Assessment
What a simulated forest delivers, and what it earns
A simulation tells you how the forest develops. The assessment module turns that into answers a forest manager can use: what was harvested, what it earned, and what the forest provides beyond timber.
The module reads the results of a simulation, year by year and management unit by management unit, and translates trees into indicators. It has two parts:
Available
Economic assessment
Harvested volume, wood prices, harvesting costs and net revenue for every management unit and year.
In development
Ecosystem services assessment
Carbon storage, biodiversity and recreation, alongside timber production, so that management scenarios can be compared on more than income.
Economic assessment
Available
The economic assessment estimates the financial outcome of the harvests in each management unit. It follows the wood from the forest to the balance sheet in four steps:
1 · What was harvested
The harvested trees are added up by species, management unit and year: their volume, their average size and the share of broadleaves.
2 · What it is worth
Each species has its own price curve. Larger logs fetch a higher price per cubic metre, up to a ceiling.
3 · What it costs
Harvesting costs depend on the terrain (flat or steep), the method (chainsaw or harvester) and the mix of species.
4 · What is left
Net revenue is the harvested volume multiplied by the difference between price and cost.
Ecosystem services assessment
In development
This part of the module is being developed and is not yet available in ForestStudio. What follows describes the current design, which may still change.
Forests are managed for much more than wood. The ecosystem services assessment will describe each simulated forest with four groups of indicators, calculated for every output year from the same trees the model already tracks:
Available
Timber production
The volume harvested and the income it generates, per hectare and year. These come directly from the economic assessment.
In development
Carbon storage
The carbon held in the forest itself: in the living trees above and below ground, and in the deadwood left by trees that die naturally. Deadwood slowly decomposes, faster where it is warmer.
In development
Biodiversity
Four proxies that can be read from the stand: its structural diversity (the mix of tree sizes, heights and species), the amount of deadwood, the diversity of tree species, and the number of very large habitat trees.
In development
Recreation
How attractive the forest is to visit, based on what people are known to prefer: tall trees, a variety of species, and a moderate amount of natural deadwood.
Where and when. Indicators are calculated for each management unit and then summarised for the whole landscape: amounts such as harvested volume or carbon are added up, while qualities such as species diversity or recreational value are averaged by area.
Why it matters. Two management scenarios can earn the same and leave very different forests behind. With these indicators side by side you will be able to see the trade-offs, for example how much income a strategy gives up to store more carbon or to keep more habitat trees.
Where to go next
Economic assessment in detail
Harvest aggregation, price and cost estimation, and revenue.
Forest management
The thinning rules, habitat trees and clear-cuts whose results are assessed here.
Forest demography
How the trees behind every indicator grow, die and regenerate.