Canadian Forest Service Publications
Landscape management and biodiversity: Automating the design of forest ecosystem networks. 1996. Thomson, A.J.; Goodenough, D.G.; Adams, B.; Archibald, R.; Morgan, D.; Hawkins, D.; Say, D. AI Applications 10(3): 57-65.
Year: 1996
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 4721
Language: English
Availability: Not available through the CFS (click for more information).
Abstract
The biodiversity guidelines of the British Columbia Forest Practices Code provide a complex set of objectives for forest composition at the landscape level. Objectives include seral stage, interior habitat, ecosystem representation, and connectivity limits, which must be integrated with the objectives of more than 50 other guidebooks, notably those for riparian management areas and identified wildlife management. To meet the objectives, specific areas are set aside in interconnected Forest Ecosystem Networks (FENs). A computer software system (FEN_Maker) was developed using an object-oriented spatial spreadsheet system (Facet) to advise on suitability of areas to include in the FENs. Corridors linking the FENs are also proposed. As FENs are interactively created and linked, the targets specified by the guidelines are updated. Forest management plans can be imported to evaluate suitability, while FENs can be exported to wildlife habitat supply models and harvest scheduling analyses.