences, 2007.