Simple models to improve the insights into the evaluation of efficiency in forest production

Lemberg

2009

S. 57-65

1 Tab., 6 Lit. Ang.

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

200162705

The question of efficiency of bounded resources in the silvicultural (biological) production strikes a central question of forest economics, because it concerns the rationality in the forest business. In the past a large variety of economic decision criteria, such as the maximisation of the forest revenue or the soil rent, the land expectation value, the increment percent, Pressler's indication percent, etc. have been developed. Such decision criteria have to help decision-makers finding economically optimal or rational silvicultural treatments. but in Germany the forest practice is still confused by the variety of criteria, so that they are seldom used in forest management. Using simple model calculations this paper tries to order the multitude of economical decision criteria by assigning them to various types of decision situations. Thereby the premises of availability of resources play a central role. These premises concern the scarcity of productive forest land as well as the shortage of capital funds. In this context internal restrictions such as sustainability have to be considered. By means of actual examples, which demonstrate different decision situations in a very simplified way using Excel frames, the coherences between the premises and the various decision criteria are displayed to make them easier to identify and better interpretable. Using strongly simplified forest production models, varying the thinning intensity and the harvesting age and taking the restriction of sustainabilily into account, it is interesting that economic decision criteria, which consider scarcity of land and financial funds, can explain practical silvicultural decision behaviour in a suitable way. By this means this contribution wants to show, that silvicultural principles and economical rationality are no antagonists, as it is supposed often in the German forest practice. On the contrary, commonly observed concepts of forest management can be interpreted and explained with rational economical means.