The Solution
Notes:
Our solution to this problem begins with Harbin Li’s spatial forest simulator program, LEEMATH. As of a few years ago the model predicted growth and yield of pine and sweetgum and handled spatial harvesting rules. LEEMATH even includes wildlife habitat modules that permit evaluation of the impacts of various harvesting rules on wildlife suitability. Until recently however, it did not model growth of natural stands including hardwoods. This is where Bill Smith comes in, from the Forest Health Monitoring Program in RTP, NC, whose model NATYLD predicts growth and merchandized yield of natural stands including pine, mixed pine/hardwood, and hardwood stands of various species groups under thinning and final harvest. I (John Pye) have served as the glue tying these two models together and helping incorporate economic criteria into the harvesting rules. We have been ably assisted in these efforts by Corbitt Simmons, now a graduate student at North Carolina State University, and Cindy Bunton, a GIS and systems specialist at the Center for Forested Wetlands Research in Charleston, SC where Harbin is also located.