HARVEST

HARVEST is a timber harvest allocation model which can include common wildlife-related constraints (buffers and green-up periods) and can compute and display biodiversity-related metrics about patches, such as interior/edge habitat conditions.

Overview

HARVEST was designed as a strategic research and planning tool, allowing assessment of the spatial pattern consequences of broad timber management strategies. The model is well suited to evaluate alternative strategies, providing comparable predictions about how the alternatives affect the age (or successional stage) distribution of the forest, the spatial distribution of forest interior and edge habitats, and the patch structure of the resulting forest landscape. With HARVEST, the object is not to find a scheduling solution (i.e., determining the order in which individual stands should be harvested), but to assess the spatial pattern consequences of general management strategies. HARVEST has been shown to generate patterns similar to those produced by timber management (Gustafson and Crow 1999).HARVEST simulates harvest practices that reset the age of forested sites to zero. This includes even-aged timber harvest techniques (e.g., clearcutting, shelterwood, seed tree techniques) and uneven-aged group selection. It is not capable of simulating single tree selection because these treatments do not predictably change forest age. ~HARVEST allows the user to interactively simulate harvest by forest type and management area. Management Areas are relatively large, multi-stand areas that are to be managed by specific objectives. The user specifies harvest parameters (such as harvest size, rotation age, green-up interval), for a management area and forest type. The process may be repeated for multiple time steps.

Source Of Description

Gustafson, E.J.and L.V. Rasmussen. 2002. Assessing the Spatial Implications of Interactions Among Strategic Forest Management Options Using a Windows-based Harvest Simulator. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 33:179-196.Gustafson, E.J. and T.R. Crow. 1999. HARVEST: linking timber harvesting strategies to landscape patterns. Pages 309-332 in Spatial modeling of forest landscapes: approaches and applications, Mladenoff, D.J. and W.L. Baker (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

URL

http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/4153/harvest/harvhome.asp (No Longer Available)

For Application Domains

Biodiversity Conservation

Certification

Silviculture

Timber Harvesting

Decision Problem Types Targeted

Alternative Evaluation

Impact Assessment

Domain Knowledge Modeling Area

Forest Succession Modeling

Landscape Analysis And Modeling

Management Process Modeling

Vegetation Management

Planning And Decision Process Phases/Steps Served

Condition Analysis And Assessment

Impact Analysis

Scenario Simulation And Comparison

Methods And Techniques Implemented

Simulation

Systems Functional Components

Scenario Management And Comparison

Accepts Data Of Process Types

Biophysical Process

Management Process

Analysis Extent

Subregional Extent

Analysis Unit

Patch

Supports Multi Spatial Scale Analysis

True ^^ Http://Www.W3.Org/2001/Xmlschema#Boolean

Indicators Used

Forest Age Classes Or Successional Stages

Forest Fragmentation

Forest Management Classes

Forest Types

Supports Analysis Of Interdisciplinary Interactions

True ^^ Http://Www.W3.Org/2001/Xmlschema#Boolean

Platform

Windows 2000

Windows XP

Description Of System Components

The Spec2Harv program is also available for automating the conversion of harvest schedules generated by the Forest Service's Spectrum model into script files that can be used by the HARVEST simulation model to simulate the implementation of the Spectrum schedules in a spatially explicit way. Thus, the optimal harvest schedule from Spectrum is simulated spatially and temporally with HARVEST.~HarvLite is an educational version that offers an easy to use interface and gives the user a feel for what HARVEST has to offer.

Online Download Available

True ^^ Http://Www.W3.Org/2001/Xmlschema#Boolean

Developer Assistance Needed For Installation/Configuration

False ^^ Http://Www.W3.Org/2001/Xmlschema#Boolean

Cost

Free

Development Status

Regularly Distributed

Tool Maker

USDA Forest Service, North Central Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory

Information Source

National Commission On Science For Sustainable Forestry

Contact Person

Eric Gustafson

Parent Categories

Software Tools And Models - All

Spatial Decision Support Systems

Last Updated

2009-09-11T16:21:15.946-08:00 ^^ http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime

Model Type

Evaluative Models

Simulation Models

Decision Process Activity Types Served

Alternative Ranking, Decision Making

Condition Analysis And Assessment

Decision Alternatives Generation, Scenario Simulation

Software Type

Spatial Decision Support Systems

Can Calculate Effects

Timber Harvest Process

Graphical Ontology Browser

  • Click on a node to jump to the content of that node
  • Pan to see the rest of the graph
  • Scroll the mousewheel up and down to zoom in and out
  • Rearrange the nodes in the graph by dragging a node to a different position

References

IntroductionPlanning/Decision ContextPlanning And Spatial Decision ProcessSpatial Planning And Decision Problem TypesMethods And Techniques
methods and techniques; methodology
TechnologyData And Domain KnowledgePeople And ParticipationResources