Zoning in Forest Management: a Quadratic Assignment Problem Solved by Simulated Annealing

Zoning a forest for different uses in a complex problem. Land of a particular suitability and location has to be assigned land use objectives in such a way that the highest value is derived from zoning. In this paper, the zoning problem has been formulated as a quadratic assignment problem. Assignment of forest land to land use objectives is based on the suitability rates of forest land for land use types on one hand, and resulting location of land use objectives in respect of each other and the forest environment on the other. Quadratic assignment problems can be solved using a technique known as simulated annealing. An application of the model is shown by means of a numerical example. By addressing the zoning problem separately, forest management decisions can be structured in a hierarchical way. This approach provides more opportunities for dealing with spatial considerations than common linear programming models.