Spatial optimization of the pattern of fuel management activities and subsequent effects on simulated wildfires

Young-Hwan Kim, Pete Bettinger and Mark Finney

European Journal of Operational Research, 2009, vol. 197, issue 1, 253-265

Abstract: Methods for scheduling forest management activities in a spatial pattern (dispersed, clumped, random, and regular) are presented, with the intent to examine the effects of placement of activities on resulting simulated wildfire behavior. Both operational and fuel reduction management prescriptions are examined, and a heuristic was employed to schedule the activities. The main hypothesis is that simulated wildfire effects during a severe fire season may be mitigated by scheduling activities in a pattern across the landscape. Results suggest: (1) operational management prescriptions, designed to promote the development of forest structure within a desired range of stand density, were not appropriate for mitigating wildfire effects, and (2) increased harvest levels obscure spatial patterns of activity, making patterns less clear as harvests increase. Results also suggest that fuel reduction management prescriptions may marginally minimize wildfire severity during a severe fire season, when scheduled in a spatial pattern.

Keywords: OR; in; natural; resources; Heuristics; Large; scale; optimization; Forest; planning; Forest; fuels; management; Combinatorial; optimization; Fire; modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377-2217(08)00455-4
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:197:y:2009:i:1:p:253-265

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Operational Research is currently edited by Roman Slowinski, Jesus Artalejo, Jean-Charles. Billaut, Robert Dyson and Lorenzo Peccati

More articles in European Journal of Operational Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().