Southern Research Station

Title: A Method For Assessing Economic Thresholds of Hardwood Competition

Author: Knowe, Steven A.

Date: 2002

Source: In: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-48. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pg. 425-430

Description: A procedure was developed for computing economic thresholds for hardwood competition in pine plantations. The economic threshold represents the break-even level of competition above which hardwood control is a financially attractive treatment. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine the relative importance of biological and economic factors in determining economic thresholds. Growth models were used to determine the level of hardwood basal area (HBA) at which the cost of hardwood control equals the reduction in net present value of the stand due to competition. A basal area prediction model was fit with absolute HBA, rather than percent HBA, and then used to simulate the effects of hardwood competition in loblolly pine plantations. Generalized yield response models at age 25 were developed by site index and HBA, and used to compute HBA when the net present value of the pine response was zero. A hardwood basal area growth model was developed for projecting hardwood basal area to age 3, which is when release treatments would be applied. Sensitivity analyses examined the relative importance of site index, interest rate, pine stumpage value, and treatment cost in determining economic thresholds. The most important biological factor was site index, and interest rate was the most important economic factor. Pine stumpage value and cost of hardwood control treatment were relatively unimportant in determiningeconomic thresholds.

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Citation

Knowe, Steven A.  2002.  A Method For Assessing Economic Thresholds of Hardwood Competition.   In: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-48. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pg. 425-430