COMPARISON OF TWO ALTERNATIVE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR SPATIAL HARVEST PLANNING

The timber harvest indicators developed during the 20th century have become ineffective and less useful in the Czech Republic due to social, political as well as environmental changes. More effective and efficient forest management can be achieved with the help of optimization methods that can identify the spatial location of a harvest area. However, just few studies have applied such optimization methods to the Czech Republic’s forests. Therefore, it is important to apply different optimization methods and evaluate the results. In this paper we choose two different methods – integer programming and simulated annealing. We have created a simple mathematical model for the optimization of the final cut for three future periods, with each period lasting ten years. The potential harvest units for a real forest enterprise in the Czech Republic were analyzed using a geographical information system (ArcGIS). The neighbourhood relationships between the units were analyzed and spatial constraints were created for the model by using an adjacency matrix. The applications of both methods of optimization in forest harvest planning for a real forest management area in the Czech Republic are compared. The results of the calculations and the comparisons with current timber harvesting indicators are also presented.