Abstract:
An integrated model combining a wildlife population simulation model and timber harvest and growth models was
developed to explore the tradeoffs between the likelihood of persistence of a hypothetical wildlife species and timber harvest
volumes on a landscape in the Central Oregon Cascades. Simulated annealing, a heuristic optimization technique, was used to
solve for harvest schedules that maximized the likelihood of species persistence relative to a given timber harvest volume
constraint over a 100 year planning period. By solving this problem for a range of different harvest volumes a production
possibility frontier is developed that shows the relative tradeoffs between timber harvest volumes and likelihood of species
persistence on this landscape. Although the results are specific to the wildlife species and the landscape analyzed, the
approach is general and may provide a structure for future models that will allow land managers and forest planners to
become more informed about the tradeoffs among competing resources.
