Recent Progress on the Area Restriction Problem of Forest Harvesting

It is required to optimize timber output subject to sustainability requirements along with a specified maximum clearfell area. This paper is a report which outlines some significant recent advances. 1 Problem review This paper is part of a continuing research project and should be read as a sequel to my papers at ORSNZ 2001 [6], 2002 [7] and 2003 [8]. In forest harvesting the present net worth of a forest is optimised subject to various strategic and site-specific constraints. Refer [5]. For management purposes the trees are arranged in blocks. Usually all the trees in a block will be of the same croptype, and normally they will all be harvested at once. As a result of this discretisation, the formulation of a harvesting application will be MIP. The most difficult of the site-specific constraints are those needed to limit the size of any area of newly cleared land. Clearfell is the term used to describe a contiguous area of the forest which has been recently harvested. This exposed area is very vulnerable to erosion. This situation re