Optimization model in timber harvest planning based on an incremental solution approach

Timber harvest planning deals with selecting a forest area to harvest in a particular time period take into consideration both economic and environmental issues. The problem has been modelled using unit restriction approach and area restriction approach. An optimal or a feasible harvest schedules subject to adjacency constraints is generated using exact methods or meta-heuristic optimization techniques respectively. The adjacency constraints are used to prevent a large opening size in a forest area. However, at the same it also affects the timber productivity by limiting the size of an available area to harvest. This paper proposes a timber harvest planning model based on selective cutting and generates an optimal harvest schedule subject to harvest volume restriction. A priority and deviation optimization based technique is proposed to solve the problem in stages.