Contract harvest operations have become the preferred approach to reducing the largest cost component of timber production through free market competition amongst logging contractors bidding or negotiating for work. The goal of this research was to investigate economic components of harvesting operations not previously studied for steep slope thinning harvests...
An extension of the sensitivity analysis of linear programming, called parametric programming is used in determining optimal sawtimber logging system mix. The five logging systems under study are manual log-length, system, log-length processor and harvester systems, manual tree-length system and tree-length harvester system. In conditions where it is not exactly...
Helicopter yarding systems have become a popular tool in
removing timber from steep slopes, sensitive soils, limited access
areas, and environmentally sensitive stands. Little is known about
the system's dynamics. This study is part of a research project to
explore "advanced" logging systems as to their economic efficiency
and environmental...
Objective of this study was to compare accuracy of
several travel cost methods, by employing Monte Carlo
simulations in the single site framework. Estimates from
five methods were compared to the "true" travel cost
coefficient and "true" consumer surplus. Each method was
ranked, using the root mean squared error (RMSE)...
The transportation of wood and biomass resources from landing and other collection locations to processing and distribution sites is a substantial cost within the wood supply chain. These high costs provide a basis for research aimed at improving biomass transportation planning decisions and potentially reducing biomass transportation costs. Chip vans...
LOCCOST is an interactive computer program that
predicts stump to mill logging costs, stumpage and net
present value of a harvest based on stand data, pond value
and logging parameters, entered by the user. The program is
intended for use by foresters to evaluate the economics of
different stand management...
A log breakdown model, SAW3D, was developed to
optimize lumber recovery from logs of any shape in 3-
dimensional space. The program uses a polygonal cross
section representation of logs; three nested dynamic
programming (DP) algorithms to optimize log breakdown,
flitch and cant edging, and trimming operations; and a
simple...
A model (called MERLIN) is presented that can allow the resource manager to consider the combined effects of silvicultural treatments and their effect on expected logging production and costs. This integrated analysis takes place within the framework of personal computer software readily available to most managers. This integration is accomplished...
This paper studies the problem of learning diagnostic policies from training examples. A diagnostic policy is a complete description of the decision-making actions of a diagnostician (i.e., tests followed by a diagnostic decision) for all possible combinations of test results. An optimal diagnostic policy is one that minimizes the expected...
Heuristics based on Monte-Carlo Integer Programming (MCIP) and Tabu Search
(TS) techniques were developed for generating easily implementable bucking rules that are
applicable to entire stands (as opposed to individual stem classes), and for selecting the
rule-set that provides the best feasible solution (given log prices and market constraints).
A...