Forest Planning

Today’s forestry faces increasing demands and growing pressure from society. Traditionally, forestry has primarily focused on the production of timber and pulpwood, but today the forest is also expected to provide a wide range of other values and functions. In addition to supplying raw materials for industry, forestry must increasingly balance production with considerations for biodiversity and other important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, reindeer grazing, bioenergy, water quality, and recreation. Moreover, forestry must adapt to a changing climate. Together, these factors raise new questions about how forests should or should not be managed, and place new requirements on forest planning – the process that generates decision support regarding how forests should or should not be used in order to meet the objectives of forest owners, companies, stakeholders, or society at large.

The field of forest planning aims to develop tools, processes, and knowledge that can be applied in the planning process to support long-term sustainable forestry, taking into account economic, ecological, and social values. Our research addresses both current planning challenges and those anticipated to be important in the future. Planning problems are examined from multiple perspectives, ranging from individual forest owners and companies to stakeholder and societal levels. Central themes include goal-setting, collaboration, and future scenario analyses.

Goal-Oriented Management

This part of the research area focuses on developing planning tools to help forest owners - whether companies, private individuals, or municipalities - make decisions about where, when, and what actions should be taken in the forest to achieve the goals of forest management. This may involve selecting the right areas for harvesting or identifying areas to set aside, determining when thinning is most profitable, or deciding which measures best balance, for example, timber production, biodiversity, and climate benefits. The research combines knowledge and methods from forest ecology, mathematics, computer science, and economics to create tools and approaches that support decision-making and planning. The aim is to provide forest owners with better decision support, enabling them to make well-informed choices that maximize goal achievement from economic, ecological, and social perspectives.

Collaboration

This part of the research area focuses on collaboration among forestry stakeholders, with particular emphasis on integrating different actors’ knowledge, perspectives, and interests into the planning process. This involves studying and developing collaborative processes between, for example, landowners, rights holders, stakeholders, and public authorities - actors who often hold different views on the value and use of forests. The research includes understanding these perspectives and developing methods that facilitate dialogue and the management of conflicting interests. By integrating future scenario analyses, we aim to develop tools and processes that support decision-making and long-term sustainable forest management, where environmental, economic, and social dimensions are all considered.

Future Scenario Analyses

This part of the research area focuses on examining how different management strategies and external factors influence forest development in the long term. Using various models to describe forest growth and change, we explore the consequences of decisions in both the short and long term - for example, how harvesting levels, thinning methods, or conservation measures affect forest growth, economic returns, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. The purpose is to provide better decision support for comparing the advantages and disadvantages of different management approaches, thereby creating the conditions for informed and long-term sustainable choices.

Research Projects

Here are some of the ongoing projects in which we are involved.