Objectives

In this module students develop the capacity to plan the future of forest stands that optimize single or multiple goals, subject to constraints and limitations imposed by land, operational and environmental resources. Long, mid and short term scheduling reports are the main outcomes expected from the exercises studied in this course.
Students are trained in the use of linear programming methods to formulate mathematical models that produce scheduling plans. Three pieces of software are used to solve all exercises covered in the module: *MS Excel*; *LPsolve IDE* (a Windows application to solve Mixed Integer Linear Programming problems) and *OpenSolver* (a linear, integer and non-linear free solver that can be called as an extension in Microsoft Excel).



Suggested Bibliography

Most of the content covered in this module is maintained online. Free access to the regularly updated content is provided to all students, during and after the completion of the classes. Further reading is encouraged and access to the following text books is strongly recommended:

Borges, Diaz-Balteiro, McDill and Rodriguez (2014) The management of Industrial Forest Plantations. Springer, 543p

Bettinger, Boston, Siry and Grebner (2009) Forest Management and Planning. Elsevier, 331p.

Buongiorno and Gilles (2003) Decision Methods for Forest Resource Management. Academic Press, 439p.

Clutter, Fortson, Piennaar, Brister and Bailey (1983) Timber Management - a quantitative approach. John Wiley, 333p.



Grading System
Grading in this module builds upon a steady accumulation of performance assessments and intrinsic rewards in which students take primary responsibility for their own learning. The arithmetic mean of grades assigned to quizzes solved at the beginning of each class constitutes mean grade G#1. The arithmetic mean of grades assigned to four assignments (two quizzes and two take home exercises) constitutes grade G#2. A final online quiz exam based on five problems constitutes grade G#3. By the end of the module, students is assigned a final score calculated as the geometric mean of G#1, G#2 and G#3.


Material provided by Luiz Rodriguez in  http://luizestraviz.com/education/