Ecosel - production planning

What ecosystem services should the landowner be thinking about producing? Some obvious options could easily be eliminated based on the production capacity of the resource, the location, or the characteristics of the market. For example, managing for aesthetic values might not make sense on a piece of land that is flat and and is far away from residential areas, roads or hiking trails. Once a short list of services are identified, the landowner and the potential investors must agree on how these services should be measured within the ECOSEL framework. As an example, Figure 1 illustrates the production of mature forest habitat in large patches, bundled with timber revenues. Other tangible production approaches might exists and these would have to be identified through stakeholder-investor-modeler communication.

Instead of just producing ladscapes with large patches of mature forest habitat, a potential investor might wish to promote forest management that leads to the development of connected patches of forest stands with high structural diversity indexes (SDI). Or, he might want stands with high SDIs grouped into clusters that have high interior vs. edge habitat ratios. Since the perception of biodiversity and other ecosystem integrity measures could vary widely, the modeling of this ecosystem service component would have to be streamlined to the specific needs of the investors as well as to the characteristics of the resource. The same applies to other ecosystem functions such as water quality or aesthetics.

The following examples will illustrate how ECOSEL can be used to evaluate the production of two specific ecosystem services: viewshed aesthetics and carbon sequestration.

1. Viewshed planning

Consider a block of working forestland that partially lies in the viewshed of some urban residents (Figure 2). After the boundaries of the viewshed are delineated (the transparent white zone on the maps below), ECOSEL can identify a set of harvest schedules that are Pareto-optimal with respect to maximizing discounted timber revenues and minimizing harvesting within the viewshed. The diagram below visualizes these harvest schedules in terms of the associated discounted timber revenues and the area of clearcuts in the viewshed (Figure2). The most expensive option in terms of forgone timber revenues will likely be the one where no harvesting occurs in the viewshed (Alternative A). The profit maximizing alternative on the other hand will likely require some harvesting of mature stands, reducing the aesthetic value of the viewshed (Alternative C). A finite number of compromise alternatives might exist between these two polar solutions such as Alternative B. Some of these might represent cost-efficient opportunities to protect the viewshed. Once ECOSEL identified these opportunities, the visual evolution of the viewshed could be presented to the residents to evaluate each alternative. The associated opportunity costs would also be provided to see which option the potential investors would prefer financially.

Figure 2. A Hypothetical demonstration of viewshed services at Pack Forest, Washington. Each Pareto-optimal compromise between timber revenue maximization (vertical axis) and clear-cut area minimization in the viewshed (horizontal axis) is visualized by (1) maps that show the associated harvesting activities on the ground, and (2) by images that simulate the corresponding visual evolution of the viewshed from a viewpoint in Eatonville, WA.
2. Carbon sequestration

Accounting for carbon sequestration will depend on the rules of the trading scheme. Since mandatory emissions trading rules have not been developed in the United States, this modeling component will have to be streamlined to the needs of the voluntary participants. For demonstration purposes, a prototype carbon management tool is being developed for ECOSEL that maximizes carbon sequestration within a fixed timeframe and does not allow the carbon content to decrease below this level for a subsequent period of time.

ECOSEL is currently capable of bundling three different services at most. Efficient algorithms to identify the Pareto-optimal set of production plans with respect to four or more services have not been developed yet. Moreover, the visual representation of tradeoffs becomes very challenging in higher dimensions. This is ongoing research.

*Precision Forestry Cooperative* ECOSEL - A Forest Ecosystem Services Valuation Tool Sándor F. Tóth

Introduction Eco-services planning Marketing options Transactions	Eco-services planning What ecosystem services should the landowner be thinking about producing? Some obvious options could easily be eliminated based on the production capacity of the resource, the location, or the characteristics of the market. For example, managing for aesthetic values might not make sense on a piece of land that is flat and and is far away from residential areas, roads or hiking trails. Once a short list of services are identified, the landowner and the potential investors must agree on how these services should be measured within the ECOSEL framework. As an example, Figure 1 illustrates the production of mature forest habitat in large patches, bundled with timber revenues. Other tangible production approaches might exists and these would have to be identified through stakeholder-investor-modeler communication. Instead of just producing ladscapes with large patches of mature forest habitat, a potential investor might wish to promote forest management that leads to the development of connected patches of forest stands with high structural diversity indexes (SDI). Or, he might want stands with high SDIs grouped into clusters that have high interior vs. edge habitat ratios. Since the perception of biodiversity and other ecosystem integrity measures could vary widely, the modeling of this ecosystem service component would have to be streamlined to the specific needs of the investors as well as to the characteristics of the resource. The same applies to other ecosystem functions such as water quality or aesthetics. The following examples will illustrate how ECOSEL can be used to evaluate the production of two specific ecosystem services: viewshed aesthetics and carbon sequestration. 1. Viewshed planning Consider a block of working forestland that partially lies in the viewshed of some urban residents (Figure 2). After the boundaries of the viewshed are delineated (the transparent white zone on the maps below), ECOSEL can identify a set of harvest schedules that are Pareto-optimal with respect to maximizing discounted timber revenues and minimizing harvesting within the viewshed. The diagram below visualizes these harvest schedules in terms of the associated discounted timber revenues and the area of clearcuts in the viewshed (Figure2). The most expensive option in terms of forgone timber revenues will likely be the one where no harvesting occurs in the viewshed (Alternative A). The profit maximizing alternative on the other hand will likely require some harvesting of mature stands, reducing the aesthetic value of the viewshed (Alternative C). A finite number of compromise alternatives might exist between these two polar solutions such as Alternative B. Some of these might represent cost-efficient opportunities to protect the viewshed. Once ECOSEL identified these opportunities, the visual evolution of the viewshed could be presented to the residents to evaluate each alternative. The associated opportunity costs would also be provided to see which option the potential investors would prefer financially. Figure 2. A Hypothetical demonstration of viewshed services at Pack Forest, Washington. Each Pareto-optimal compromise between timber revenue maximization (vertical axis) and clear-cut area minimization in the viewshed (horizontal axis) is visualized by (1) maps that show the associated harvesting activities on the ground, and (2) by images that simulate the corresponding visual evolution of the viewshed from a viewpoint in Eatonville, WA. 2. Carbon sequestration Accounting for carbon sequestration will depend on the rules of the trading scheme. Since mandatory emissions trading rules have not been developed in the United States, this modeling component will have to be streamlined to the needs of the voluntary participants. For demonstration purposes, a prototype carbon management tool is being developed for ECOSEL that maximizes carbon sequestration within a fixed timeframe and does not allow the carbon content to decrease below this level for a subsequent period of time. ECOSEL is currently capable of bundling three different services at most. Efficient algorithms to identify the Pareto-optimal set of production plans with respect to four or more services have not been developed yet. Moreover, the visual representation of tradeoffs becomes very challenging in higher dimensions. This is ongoing research. Previous: Introduction_________________Next: Marketing options	Links: Sándor F. Tóth home Precision Forestry Cooperative College of Forest Resources University of Washington
Send mail to: toths@u.washington.edu Last modified: 12/18/2007 2:03 PM