Landscape management through integration of existing tools and emerging technologies

Abstract

A landscape approach to forest management must consider the implications of alternative scenarios across stands and through time. The Landscape Management System, a computer program, facilitates implementation of this approach by integrating forest inventories, as spatial information, growth models, visualization, summarization, and analysis. A case study with three scenarios - no harvest, clearcut, and thinning - exposes the complex tradeoffs inherent in forest management and highlights the need for comparative analysis tools.