Use of forest inventory and monitoring data in the spruce budworm decision support system

Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana Clem.) outbreaks cause severe mortality and growth loss of spruce and fir forest over much of eastern North America. The spruce budworm decision support system (DSS) links prediction and interpretation models to the ARC/INFO GIS, under an ArcView graphical user interface. It assists forest managers to predict budworm outbreak effects on forest structure and productivity, forecast forest growing stock and sustainable harvest levels, optimize protection (biological insecticide use) programs, and use silviculture and harvest scheduling to restructure forests to reduce future damage. The spruce budworm DSS has been operationally implemented on 8 million ha of susceptible forest in the province of New Brunswick, and is being implemented on test landbases in Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta. The use of inventory and monitoring data in the DSS will be described in four areas, stand growth model calibration; model validation; pest monitoring; and forest stratification for calculating marginal timber supply benefits.