Environmental considerations in harvesting planning: An analysis using integer programming

Abstract

The environmental impacts of the harvesting process, especially those related to the skid trails, log landings and roads, make it necessary to consider environmental factors when planning the operations. For this reason, different optimization models were developed to evaluate how results differ in terms of the number and size of the landings when cost and environmental constraints are considered. One of the first results obtained was a decrease of the total number of landings when the cost associated to ground compaction and the loss of site productivity were considered. Nevertheless, environmental care has an explicit associated cost, which must be considered as part of the total cost of harvesting.