Valuation of growing stock using multisource GIS data, a stem quality database and bucking simulation.

Customer-oriented production as a sawmill strategy requires up-to-date information on the available raw material resources. Bucking is a process where the tree stem is divided into products based on the roundwood userâ s needs regarding products and their quality and dimensions. Optimization methods are employed in bucking to recover the highest value of the stem for a given product price matrix and requested length-diameter distribution. A method is presented here for assessing the value of harvestable timber stands based on their product yield. Airborne laser scanning, multispectral imagery and field plots were used to produce timber statistics for a grid covering the target area. The statistics for the plots were generated from this grid. The value of the estimated tree list was assessed using a bucking-to-value simulator together with a stem quality database. Different product yield simulations in terms of volumes, timber assortment recoveries, wood paying capabilities (WPC) and value estimations based on the presented method and extensive field measurements were compared. As a conclusion, this method can estimate WPC for pulpwood and sawlogs with root mean squared errors of 32.7 and 38.5 per cent, respectively, relative to extensive field measurements.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author