Quick Dips

Computerised Forests

Managing forests by computer, rather than by chainsaw, is now possible with the Forest Research Institute's software packages. Forest managers can plan their plantations from their desks, projecting management strategies years into the future.

Time-consuming analyses of where to plant, where to cut and how different decisions affect the forest can now be carried out in a few minutes. Simulations can check various strategies and their results for as far ahead as 70 years. Long-term modelling of both forest management and forest economics can be performed quickly and efficiently.

FRI has had considerable local and overseas interest in the software. One of their packages was used to provide data on Forestry Corp's asset sale -- information on half the government's forests fitted easily within the disk capacity of a small personal computer.