Optimal harvest scheduling of timber production and carbon sequestration values in Turkish pine forests with various initial forest structures

The main aim of this study is to develop optimization models that deal with the functions of wood production and carbon sequestration in the Turkish pine forest that grow naturally. Processes carried out in this context can be summarized as follows. First of all, long-term modeling of wood production and carbon sequestration values of hypothetical Turkish pine forests with different actual structures has been made. The contributions on the total net present value to be obtained from the forest of the integration of carbon sequestration function to the planning models at the end of the planning horizon was determined. Trade off analysis was conducted between wood production and carbon storage functions. The effects of the life times of the wood products on the model solution results were investigated. The effects of different rotation lengths, discount rates and unit carbon prices on the forest ecosystem structure, wood production and carbon storage values that can be obtained from the forest were determined. In addition, the effects of silvicultural interventions that will be applied to forest ecosystems at different times and different frequencies on the forest ecosystem and the two functions are analyzed. Multi-purpose forest management planning problem is modeled based on linear programming technique. The planning horizon is 100 years and the planning period is taken as 10 years. As a result of the solution of the planning scenarios with different characteristics, it has been seen that the actual forest structures have a significant effect on the wood production and carbon sequestration which are the two important functions provided by the forests. Furthermore, different rotation lengths, discount rates, unit carbon prices, silvicultural maintenance interventions and time-dependent emission rates of wood products affected model solution results in all forest structures. Finally, the interactions among the forest values were generally found to be complementary, yet sometimes contradictory depending on the assumed relationship between forest values and structure.