2010 Volume 9 Pages 23-37
Thinning and pruning activities are often given low priority in management plans for plantation forests. In many cases, these activities are postponed because of poor economic conditions. We devised a method to evaluate the impact delaying these maintenance activities can have on forest growth. While the system yield table technique forecasts total stand volume growth, we introduced a slight variation that considers standing timber, which should remain following thinning or other management activities. By utilizing a stand density control chart and the management plan system figure, we specified the thinning effect and introduced a variable for opportunity cost. We compared a management scenario without thinning to a scenario with thinning, and predicted future forest conditions after 10 and 50 years. We also calculated the opportunity cost for the scenario without thinning.
