Publications

Family forest ownership today is shaped by multiple values that are entwined with varying lifestyles. The challenge for forestry extension services is to adapt reasonably to these cognitive, social and cultural patterns. Focusing on a decision support perspective, the present study adds to prior knowledge on family forest owners' wishes concerning forest planning. The aim is to identify forest owners' decision-making modes, and the connections between owner backgrounds and decision support anticipation. A psychological survey tool, measuring the degree of sharing of decision-making power and desire to learn, was constructed for data collection. Data were acquired through a postal survey in 2006 from 676 family forest owners in Finland. Multivariate analysis yielded three owner groups as fusions of decision-making modes serving the pre-hypothesis: trusting realizers (53%), active learners (27%) and independent managers (20%). The results suggest differently weighted decision support services (including both written/online information and spoken communication) for these owner groups. Education, occupational status and distance to the holding showed some association with the grouping. The theoretical basis and the methodological approach may be applied in conditions where family forest owners are advised and consulted by public or private endeavours. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.

The effectiveness of a decision-support tool created to identify protected-area potential within the Nova Forest Alliance (NFA) of Nova Scotia, Canada is assessed from the perspective of a public participatory geographic information system (PPGIS) approach. The application sought to create an integrated GIS-based decision-support tool for community-focused communication and conservation assessment among NFA partners (including private woodland owners, government agencies, forest companies, and non-government organizations) and potential application within other model forests in Canada. The application illustrated that the GIS-based tool, once set up and populated with the necessary data, was able to generate effective visual alternatives to support decision making within the NFA community and elsewhere. However, from a PPGIS perspective, the application faced challenges that influenced the efficacy of its implementation: (1) limitations arose around data quality, use and sharing policies; (2) although opportunities for participation by the NFA partnership were initiated, these proved insufficient to achieve adequate engagement, buy in and support for the process and outcomes; and (3) the expert-grounded GIS-based tool requires a greater degree of expertise than may currently be present in the community. These challenges limit its ongoing use in the NFA and its potential utility in other model forests. For PPGIS-decision-support applications to be effective in the NFA and elsewhere, it is suggested that the following conditions be met: (1) implementation of geographically based data policies to allow for greater data accessibility, specifically with fewer bureaucratic and private sector barriers; (2) engagement of community partners in the initial project design, goal-setting and subsequent stages, even if this requires extensions to anticipated timelines; and (3) development of effective participatory technical systems that meet the needs of participants without being so complex as to constitute a barrier to their use. © 2008.

During the last 20 years, the size of the forest estate in Ireland has increased dramatically. Inventory and management information on the (FSC-certified) publicly-owned forest is widely available, however details on the rapidly expanding private estate, both in terms of inventory data and management objectives, are missing. The developed PractiSFM Decision Support System comprises Microsoft ExcelTM based inventory and decision support components that permit the collection and quantification of data for multiple forest resources and facilitates the production of 10-year sustainable forest management plans. The inventory component consists of a standardised set of protocols for observing, assessing and recording multi-resource forest inventory data at the stand-level scale, based on local measures of Criteria and Indicators identified in the Irish National Forest Standard. This paper describes the PractiSFM DSS, which provides a means to integrate, tabulate, forecast, map and analyse multi-resource inventory data through the use of interactive and visual tools. The DSS can be used to generate planning scenario information at a forest and stand level, such as timber volume/value assortments, area of visually or environmentally sensitive forest, area affected by harvesting operations, changes in deer cover and food habitat, cumulative deadwood volumes, productive man hours and operational cash flow. The outputs from the PractiSFM system have the additional potential to facilitate the standardisation of management plan reporting and feed into the national forest information system. The system provides practical and efficient tools for the implementation of sustainable forest management, based on the Irish SFM policy initiative. © 2009 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

This paper aims to study and develop a decision support system (DSS) for regulation in spatial allocation in protection forest system based on GIS platform. The decision support system provides progressive adjustment from analysis of spatial allocation to structure optimization, and to the ideal model of spatial allocation. The adjustment result can be put into effect on forest land. The system gives intellective and visualized decision support, such as comparison of pre- and post-regulation in each adjustment period, on adjustment of spatial allocation in protection forest system. It can not only determine various adjustment parameters and make suitable adjustment plans for different areas, but also can simulate the situation of provided adjustment plan. The system provides scientific decision making basis for managers of protection forest.

This paper analyzes the impact of integrated watershed land use plans generated through multi-objective optimization techniques in a Central Himalayan watershed on forest fodder dependency for meeting fodder requirements of livestock in the watershed. Alternate land use plans were developed for optimizing four objective functions - maximizing farm income, employment and nutritional security, and minimizing soil loss individually and simultaneously at the watershed level. The analysis was carried under two capital availability scenarios (restricted and unrestricted). The values of cultivated land utilization index (CLUI), crop diversification index (CDI), cropping intensity (CI) and forest dependency were estimated for each plan. Inferior plans were eliminated by applying the Law of Dominance rule. Out of the several optimal plans generated, the best land use plan was selected by employing MODSS techniques. Annual fodder production, sustainable animal population and changes in forest dependency were then computed. Optimal plans suggested significant changes in the number of buffaloes and cows in the watershed and in land use. Under a restricted capital availability scenario, forest dependency would change from existing surplus fodder availability to a dependency of 31.96% under the optimal plan, while under unrestricted capital scenario, forest dependency would be about 29.6%. This technique for land use planning to balance farmer and environmental needs has potential to prepare plans that will reduce current trends of increased forest degradation in the Himalayas. Watershed development and forest management plans in the central middle Himalayan region would therefore need to incorporate several measures to improve forest productivity, in situ moisture conservation and develop effective participatory forest management plans. The complexity of sustainable watershed development in a highly heterogeneous landscape requires that such optimal land use plans be developed for various identified micro-watersheds to meet location specific social and environmental requirements in the Himalayan region. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Timber harvesting changes the condition of forest ecosystems, which are a major influence on the characteristics of headwater streams. Such characteristics include the quantity and timing of base flow and storm flow, concentrations of sediment and dissolved nutrients, water temperature, and the stability of the stream channels. This paper explores previous studies dealing with the relationship between timber harvesting and its hydrologic effects, especially long term water yield increase. The watershed disturbance threshold theory is raised and investigated in detail. The development and evaluation of a spatial decision support system, the Harvest Schedule Review System (HSRS), is then described. The HSRS will aid in the minimization of hydrological impacts of forest harvesting, along with its related, negative environmental influences. It provides a spatially and temporally explicit tool for users to analyze the hydrologic impact of forest harvest schedules.

This paper aims in the design and development of a Decision Support System performing forest fire risk estimation of forest departments in Greece. The system applies a Fuzzy Logic model that considers a variety of independent variables. This approach takes into consideration the center of gravity of every independent variable, in order to produce various scenarios, having the advantage of evaluating different kind of data. It can also evaluate the human experience in order to estimate the degree of forest fire risk, caused by each involved factor. In this way proper Fuzzy Sets are produced. Finally Partial Risk Indices are produced that express the degree of forest fire risk due to each involved parameter separately. Each department is assigned many Partial Risk Indices which are unified (under different perspectives) using Fuzzy conjunction operators (T-Norms). This is done towards the production of a Unified Forest Fire Risk Index for each area.

Southern Europe is exposed to anthropogenic and natural forest fires. These result in loss of lives, goods and infrastructure, but also deteriorate the natural environment and degrade ecosystems. The early detection and combating of such catastrophes requires the use of a decision support system (DSS) for emergency management. The current literature reports on a series of efforts aimed to deliver DSSs for the management of the forest fires by utilising technologies like remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS), yet no integrated system exists. This manuscript presents the results of scientific research aiming to the development of a DSS for managing forest fires. The system provides a series of software tools for the assessment of the propagation and combating of forest fires based on Arc/Info, ArcView, Arc Spatial Analyst, Arc Avenue, and Visual C++ technologies. The system integrates GIS technologies under the same data environment and utilises a common user interface to produce an integrated computer system based on semi-automatic satellite image processing (fuel maps), socio-economic risk modelling and probabilistic models that would serve as a useful tool for forest fire prevention, planning and management. Its performance has been demonstrated via real time up-to-date accurate information on the position and evolution of the fire. The system can assist emergency assessment, management and combating of the incident. A site demonstration and validation has been accomplished for the island of Evoia, Greece, an area particularly vulnerable to forest fires due to its ecological characteristics and prevailing wind patterns. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In this study a GIS-based decision support system (DSS) was built for assessing the short- and long-term risk of wind damage in boreal forests. This was done by integrating a forest growth model SIMA and a mechanistic wind damage model HWIND into geographical information system software (ArcGIS 8.2) as a toolbar (DLL) using ArcObjects in ArcGIS and Visual Basic 6. In this DSS complex problems are solved within program so that forest gaps, edge stands and edges are automatically tracked when the forest structure changes over time as a result of forest growth dynamics and management. This DSS can be used to assess the risk of wind damage to Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and birch (Betula spp.) stands, regarding the number of stands and area at risk and length of vulnerable edges of these risk stands at certain critical wind speed classes (i.e. corresponding the maximum wind speed a tree/stand can resist). This DSS can helps forest managers to analyse and visualise (charts, maps) the possible effects of forest management, such as clear-cuts, on both the immediate and long-term risks of wind damage at both stand and regional level. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.