Economic optimisation of silvicultural regimes for Scots pine using dynamic programming

Stand treatment prescriptions in Lithuania are based on silvicultural traditions and biometric models, whereas application of economic models still is in its very infancy. The forest yield model of Kuliesis, pine assortment tables, observed timber prices, and costs of silvicultural treatments constitute sufficient information for optimizing silvicultural regimes in pine stands, using economic criteria, namely, forest rent, net present value, and soil expectation value. The dynamic programming approach enables simultaneous optimisation of intermediate and final felling throughout the rotation. Results obtained confirm that rotation ages differ according to site productivity. Optimal rotations range from 80 years in most productive stands to over 130 on the poorest sites, when the forest rent criterion is selected. The choice of thinning regimes is less obvious due to high sensitivity to timber prices, interest rates, and other factors