This paper proposes a way to choose plantation forest stands to be thinned that satisfies the forest manager's intentions and meets the thinning budget. The study area was composed of sub-compartments of coniferous plantations owned by individuals in Hayakawa Town, Yamanashi Prefecture. First, the site index was estimated for each sub-compartment using a geographic information system (GIS). Next, the average height, density, stand volume, and yield index were estimated for each sub-compartment. Then, candidate sub-compartments were chosen from the plantation forests using GIS. The candidate sub-compartments were discriminated according to a thinning priority based on the forest manager's intentions using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Moreover, the thinning costs were calculated for each sub-compartment according to their attributes. Finally, sub-compartments to be thinning during the next 5 years were chosen from the candidates based on prioritization meeting the budget. Using AHP, we could identify candidate stands for thinning that reflected the forest manager's intentions considering several stand attributes. Using GIS, we could choose candidate stands for thinning based on several attributes and then choose the stands to be thinned based on attributes that reflected the forest manager's intentions and the thinning budget.
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