Large-scale forest owner’s information needs in operational planning of timber harvesting - some practical views in Metsähallitus, Finnish state-owned enterprise

Abstract

Metsähallitus in Finland is a state enterprise that manages about 3.5 million hectares of productive commercial state-owned forest land. Metsähallitus has a forest management planning system which uses information stored in a GIS-based forest resource information system. The information on forest resources is currently collected using a standwise inventory system with ocular estimation of stand characteristics. New promising inventory methods based on laser scanning have been introduced. Before taking a new system into use, the information needs of Metsähallitus must be analysed. In this study, information needs in operational harvest planning have been analysed with a qualitative approach. A total of eight team leaders in the forestry business unit were interviewed, six of them representing the process responsible for the operational harvest planning and two representing the process responsible for the harvest and deliveries. Based on the study, two main decision making points with different information needs were confirmed. The first decision making point is related to finding the areas potential for immediate or near future harvesting. Here, geographical information on the need for the treatment as well as rough information on the harvestable volume is needed. In the second decision making point, a final decision of sites to be harvested is made with rather intensive field work. Precise delineations of the treatment are needed as well as good estimates of volumes of different timber assortments. When considering a new inventory system it is justified to consider how much of the information needs in these decision making points can be covered. Two different approaches are proposed for further analysis. The interviews revealed a need for a more structured tactical planning system. Some of the findings of this study – especially the decision making points and information needs in them – may be transferable to other large-scale forest owners.