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This chapter begins an entirely new perspective on forest management. Up to here, the
decisions have applied only to individual stands. This chapter marks the transition to
decisions that address management issues at the forest level – at scales of thousands of acres,
with a mix of forest stands and conditions. This represents a significant mental shift for most
students, since most, if not all, of their forestry education prior to taking forest management
likely has been focused at the stand level.

The concept of a regulated forest provides a good starting point for studying forest-level
decisions. Note that the phrase “regulated forest,” as used in this chapter, does not refer to
the legal regulation of forest practices. The regulated forest in this chapter is a simplistic
concept of an ideal forest. It is unlikely you will ever see such a forest, and it is a fair
question whether it is even desirable to regulate forests in this way. The concept of a
regulated forest is very useful, however, for thinking about management at the forest level
precisely because it is simple, and one can acquire a strong intuitive grasp of many forest-
level concerns by thinking about a regulated forest. Because of their simplicity, regulation
techniques such as area control and volume control are of limited use in practice. The classic
regulation methods are wholly inadequate for addressing the more complex concerns of
today, and more modern methods are available to efficiently achieve a more diverse set of
forest-wide objectives. Nevertheless, area control and volume control are useful techniques
to learn in an undergraduate forest management class because this exercise can help students
build some basic intuition about the management forests on a larger scale. Unfortunately, it
is also useful to learn about classical regulation techniques because, in spite of the fact that
better techniques exist today, they are still being applied on some forests.

The type of management discussed in the remainder of the course is often called planning.
Stand-level decisions are sometimes referred to as “tactical” decisions, while forest-level
decisions are considered “strategic” decisions. Strategic and tactical decisions require
different types of management skills and different ways of thinking. Tactical decisions
require a hands-on understanding of how things are done. They require organizational skills
and personnel management skills. Strategic decisions are much more abstract. They require
the ability to process, summarize, and synthesize data. They require an ability to recognize
and understand processes that occur on large spatial and temporal scales – a sense of the “big
picture.” The people skills required in strategic decision-making are more likely to involve
communicating with people with diverse backgrounds and interests, and negotiation.

You have used models in solving stand-level decisions, so the idea of modeling should not be
new to you. However, models play a much more central role in strategic forest planning.
This is because models provide a framework for organizing both ideas and information about
large-scale management problems. As you can imagine, there is a lot one could know about a
forest that may or may not be relevant for developing a strategic plan for the forest. Models

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are, by definition, simplifications of reality. They help us sift through all the possible
information one could collect about a complex object like a forest and to identify the most
critical variables – where one needs to focus. The art of model building is to achieve a
balance between one extreme, where so much detail is included that important relationships
are obscured, and the other extreme, where models are too simple and, as such, they fail to
recognize key variables that must be accounted for in order to make informed decisions. A
model should be as simple as possible and yet complex enough to represent all the
relationships that bear significantly on the decision that must be made. In this regard, the
regulation models we will study in this chapter are as simple as strategic forest management
models can be. This simplicity is useful when the objective is to understand the most basic
concepts of forest-level management.

1. Introduction to Forest Management Concepts

The transition from stand-level management to forest-level management requires the

introduction of some new fundamental concepts. The most basic is the age-class distribution.
The idealized concept of a regulated forest refers to an ideal structure for the age-class
distribution of a forest. The primary motivation for achieving a regulated forest is to achieve
an even, sustained flow of forest products from the forest over time. Even flow and sustained
yield are two of the oldest objectives of forest management. They are also reflected in the
major laws prescribing the management principles of the federal forests of the United States.

Age-class Distributions

From a management perspective, forest type and stand age are the two most important
variables describing an even-aged stand. A lot can be inferred about a stand if just these two
things are known. With an uneven-aged stand, even a basic description of the stand requires
more information. As in even-aged stands, the forest type is important, but age is
meaningless for an uneven-aged stand. Some description of the diameter class distribution of
the stand is also needed. Admittedly, the state of an uneven-aged stand could be described by
its basal area, but this still allows for a tremendous amount of variation. It would also be
useful to know whether the trees in the stand are well distributed across diameter classes, or
whether there are diameter classes that are understocked. Is there a balance between small
and large-diameter trees? Does the stand consist mostly of small trees, or are there a fair
number of large trees, too? A graph of the diameter class distribution is particularly useful in
answering questions such as these.

In a similar way, the state of an even-aged forest is best described by the forest’s age-class
distribution. The age-class distribution lists the number of acres in each age class in the
forest. It can be represented as a table (Table 10.1) or as a histogram (Figure 10.1). Usually,
a separate age-class distribution would be developed for each forest type in a forest.

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However, forest types may be aggregated, for example, into such broad categories as
softwood and hardwood types. More detailed information can be conveyed about the forest
by recognizing other variables. Site quality is arguably the third most important
characteristic of an even-aged stand (after forest type and age). Thus, an age-class
distribution that also breaks out areas by site class, as in Table 10.2 and Figure 10.2 conveys
more detailed information about the forest.

Table 10.1. A sample age-class

distribution.
Age Class Acres
0 to 10 years 1,350
11 to 20 years 2,480
21 to 30 years 1,730
Over 30 years 4,210 Figure 10.1. A graph of a sample
age-class
distribution.

Table 10.2. A sample age-class distribution, broken

out by site class.
Acres
Age Class Site I Site II Site III
0 to 10 years 440 560 350
11 to 20 years 880 930 670
21 to 30 years 460 650 620 Figure 10.2. A graph of a sample
age-class
Over 30 years 1,760 1,115 1,335 distribution with
three site classes.

The Regulated Forest

The regulated forest is defined in terms of its age-class distribution:

A regulated forest is one with an equal number of acres in each age class.

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Forest regulation is the process of converting a forest with an unbalanced age-

class distribution into a regulated forest – one with an even distribution of
acres in each age class.
When there is more than one site class, simply having an equal area in each age class does
not guarantee that the area in each age class will be capable of producing an equal amount of
wood. Along these lines, Davis and Johnson (1997, p. 540) offer this more generalized
definition of the regulated forest:
The essential requirements of a regulated forest are that age and size classes
must be represented in such proportion and be consistently growing at such
rates that an approximately equal annual or periodic yield of products of
desired sizes and quality may be obtained in perpetuity. A progression of size
and age classes must exist such that an approximately equal volume and size
of harvestable trees are regularly available for cutting.
As you can see, the simple definition of the regulated forest can quickly become complicated
and fuzzy when all of the variability that exists in the real world is recognized. However, the
question of what regulation means when there are multiple site and stocking classes, as well
as age classes, is only important to someone who is actually considering implementing a
regulation plan on an actual forest Since the purpose here is solely to gain insight, this goal
can be best achieved by keeping things as simple as possible. Therefore, it will generally be
assumed in the remainder of this chapter that there is only one site class and that all acres are
well-stocked, and we will work with age-class distributions like the one in Table 10.1.

The primary purpose of regulating a forest is to achieve a state where an even flow of
products can be produced in perpetuity. This is desirable for two fundamental reasons:
sustainability and stability. The flow of products from a regulated forest will be sustainable
as long as the basic structure of the regulated forest is maintained and the productivity of the
soil itself is not degraded. Once a forest is regulated, the oldest age class can be harvested
each year. Each age class will then grow one year older, and the acres that were harvested
will be regenerated and replace the acres that grew out of the youngest age class. This
process maintains the age-class distribution in a steady state where harvest and growth are
balanced and the age-class distribution always remains the same at the end of each period.
Because the age and the area of the harvested acres are the same each year, the harvest from a
regulated forest is constant from year to year. This guarantees a consistent flow of products
to wood processing facilities, which, in turn, allows them to provide a steady supply of wood
products and employment. Thus, a regulated forest helps ensure stability in the wood
products industry and in the economic sectors that use their products.

A regulated forest also has desirable properties for wildlife habitat. In a regulated forest all
age classes – up to the rotation age – are equally represented at all times. If a forest is not
regulated, any gaps in the age-class distribution will result in shortages of the type of habitat
provided by the age-classes that are under-represented. Even if an age-class gap currently

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exists in an age class that does not provide a critical type of habitat, as time passes the gap in
the age class will inevitably move into older age classes. At some time, the gap is bound to
move into a more important age class. From a wildlife perspective, the biggest concern with
regulation is whether the harvest age is set too young. As we have seen, the optimal
economic rotation can be quite short relative to the biological life cycles of forest
communities. If an entire forest is regulated using an economic rotation age, it is likely that
there will be no acres in the more mature age classes.

The Mean Annual Increment (MAI) and the Regulated Forest

The mean annual increment (MAI) gives the average growth of a forest stand per acre per
year. Multiplying the mean annual increment by the area of a stand gives the average total
growth of the stand per year over the life of the stand. In a simple regulated forest with one
site class, multiplying the MAI at the forest rotation age by the area of the forest gives the
total growth of the forest. Because the regulated forest is in a steady state, the harvest from a
regulated forest equals the growth of the forest. (If growth was not equal to the harvest, then
the total inventory would be changing, and the would not be in a steady state.) Thus, in this
simple forest, the product of the MAI at the forest rotation and the area of a regulated forest
also gives the harvest volume for each year. This result is demonstrated mathematically in
this section, but first some notation is required. Rather than introduce the notation as it is
needed, all of the new notation used in this chapter is presented here for easy reference. Let:
A = the total area of the regulated forest,
Ai, t = the area in the ith age class in period t,
Ai = the area in the ith age class in a regulated forest,
vi = the volume per unit area in the ith age class,
Ht = the total harvest volume in period t,
HReg = the total periodic harvest volume from the regulated forest (i.e., the volume
harvested each period),
R = the rotation age (and the age of the oldest age class in the regulated forest),
Ii, t = the inventory volume in age class i in period t,
It = the total inventory volume in period t,
Ii, Reg = the inventory volume in age class i in the regulated forest,
IReg = the total inventory volume in the regulated forest,
Gi, t = the growth in age class i in period t,
Gt = the total growth in period t,
Gi, Reg = the growth in age class i in the regulated forest,
GReg = the total growth in the regulated forest,
n = the number of years in a period (equal to the number of years in an age-class), and
N = the number of age classes up to the oldest age class in period t.
Note that t refers to the tth period, not the year (unless the period length is one year; i.e., n =
1). It will be useful to divide the time during which the forest is being regulated into blocks

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of time, called periods, whose length equals the number of years in each age class in the
forest. For example, in Table 10.1 the age-class distribution is divided into 10-year age
classes. In planning for the conversion of this forest to a regulated state, the conversion
interval will be divided into 10-year periods. Five-year age classes could also have been
used, in which case the conversion interval should be divided into 5-year periods. The
conversion interval – the time when the forest is being regulated – is also commonly called
the planning horizon. You will see this terminology in later chapters that discuss more
modern forest management techniques based on linear programming.

It is easy, with the above notation, to demonstrate that the total harvest each year from the
regulated forest is equal to the MAI at the rotation age times the total area of the forest. First,
note that, by definition, the area in each age class in the regulated forest is equal:
A1 = A2 = A3 = . . . = AR
The area in each age class is equal to the total area divided by the rotation age times the
number of years in an age class (i.e., the period length):
A
Ai = ×n
R
Since the entire area in the oldest age class will be harvested, the periodic harvest from the
regulated forest equals the area in the oldest age class times the yield for that age class. The
following equations demonstrate that the annual harvest from a regulated forest equals the
total area times the mean annual increment at the rotation age:

A vR
Annual
H Reg = AR × v R = × vR = A × = A × MAI R
R R
Since a period equals n years, the periodic harvest, i.e., the volume harvested during a
planning period, is equal the total area times the mean annual increment times the number of
years in a period:

H Reg = H Reg
Annual
× n = A × MAI R × n

If the area of the forest is fixed, the only way to change the annual (or periodic) harvest from
the regulated forest is to change the rotation age. Obviously, selecting the rotation age that
maximizes the MAI will also maximize the annual harvest from the forest. For this reason,
the age that maximizes the MAI is sometimes considered the best age for regulating a forest.
However, the next section discusses the flaws in this view.

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Selecting the Regulation Rotation

The rotation that maximizes the MAI (the culmination of the mean annual increment, or
CMAI) is the rotation that maximizes the annual harvest from a regulated forest. Since this
rotation maximizes the annual harvest, it also maximizes the annual income from the forest.
Since the annual income from the forest is maximized, the net present value of the forest
must also be maximized with this rotation also. Right? Not so. This conclusion has
confused many foresters; after all, why not select the rotation that results in the maximum
annual harvest? How can it be that the rotation that maximizes the annual income from the
forest does not maximize its present value? The reason is simple. The opportunity cost of
maintaining a forest regulated on the CMAI is too high. This opportunity cost is the forgone
revenue that could be earned by restructuring the forest so that it is regulated on the rotation
that maximizes the LEV. Such a restructuring process will eliminate the excess capital in the
forest and will result in a greater net present value than keeping the forest regulated on the
CMAI. Even though the CMAI does maximizes the annual revenue once the forest is
regulated, achieving a forest that is regulated on the CMAI costs more than achieving a forest
that is regulated on the optimal economic rotation. Even if the forest is already regulated
using the CMAI, the opportunity costs of keeping the forest structured that way are too high.
As a result, the rotation that maximizes the LEV turns out to be the best if we properly
account for the combined costs of achieving the regulated forest (or the opportunity cost of
keeping the forest regulated on too long a rotation) and the net benefits of the regulated forest
once we achieve it. Even if a forest is already regulated using the rotation that maximizes the
MAI, the present value of the forest (including the conversion period) will be maximized by
converting it to a forest regulated on the optimal economic rotation (i.e., the rotation that
maximizes the LEV).

Regulating a forest with the rotation that maximizes the MAI results in a forest with too
much inventory and, therefore, inventory costs that are too high. The inventory cost is an
opportunity cost and not an explicit cost. That is why trying to maximize only the annual
return after the forest is regulated gives the wrong answer – the implicit inventory cost is not
considered. Allowing the possibility of liquidating part of the inventory and allowing the
forest to be re-regulated to any rotation explicitly includes the inventory costs. Under these
conditions, the optimal rotation for regulation will be the one that maximizes the LEV. This
is the only rotation for a regulated forest where you cannot improve the net present value of
the forest by departing temporarily from the regulated state to adjust to a new rotation.

Example – Determining the best rotation for a regulated forest

Table 10.3 shows hypothetical yields at different ages for even-aged forest stands.
The MAI is shown for rotation-ages between 20 and 70. The MAI is a useful
calculation because of its relationship to the annual harvest from the regulated
forest. LEVs have been calculated using the economic assumptions listed to the

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right of the table. Determine the optimal rotation for regulating a forest for which
these yields and economic data apply.

Table 10.3. Hypothetical yield table with the Economic assumptions:

MAI and the LEV for rotation
• The stumpage price is $25/cd.
ages 20 to 70.
• The stand establishment cost
Volume MAI LEV is $200/ac.
Age (cd/ac) (cd/ac/yr) ($/ac) • The real interest rate is 4%.
10 5 • All prices and costs are
20 16 0.8 -32.09 assumed to increase at
30 32 1.067 67.45 the rate of inflation.
40 55 1.375 109.13
50 75 1.5 74.29
60 90 1.5 15.34
70 100 1.429 -42.16

Answer: Since the LEV is maximized at a rotation of 40 years, this is the

appropriate rotation age for forest regulation. Below is an example LEV
calculation (rotation age = 30):

Y30 P − E (1 + r ) R 32 × 25 − 200 (104

. ) 30
LEV30 = = = $67.45
(1 + r ) R − 1 . ) 30 − 1
(104
Note that the MAI in the example is maximized at a rotation age of either 50 or
60. The annual harvest from the regulated forest would be 9% higher with a
rotation 50 or 60 than with a rotation of 40.

All stand-level management options – like regeneration, release, and thinning decisions – in a
regulated forest should be selected by identifying the prescription that maximizes the LEV for
each forest type and site condition in the forest. However, these prescriptions may not be
always be appropriate during the conversion to the regulated forest. Converting an
unregulated forest to a regulated state will require the use of at least some prescriptions that
do not maximize the LEV for that stand.

Long Term Sustained Yield (LTSY)

The harvest from a regulated forest is called the Long-Term Sustained Yield (LTSY). This is
an important concept because it indicates the amount of wood that can be harvested from a
forest on a sustained basis, given the choice of rotation and management intensity. The

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LTSY is therefore one of the most important pieces of information about a forested area.
Determining the LTSY is an important calculation that you should be able to do for an actual
forest. Therefore, for this concept, we will break with the general assumption of the chapter
that there is only one site class and discuss the calculation of the LTSY under the more
realistic condition where there is more than one site quality class. Generalization of the
concept to a forest with more than one forest type is straightforward.) To calculate the LTSY
for a forest with one forest type and multiple site classes:
1. First, determine the rotation age to be used for each site class. Because the yield
functions are different for different site classes, the optimal rotation may also differ.
2. Next, calculate the MAI for each site class at the selected rotation.
3. The LTSY is equal to the sum over site classes of the MAI for that site class under
the chosen rotation times the area in each site class. Let As equal the number of acres
in site class s, and let Rs* equal the optimal rotation for site class s. Now, the formula
for the LTSY for a forest with S site classes is:
S
LTSY = ∑ [ MAI R* × As ]
s
s =1

Example: Calculating the LTSY

Table 10.4 gives the area, optimal rotation, and yield at the optimal rotation for
three site classes in a hypothetical forest. Use this information to calculate the
LTSY of this forest.

Table 10.4. Area, optimal rotation and yield at the optimal

rotation for a hypothetical forest with three site
classes.
Area Optimal Yield at R*
Site Class (acres) Rotation (R*) (cords/acre)
I 4200 35 41
II 5600 45 46
III 3500 50 48

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Answer:
3
 YS ( RS* )   41  46   48 
LTSY = ∑   × AS =   4,200 +   5,600 +   3,500
S =1  RS 
*
 35  45  50 

= 14,004 cords/year

Methods of Forest Regulation

Forest regulation methods deal with how to get from an existing forest with an unbalanced
age-class distribution to a state where the forest is regulated. The two basic methods for
regulating a forest are area control and volume control. The two approaches focus on cutting
a target area or volume, respectively, in each period. Some hybrid methods have also been
developed that combine some aspects of area control and some aspects of volume control, but
they are not discussed here. Once the forest is regulated, all the approaches are the same.
The next two sections of this chapter describe these methods in detail.

2. Area Control

The simplest way to achieve a regulated forest is to harvest and regenerate the same number
of acres each year (or period) as would be harvested if you had a regulated forest. This
approach is called area control, and it will result in a regulated forest within at least one
rotation. Note that, with the simplifying assumptions that we have made—that there is only
one site class and that all acres are equally well stocked—the best way to select specific areas
for harvest is to simply harvest the oldest acres in the forest first.

The general steps for regulating a forest by area control can be summarized as follows:
1. Select the desired rotation for the regulated forest. This was discussed in an earlier
section. If the management objective for the forest is to maximize the net present
value of the forest, within the constraint that it must be regulated, then the rotation
age that maximizes the LEV should be selected.
2. Calculate the number of acres to be harvested each period by dividing the total
number of acres in the forest by the number of age classes in the target regulated
forest. The number of age classes in the regulated forest is the optimal rotation
divided by the number of years in an age class (n). The target age-class distribution
for the forest is one with an equal number of acres in each of these age classes. The
number of acres in each age class will equal the number of acres to be harvested each
period.

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3. Project the age-class distribution at the beginning of the next period by moving
harvested acres to the youngest age class and unharvested acres up to the next age
class.
4. Calculate the harvested volume by multiplying the per-acre yield for each harvested
area by the area harvested.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the forest’s projected age-class distribution is regulated.

Example: Identifying the Target Age-class Distribution

Use area control to identify the target age-class distribution for regulating a 750-
acre forest with the following age-class distribution. Use the yield table and
economic data from the optimal rotation for regulation example (Table 10.3).

Table 10.5. Initial age-class

distribution.
Age Class Acres
0-10 250
11-20 250
21-30 0
31-40 250

Answer: From the earlier example, we already know that the optimal rotation
is 40 years. Therefore, the regulated forest should have 4 age classes (R*/n =
40/10 = 4) with 187.5 (750/4) acres in each age class. Table 10.6 shows the
target age-class distribution for the regulated forest.

Table 10.6. Target age-class

distribution.
Age Class Acres
0-10 187.5
11-20 187.5
21-30 187.5
31-40 187.5

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The next step is to project the age-class distribution forward, one decade at a time, until the
forest is regulated – i.e., until the age-class distribution looks like the one in Table 10.6. This
is discussed in the next section.

Projecting the Age-class Distribution

To project the age-class distribution forward using area control, the target number of
harvested acres must be moved back to the initial age class (simulating the harvest and
regeneration of those acres) and the remaining un-harvested acres must be moved up one age
class (simulating the aging of those stands). The target number of acres for harvest was
determined by dividing the total acreage by the number of age classes in the target forest.
Harvested acres are selected by taking the oldest acres first. The steps can be summarized as
follows:
1. See if the acreage in the oldest age class is enough to meet the harvest area target.
2.a. If there are enough acres in the oldest age class to meet the harvest target, subtract
the target area from the area in the age class to determine the remaining uncut area.
2.b. If the number of acres in the oldest age class is less than the harvest area target,
all the area in that age class will be removed. Subtract the area in the oldest age class
from the target. Move up to the next age class and check whether the acreage in that
age class will be enough to meet the remaining area target. Keep moving up to
younger age classes until enough acreage has been accumulated to meet the harvest
area target. Once the target has been met, calculate the number of acres that will be
left in the last age class.
3. Move the total area cut into the youngest age class. Move uncut acre ages up to the
next age class.

Example: Calculating the Age-class Distribution After the First Period

In the example that was started earlier, calculate the age-class distribution after
one period of area control; i.e., move the age-class distribution forward two
decades using area control.
Answer: The harvest target is 187.5 acres. There are 250 acres in the oldest
age class, so the entire harvest target of 187.5 acres can be harvested from that
age class. The remaining 62.5 acres will be left uncut, and in 10 years they
will be in the 41 to 50-year age class. The 187.5 acres that were harvested will
be regenerated; thus, they will appear in the 0 to 10-year age class at the
beginning of the next decade. The 250 acres initially in the 0 to 10-year age
class will move to the 11 to 20-year age class, and the 250 acres initially in the
11 to 20-year age class will move to the 21 to 30-year age class. This is
summarized in the following table:

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Table 10.7. Summary of actions for first decade of area control.

Initial Acres Action Result
250 acres, ages 0 to 10 uncut moved to 11 to 20 age class
250 acres, ages 11 to 20 uncut moved to 21 to 30 age class
187.5 acres cut moved to 0 to 10 age class
250 acres, ages 31 to 40
62.5 acres uncut moved to 41 to 50 age class

The projected age-class distribution after 10 years is shown in Table 10.8.

Table 10.8. Example age-

class distribution
after 10 years.
Age Class Acres
0-10 187.5
11-20 250.0
21-30 250.0
31-40 0.0
41-50 62.5

Now, we move the age class distribution ahead a second decade. Again, the
harvest target is 187.5 acres. There are only 62.5 acres in the oldest age class,
so the entire area in that age class will be harvested. This leaves 125 more
acres to be harvested. There are no acres in the 31 to 40-year age class, so
acres must be harvested from the 21 to 30-year age class. Of the 250 acres in
the 21 to 30-year age class, 125 acres will be harvested and 125 acres will be
left uncut. The uncut acres from the 21 to 30-year age class will move to the
31 to 40-year age class at the beginning of the next decade. The 250 acres
initially in the 11 to 20-year age class will move to the 21 to 30-year age class,
and the 187.5 acres in the 0 to 10-year age class will move to the 11 to 20-year
age class. The 187.5 acres that were harvested will be regenerated, and they
will appear in the 0 to 10-year age class at the beginning of the next decade.
This is summarized in the following table:

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Table 10.9. Summary of actions for second decade of area control.

Initial Acres Action Result
187.5 acres, ages 0 to 10 uncut moved to 11 to 20 age class
250 acres, ages 11 to 20 uncut moved to 21 to 30 age class
125 acres cut moved to 0 to 10 age class
250 acres, ages 21 to 30
125 acres uncut moved to 41 to 50 age class
62.5 acres, ages 41 to 50 cut moved to 0 to 10 age class

The projected age-class distribution after two decades of regulation is shown

in Table 10.10, along with the initial age-class distribution and the age-class
distribution after 10 years.

Table 10.10. Example age-class distribution over 20 years of area control.

Age class Age class
Initial age class distribution after distribution after
Age Class distribution 10 years (acres) 20 years (acres)
0-10 250 187.5 187.5
11-20 250 250.0 187.5
21-30 0 250.0 250
31-40 250 0.0 125
41-50 0 62.5 0

If the regulation process in the example is continued for one more decade, the forest will be
regulated. Table 10.11 shows the progression of the age-class distribution from through the
third decade, when the forest is regulated. Table 10.11 also shows the average harvest
volume for each decade and the average net revenue earned. These calculations are discussed
below.

Projecting the Harvest Volume

The volume harvested in a given period is determined by multiplying the acreage cut from
each age class during that period by the harvest volume per acre for the corresponding age
class. Since the acres in a given age class may vary in age from the minimum age for the age
class to the maximum age, there may be some question regarding the appropriate age at
which to calculate the yield. The average age of stands in an age class at the beginning of the

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period will be the age at the midpoint of the age class. However, on average, the stands will
be harvested at the midpoint of the period. Therefore, on average, they will grow for one half
of a period before being harvested. Their average age at harvest will be the age at the upper
end of the age class.

Consider, for example, acres in the 31 to 40-year age class. At the beginning of the period,
they will be 35 years old, on average. However, the whole area will not be harvested at the
beginning of the period; the harvest will be spread out over the 10-year period, and there will
be an average delay of 5 years before a stand is harvested. Thus, the average age of the
stands in this age class at harvest will be 40 years—the upper range of the age class. The
volume per acre for harvested acres should be based on the yield at the age at the upper end
of the age class. For example, acres cut from the 30 to 40 year age class should be assumed
to be 40 years old when cut.

Example: Calculating the Harvest Volume

Calculate the volume harvested in the first two decades of the example.
Answer: To calculate the harvest volume for the first decade, note that one
hundred eighty-seven and a half acres will be harvested at age 40. From the
yield table (Table 10.3), the yield at age 40 is 55 cords per acre. Thus, the
total volume harvested will be 10,312.5 cords (187.5×55). On average,
1,031.23 cords will be harvested per year.
To calculate the harvest volume for the second decade, note that sixty-two and
a half acres will be harvested at age 50, and 125 acres are projected to be
harvested at age 30. The yield at age 50 is 75 cd/ac, and the yield at age 30 is
32 cd/ac. Thus, the total volume harvested is 8,687.5 cords (62.5×75 +
125×32). On average, 868.75 cords will be harvested per year.

Table 10.11 shows the projected harvest volume for each decade of the example. Note the
wide fluctuations in the volume harvested in each decade. The harvest in the second and
third decades are about 15% less than the harvests in the first and fourth decades. Recall that
the primary objective of regulating the forest in the first place was to extract a relatively
stable flow of products from the forest. Unfortunately, with area control there is no control
of the volume harvested during the conversion interval, and, ironically, harvests may
fluctuate dramatically. This is the primary drawback of the area control method and the
reason why volume control methods were developed. Before moving on to volume control
methods, however, let’s first consider the cash flow from the forest.

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Table 10.11. Projected Age-Class Distribution, Annual Cut and Net Revenue under Area
Control.
Acres in each age class at the beginning of each decade
Age Class
0 10 20 30
0-10 250 187.5 187.5 187.5
11-20 250 250 187.5 187.5
21-30 0 250 250 187.5
31-40 250 0 125 187.5
41-50 0 62.5 0 0
51-60 0 0 0 0
Total Acres 750 750 750 750
Average
Annual Cut 1,031.25 868.75 887.5 1,031.25
(Cords)
Average
Annual Net 22,031 17,969 18,438 22,031
Revenue ($)

Calculating the Forest Net Revenue

The net revenue for the forest is just the gross revenue—the volume harvested times the
price—minus the costs of managing the forest. In our example the only cost is the cost of
regenerating the harvested acres. Thus,
Net Revenue = Harvest Volume × Price - Acres Regenerated × Regeneration Cost.

Example: Calculating the Forest Net Revenue

Calculate the annual net revenue for the first two decades in the example problem.
Answer: The annual harvest volume for the first period is 1,031.25 cords; the
price is $25/cd; and 18.75 acres must be regenerated each year at a cost of
$200/ac. Thus, the net revenue is:
1,031.25 cd/yr × $25/cd - 18.75 ac/yr × $200/ac = $22,031.25/yr

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The annual harvest volume for the second period is 868.75 cords; the price is
$25/cd; and 18.75 acres must be regenerated each year at a cost of $200/ac.
Thus, the net revenue is:
868.75 cd/yr × $25/cd - 18.75 ac/yr × $200/ac = $17,968.75/yr
These values are shown in the bottom row of Table 10.11.

3. Volume Control

Earlier, it was noted that with area control the harvest may fluctuate dramatically during the
conversion period. With area control, the number of acres to be harvested is set first, and the
volume that is harvested is just the amount that comes with those acres – i.e., there is no
control of the volume harvested. With volume control, the volume to be harvested is
determined first. Then, the number of acres needed to satisfy the volume requirement is
determined. As with area control, the oldest acres are always cut first. By controlling the
volume harvested, a more even harvest can be obtained during the conversion period.
However, there is no control with this approach over the number of acres harvested in each
period, and volume control will not generally result in a regulated forest within one rotation.
Rather, the age-class distribution approaches a regulated state gradually, possibly over many
decades.

The steps for regulating a forest by volume control can be summarized as follows:
1. Select the desired rotation for the regulated forest.
2. Calculate the volume to be harvested each year using one of the volume control
formulas.
3. Starting with the oldest age class, calculate the number of acres that need to be
harvested from each age class in order to produce the target harvest volume.
4. Project the age-class distribution forward one period by moving harvested acres to
the youngest age class in the next period and unharvested acres up to the next age
class.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 until the forest’s projected age-class distribution is
regulated.
Unlike area control where determining the number of acres to cut is trivial, there are many
ways to determine the volume to harvest in volume control. There are at least five formulas
that have been widely applied. We will focus on one of the simplest and oldest of these
formulas in this section: Hundeshagen’s formula. A later section describes some of the
alternate formulas for calculating the volume to harvest under volume control.

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Hundeshagen’s Formula

Hundeshagen’s formula is based on the notion that you can cut more when you have too
much inventory and you should cut less when you have less inventory than you want. The
inventory volume in the regulated forest is the target inventory volume. If the inventory
volume in the current forest is greater than the amount in the target regulated forest then the
harvest should be greater than the harvest that would occur with a regulated forest. If the
inventory volume in the current forest is less than the inventory in the target regulated forest
then the harvest should be less than the harvest that would occur with a regulated forest. The
formula is
H Reg It
Ht = × It = × HReg
I Reg I Reg

where Ht = the volume harvested in the current period,

Hreg = the volume harvested from a regulated forest,
It = the inventory volume in the current forest, and
Ireg = the inventory volume in a regulated forest.

There are two ways to interpret Hundeshagen’s formula: 1) that the harvest should be a fixed
proportion of the inventory volume (the same proportion that would be harvested from a
regulated forest), or 2) that the deviation of the harvest in the current period from the harvest
from the regulated forest is proportional to the ratio of the current inventory volume to the
inventory volume of the regulated forest.

Calculating the Volume to Harvest

In order to use Hundeshagen’s formula to determine the volume to harvest, we must calculate
three quantities: 1) the inventory volume of the regulated forest (IReg), 2) the volume
harvested from the regulated forest (HReg = LTSY), and 3) the inventory volume of the current
forest (It ).

The inventory volume in a forest can be calculated by multiplying the number of acres in
each age class by the average volume per acre in that age class. When calculating the
inventory volume, the volume at the midpoint age of each age class should be used. This is
because the inventory volume is the volume at a point in time, for example at the beginning
of a planning period. As we noted earlier, at the beginning of the period the average age of
the stands in a given age class is equal to the midpoint age of the age class. Thus, when
calculating the inventory volume in the 31 to 40-year age class, we would use the volume at
age 35. The volume to be harvested from the regulated forest is simply the LTSY of the
forest using the rotation on which the forest is to be regulated. Once we have calculated

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these three quantities, we can use Hundeshagen’s formula to calculate the volume to be
harvested in the current decade.

Example: Calculating the Harvest Target for the First Decade

Assume the example forest described in the earlier examples is to be regulated
using volume control. Calculate the harvest target for the first decade using
Hundeshagen’s formula.
Answer: To calculate the harvest target for the first decade, first calculate the
inventory that will exist in the regulated forest. This is the sum of the acres in
each age class times the average inventory volume per acre in that age class.
First, it will be useful to calculate the yield table for the midpoints of the age
classes. We will assume that the yield at the midpoints of the age classes is
the average of the yields at the minimum and maximum age of each age class.
Table 10.12 shows the yields given in Table 10.3 and the inventory yields at
the midpoints of the age classes.

Table 10.12. Inventory yields for the example

problem.
Age Volume Age Volume
(cd/ac) (cd/ac)
5 2.5
10 5
15 10.5
20 16
25 24.0
30 32
35 43.5
40 55
45 65.0
50 75
55 82.5
60 90
65 95.0
70 100
75 100.0

In the regulated forest, there will be 187.5 acres in the four age classes
between 0 and 40. Thus, we multiply 187.5 times 2.5 to get the inventory in
the first age class; we multiply 187.5 times 10.5 to get the inventory in the 11
to 20-year age class; we multiply 187.5 times 24 to get the inventory in the 21
to 30-year age class; and we multiply 187.5 times 43.5 to get the inventory in
the 31 to 40-year age class. The total inventory is the sum of the inventory
volumes in all of the age classes. Table 10.13 summarizes the inventory
calculations for the regulated forest.

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In the current forest, there are 250 acres in each age classes between 0 and 40,
except the 21 to 30-year age class, which has no acres. Thus, we multiply 250
times 2.5 to get the inventory in the first age class; we multiply 250 times 10.5
to get the inventory in the 11 to 20-year age class; and we multiply 250 times
43.5 to get the inventory in the 31 to 40-year age class. Table 10.14
summarizes the inventory calculations for the current forest.

Table 10.13. Calculating the inventory volume in the

target forest.
Inventory Inventory
Age Class Acres Volume/Acre Volume
0-10 187.5 2.5 468.75
11-20 187.5 10.5 1,968.75
21-30 187.5 24.0 4,500.00
31-40 187.5 43.5 8,156.25
Total 750.0 Not applicable 15,093.75

Table 10.14. Calculating the inventory volume in the

current forest.
Inventory Inventory
Age Class Acres Volume/Acre Volume
0-10 250 2.5 625
11-20 250 10.5 2,625
21-30 0 24.0 0
31-40 250 43.5 10,875
Total 750 Not applicable 14,125

The MAI for this forest, with a 40-year rotation, is 1.375 cd/ac@yr (55 cd/ac ÷
40 yr). There are 750 acres in the forest, so the annual harvest from the forest
will be 1,031.25 cords. The harvest target for the first year under volume
control with Hundeshagen’s formula is:

It 14,125
Ht = × H Reg = × 1,03125
. = 965.06 cd / yr
I Re g 15,093.75

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The harvest target for the first decade will be ten times the annual harvest
target—i.e., 9,565 cords.

Projecting the Age-class Distribution

Once you have calculated a harvest volume target, the next step is to identify the areas to be
cut in order to produce this volume of wood. As always, the oldest age class will be the first
cut. The steps in determining the acreage to cut are outlined below.
1. First, check whether the acreage in the oldest age class is enough to meet the
volume target. Divide the harvest target by the volume per acre for that age class to
determine how many acres would need to be cut from that age class to meet the
harvest target.
2a. If the acreage that is needed is less than the acreage that is available in that age
class, subtract the area that needs to be cut from the total acreage to get the area that
will not be cut and will therefore move up to the next age class.
2b. If the acreage that is needed is more than the acreage that is available in that age
class, subtract the volume that you will get by harvesting all of that age class from the
volume target and move up to the next oldest age class to obtain the remaining unmet
harvest.
3. Continue moving up to younger age classes until the target harvest volume can be
met.
Once the acreages that need to be cut have been determined, the total cut area is moved into
the youngest age class, and all uncut areas are moved up to the next older age class. This
process is just the same as projecting the age-class distribution under area control. After the
new age-class distribution has been projected, another decade of volume control can be
projected by repeating the same sequence of steps, starting with the calculation of the volume
to be harvested.

Example: Projecting the Age-class Distribution under Volume Control

Project the age-class distribution of the example to the end of the second decade
of the conversion period.
Answer: Based on the harvest target we calculated earlier, enough acres must
be harvested in the first period to produce 9,565 cords. There are 250 acres in
the 31 to 40-year age class that will produce 55 cd/ac. We will need to harvest
173.9 (9,565/55) of these acres to meet our harvest target. The remaining 76.1
acres in the age class will not be cut. The age-class distribution after one
decade of volume control with Hundeshagen’s formula is shown in Table
10.15.

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To project the age-class distribution for the example forest after two decades
of volume control with Hundeshagen’s formula, we first need to calculate the
harvest volume target using Hundeshagen’s formula. As you may recall,
Hundeshagen’s formula requires three pieces of information: 1) the inventory

Table 10.15. Example age-class

distribution after 10
years of volume control.
Age Class Acres
0-10 173.9
11-20 250.0
21-30 250.0
31-40 0.0
41-50 76.1

volume of the regulated forest (IReg), 2) the volume harvested from the
regulated forest (HReg = LTSY), and 3) the inventory volume of the current
forest (It ). The first two of these numbers do not need to be recalculated:
• The inventory volume in the regulated forest is 15,093.8 cords.
• The volume harvested annually from the regulated forest is 1,031.25
cords.
The inventory volume in the current forest is calculated in Table 10.16.

Applying Hundeshagen’s formula now gives us the annual harvest volume

target for the second decade:
It 13,908.4
Ht = × HReg = × 1,03125
. = 950.3 cd / yr
I Re g 15,093.75

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Table 10.16. Calculating the forest inventory volume at the

beginning of decade 2.
Inventory Inventory
Age Class Acres Volume/Acre Volume
0-10 173.9 2.5 438.66
11-20 250 10.5 2625.0
21-30 250 24.0 6000.0
31-40 0 43.5 0
41-50 76.1 65.0 4844.72
Total 750.0 Not 13,908.4
Applicable

The total harvest target for the second decade is therefore 9,503 cords. Now,
calculate the acres from each age class that need to be harvested in order to
provide this harvest volume. The 76.1 acres in the 41 to 50-year age class, at
75 cd/ac, will produce 5,707.5 cords. This leaves an unmet harvest target of
3,795.5 cords. The acres in the 21 to 30-year age class will yield 32 cd/ac.
Thus, 118.6 of those acres will have to be harvested, leaving 131.4 acres from
that age class uncut. The projected age-class distribution for several decades
under volume control is shown in Table 10.17.

Note in Table 10.17 how much more stable the harvest is from decade to
decade. The price of this stability, however, is that the forest is not regulated,
even after 40 years. Recall that the forest was regulated after only 30 years
with area control. Stability of harvests is, after all, the primary reason to
regulate a forest in the first place, and area control often fails miserably in this
regard during the conversion interval. Also, the age-class distribution of the
forest is much more balanced after 40 years than it was at the beginning of the
planning horizon. How perfect does the regulation have to be in order to
satisfy the goals of regulation?

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Table 10.17. Projected age-class distribution, inventory, annual cut, and net revenue under
volume control using Hundeshagen’s formula.
Acres in each age class at the beginning of each decade
Age Class
0 10 20 30 40
0-10 250 175.5 196.8 204.8 181.3
11-20 250 250.0 175.5 196.8 204.8
21-30 0 250.0 250.0 175.5 196.8
31-40 250 0.0 127.7 173.0 167.1
41-50 0 74.5 0 0 0
51-60 0 0 0 0 0
Total Acres 750 750 750 750 750
Inventory 14,125 13,908 13,891 14,313 14,597
Average
Annual Cut 965.1 950.3 949.1 977.9 997.3
(Cords)
Average
Annual Net 20,617 19,821 19,631 20,822 21,102
Revenue ($)

4. Other Volume Control Formulas

It was noted earlier that there is more than one way to calculate the harvest target with
volume control. All of the volume target formulas that have been used are purely heuristic –
i.e., they are based on intuition, rather than an analytical approach. The variety of formulas
that have been proposed is actually quite remarkable. Each has advantages and
disadvantages. Some may work well in some conditions, while others will work better in
other situations. Four more formulas are presented here just so you are aware of the
alternatives. Perhaps more important, each formula reflects unique insights about setting an
appropriate harvest target for a forest.

von Mantel’s Method

This method assumes that the inventory volume of a regulated forest can be approximated by
the area of a triangle whose base is the forest area (A) and whose height is the volume per

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acre at rotation age (vR ). (The formula for the area of a triangle is ½ times the length of the
base of the triangle times the height of the triangle.) von Mantel’s assumption can be
interpreted as assuming that the growth of a stand is constant. With this assumption, the
inventory of the regulated forest is:
A × vR
I Reg =
2
Also, as we showed earlier, the periodic harvest from a regulated forest is the area in the
rotation age class (Ai ) times the MAI at the rotation age:
vR
H Reg = A ×
R
Substituting these two expressions into Hundeshagen’s formula gives:
AvR
H Reg × I t × It 2 It
Ht = = R =
I Reg A vR R
2
Thus, all you need to know to calculate the harvest volume target for the current period is the
rotation age and your current inventory volume! For example, you don’t need to know
anything about yield-age relationships.

The Austrian Formula

The Austrian formula assumes that the cut should equal the growth, plus or minus an
adjustment factor. The adjustment will be positive if the forest is overstocked and negative if
the forest is understocked.

It & IReg
Ht ' G t %
a

where Ht = the periodic harvest;

Gt = the periodic net growth;
It = the current inventory volume;
IReg = the inventory volume in a regulated forest; and
a = the adjustment period.

Alternatively, 1/a can be viewed as the proportion of the excess inventory to remove each
period. Note that using this formula requires an estimate of the inventory growth for the
forest. A method for calculating the inventory growth is discussed in the next section.

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Modified Austrian Formula

This formula modifies the Austrian formula by cutting the average of the current growth and
the expected growth from a regulated forest, plus or minus an adjustment factor. (Recall that
the basic Austrian formula cuts the current growth plus or minus an adjustment factor.) The
formula for the Modified Austrian volume control method is:

Gt % GReg It & IReg

Ht ' %
2 a

where Ht = the periodic harvest;

Gt = the periodic net growth;
GReg = the periodic net growth for a regulated forest;
It = the current inventory volume;
IReg = the inventory volume in a regulated forest; and
a = the adjustment period.

Again, 1/a can be viewed as the proportion of the excess inventory to remove each period.

Hanzlik’s Formula

Hanzlik’s formula was developed for the Pacific Northwest, where the primary problem was
how fast to cut old-growth. The idea is to cut 1/Rth of our “excess inventory”—i.e., the
volume of merchantable timber in stands older than the rotation age, plus the growth.
Im
Ht ' % Gt
R

where Ht = the harvest target for period t;

Im = the inventory volume in the mature age classes—i.e. those age
classes that are older than the rotation age;
R = the desired rotation age;
Gt = the periodic net growth.

5. Calculating the Inventory Growth

Most of the volume control formulas described here base the harvest target on the inventory
growth of the forest (Gt ). To calculate the inventory growth, estimate the growth per acre for
each age class using the yield table. Then multiply the growth per acre for each age class
times the number of acres in the age class and sum over age classes. The formula is:

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N
Gt = ∑ gi Ai
i =1

where Gt = the net annual growth of the inventory;

gi = the growth per acre for acres in age class i;
Ai = the area in the ith age class, and
N = the oldest age class in the forest.

Use the periodic annual increment (PAI) for each age class to give the growth per acre. The
PAI for age class i is given by the following formula:
vi − vi −1
gi = PAI i =
n
where PAIi = the periodic annual increment per acre per year for acres in age class
i;
vi = the volume in age class i;
vi-1 = the volume in age class i-1; and
n = the width of an age class in years (and the number of years in a
period).

Example
Calculate the inventory growth for the example forest used in the earlier
examples.

Table 10.18. Growth (PAI) calculation for the

example yield function.
Yield Growth PAI
Age (cd/ac) Calculation (cd/ac@@yr)
10 5 (5-0) 0.5

20 16 (16-5) 1.1

30 32 (32-16) 1.6

40 55 (55-32) 2.3

50 75 (75-55) 2.0

60 90 (90-75) 1.5

70 100 (100-90) 1.0

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Answer: first, calculate the growth per acre for each age class.
Now, multiply the growth per acre for each age class by the number of acres in
each age class and sum over age classes:
Gt = g1 × A1 + g2 × A2 + g3 × A3 + g4 × A4
= 0.5×250 + 1.1×250 + 1.6×0 + 2.3×250 = 975 cd/yr

Example
Calculate the inventory growth for the regulated forest from the examples in this
chapter.
Answer: There will be 187.5 acres in age classes 1 to 4. Again, multiply the
growth per acre for each age class by the number of acres in each age class and
sum over age classes:
Gt = g1 × A1 + g2 × A2 + g3 × A3 + g4 × A4
= 0.5×187.5 + 1.1×187.5 + 1.6×187.5 + 2.3×187.5 = 1,031.25 cd/yr
Note that this is the same as the annual harvest from the regulated forest (HReg
and also the LTSY). Why?

6. Study Questions for Regulation

1. What is the difference between a tactical and a strategic decision? List some forest
management decisions that are tactical and some that are strategic.

2. What is a regulated forest?

3. Why are models useful? What are the desirable characteristics of a model?

4. How does recognizing the complexity of actual forests complicate the basic definition of
a regulated forest?

5. Why regulate a forest? What are the benefits? What are the costs?

6. Why is the rotation that maximizes the MAI sometimes considered the best rotation for a
regulated forest?

7. Explain why using the rotation that maximizes the MAI maximizes the annual harvest
from a regulated forest.

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8. The rotation that maximizes the MAI will also maximize the LTSY. Why not regulate
the forest on the rotation that maximizes the MAI?

9. How can it be that maximizing the annual income from a regulated forest does not
maximize the net present value of the forest?

10. In what sense can you have too much inventory volume in a forest?

11. Under what conditions is it appropriate for the harvest from a forest to exceed the
forest’s growth?

12. What are the advantages and disadvantages of area control versus volume control?

13. Summarize the process of regulating a forest with area control.

14. Summarize the process of regulating a forest with volume control.

15. Explain the rationale for each of the following volume control formulas:
• Hundeshagen’s formula
• von Mantel’s formula
• the Austrian formula
• the modified Austrian formula
• Hanzlik’s formula

16. Why is the growth in a regulated forest equal to the LTSY?

7. Exercises

1. Calculate the long-term sustained yield for the forest described in Table 10.19.

Table 10.19. Acres, optimal rotation and yield by site class for long-term sustained yield
calculations.
Optimal Yield MAI LTSY
Site Class Acres Rotation (cords/ac) (cds/ac/yr) (cords)
I 2,400 70 75
II 1,600 80 89
III 1,200 100 88
Total 5,200

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2. You have just been hired to manage a 1,150 acre forest. The owner of the forest wants
you to regulate the forest using area control. The current age class distribution of the
forest is shown in Table 10.20. The predicted yield by age class is given in Table 10.21.
a. Assume that the owner wants the forest regulated using the rotation with the highest
LEV. Calculate the MAI and LEV for age classes 15 through 35 to find the best rotation
for regulation. Assume that real stumpage prices will be $35/cord for the foreseeable
future, that stand establishment costs will be $180 per acre, and use a real interest rate of
4%. What is the rotation with the highest LEV?

Table 10.20. Age-class Table 10.21. Yields, MAI and LEV.

distribution.
Volume
Age Area Age per acre
Stand (years) (acres) (years) (cords) MAI LEV
A 0-5 375 5 1
B 6-10 275 10 5
C 16-20 100 15 14
D 21-25 250 20 23

E 25-30 150 25 31
30 38
35 43

b. Once you have determined the best rotation to use, complete Table 10.22 on the next
page by projecting the age class distribution that you will have at the beginning of each
of the next six 5-yr periods if you regulate the forest using area control. Also calculate
the average volume cut and the average net revenue (in future dollars) for the 5-yr
periods beginning with years 0, 5, 10, 15, etc.
c. How many acres will be cut each year?
d. What will be the MAI and the LTSY from the regulated forest?

3. In reviewing your results from Problem 3, you may have noticed that annual harvests
and revenues fluctuate a lot. You know that volume control methods of regulation can
be used to even these flows out over time. You decide to demonstrate this to the forest
owner.

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a. From Problem 3, identify the annual cut that will be achieved after the forest is fully
regulated (cords per year).
b. Fill in the first column of Table 10.23, showing the initial age class distribution. Do
not try to fill in the average annual cut or the average annual net revenue rows yet.
c. Next, calculate the volume of wood in the regulated forest by filling in the first
column of Table 10.24. Calculate the volume in each age class by multiplying the
number of acres in the age class for a regulated forest by the volume of wood per acre for
stands in the given age class. Calculate the total volume of the forest when it is
regulated by summing the volumes in each age class. Also, note the annual cut for a
regulated forest (from part 2a) in the cell at the bottom of the first column.
d. Now, fill in the second column of Table 10.22. First, calculate the volume of wood
in each age class for the initial inventory. Total the column to determine the current
forest inventory volume. In the cell below this total, calculate the ratio of the inventory
volume in the current forest (Vi) over the inventory volume in the regulated forest (VR).
Multiply this ratio times the annual harvest from the regulated forest to determine the
volume that should be harvested annually during the first 5-yr period. Note this amount
in the cell at the bottom of the second column.
e. Starting with the oldest age class, determine the area that must be harvested over the
first 5-yr period from each age class in order to harvest annually the volume you
calculated in part d (the number in the bottom cell of the second column). Then,
determine the resulting age class distribution for the forest at the beginning of the next 5-
yr period. As in Problem 2, show the average annual harvest and average annual net
revenues for each 5-yr period.
f. Now, repeat the steps in parts c through e until you have projected the state of the
forest for six 5-yr periods. Is the forest regulated at the end of six 5-yr periods?
g. Using a spreadsheet graph the average net revenue over six 5-yr periods under area
control and volume control. Remember, the graph should have a title, the axes should be
properly labeled and the series properly identified.

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 196

 Table 10.22. Projected Age Class Distribution, Annual Cut and Net Revenue under Area Control.
Acres in each age class at the beginning of each 5-yr period
Age Class
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0-5
6-10
11-15

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

16-20
21-25
CHAPTER 10: AREA AND VOLUME CONTROL

26-30
31-35
Total Acres
Average
Annual Cut
(Cords)1
Average
Annual Net
Revenue ($)2

1. “Average annual cut” gives the average annual cut over the 5-yr period beginning with the year at the top of the column.
2. “Average annual net revenue” gives the average annual net revenue (gross revenues minus costs) over the 5-yr period
beginning with the year at the top of the column.

197
 Table 10.23. Projected Age Class Distribution, Annual Cut and Net Revenue under Volume Control (Hundeshagen's
Formula).
Acres in each age class at the beginning of each 5-yr period
Age Class
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0-5

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

6-10
11-15
CHAPTER 10: AREA AND VOLUME CONTROL

16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
Total Acres
Avg. Ann.
Cut (Cords)
Avg. Ann.
Net Rev. ($)

198
 Table 10.24. Projected Age Class Volumes, Total Inventory Volume, Ratio of Existing Inventory Volume (Vi) to Regulated
Inventory Volume (VR), and Annual Harvest Volume under Volume Control (Hundeshagen's Formula).
Regulated Volume in each age class at the beginning of each 5-yr period
Age Class Forest
Volumes 0 5 10 15 20 25

0-5

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

6-10
11-15
CHAPTER 10: AREA AND VOLUME CONTROL

16-20
21-25
26-30

31-35
Total Volume
Vi /VR
Annual Harv.
Vol.

199
CHAPTER 10: AREA AND VOLUME CONTROL

4. Table 10.25 shows the initial age-class distribution for a forest. Table 10.26 gives yield
data for the forest.
a. Calculate the MAI, the PAI, and the LEV for rotation ages 20, 25, 30, and 35 to
complete Table 10.26. Assume that real stumpage prices will be $30/cord for the
foreseeable future, that stand establishment costs will be $200 per acre, and use a real
interest rate of 4%.

Table 10.25. Initial age- Table 10.26. Yield, PAI, MAI, and LEV for problem 4.
class distribution for
Yield PAI MAI
problem 4.
Age per acre (cd/ (cd/ LEV
Age Class Area (years) (cords) ac·yr) ac·yr) ($/acre)
(years) (acres)
5 0
0-5 105
10 4
6-10 0 15 13
11-15 0 20 21
16-20 35 25 31
21-25 190 30 42
26-30 250 35 50
31-35 30 40 56

b. In Table 10.27, show the age-class distribution, the inventory volume, and the
inventory growth of the forest after it is regulated using the optimal economic rotation
from part a.
c. Use Tables 10.28 through 10.30 to show how the forest age class distribution will
change over the next 20 years if the forest is regulated using the modified Austrian
formula. Set the parameter a in the formula to 30.

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 200

CHAPTER 10: AREA AND VOLUME CONTROL

Table 10.27. Area, inventory, and growth of the regulated

forest.
Inventory Inventory
Age Class Area Volume Growth
(years) (acres) (cords) (cords/yr)
0-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
Total

Table 10.28. Projected age class distribution, annual cut and net revenue under volume
control (Modified Austrian Formula).
Acres in each age class at the beginning of each 5-yr period
Age Class
0 5 10 15 20
0-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
Total Acres
Avg. Ann.
Cut (Cords)
Avg. Ann.
Net Rev. ($)

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 201

CHAPTER 10: AREA AND VOLUME CONTROL

Table 10.29. Projected inventory volume by age class and harvest volume under
volume control (Modified Austrian Formula).
Volume in each age class at the beginning of each 5-yr period
Age Class
0 5 10 15
0-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
Total Volume
Annual Harv.
Vol.

Table 10.30. Projected inventory growth by age class under volume control
(Modified Austrian Formula).
Inventory growth by age class at the beginning of each 5-yr
period
Age Class
0 5 10 15
0-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
Total Growth

FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 202