SILVAH - Decision support for managers of Allegheny hardwood and mixed oak ecosystems

Pat Brose, Peter Knopp, and Susan Stout

SILVAH is a computer tool for making silvicultural decisions in hardwood stands of the Allegheny Plateau and Allegheny Mountain region. It is an "expert system" in that it recommends appropriate treatments based upon user objectives and overstory, understory, and site data provided by the user. SILVAH also contains a forest stand growth simulator, provides the ability to test alternative cuts, enables development of a forest-wide inventory database, and facilitates other forest management planning functions.
SILVAH is the computerized implementation of a systematic approach to silviculture, in which current conditions are identified through a systematic inventory of overstory and understory.  These conditions are evaluated using an objective set of research-based standards and the constraints and objectives of the land-manager.  Then a prescription is recommended to move the stand closer to the manager’s objectives. The silviculture behind the SILVAH system in Allegheny and northern hardwood forests is described in the publication titled Prescribing silvicultural treatments in hardwood stands of the Alleghenies. 
Since 2000, we have been working with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry and other partners to substantially improve the applicability of SILVAH to mixed oak forests.  The publication describing the silviculture behind that effort is in progress, and will be available here when it is completed.

The current version of SILVAH, Version 5.6, is now available for download from our web site! SILVAH is in the public domain and was developed on official US Government time. A guide to data entry short-cuts is also available and a quick reference guide for data collection are available below. 
The User’s Guide to SILVAH 5.6 is under development, but for newcomers to the SILVAH system, the User's guide to SILVAH may provide helpful background.

Silvah system requirements

Starting in January 2008, Silvah installations were built on top of the Microsoft Windows Installer Service for software installation and updates.  This allows us to take advantage of newer technologies but results in incompatibilities with older versions of Microsoft Windows.  In order to install Silvah 5.6 (or newer), you need a computer running Microsoft Windows 2000 sp3 or newer, or Windows XP.  Silvah 5.6 has not yet been tested on Windows Vista.  Silvah 5.6 will not install on Windows 9X systems or Windows Me.  In addition, the Silvah 5.6 installation requires Version 3.0 or newer of the Microsoft Windows Installer Service, which ships with Windows XP.  If you need to update the Windows Installer Service, it is available as a free redistributable application from Microsoft.

More Information

Documentation
SILVAH 5.6 Software	exe (self extracting zip file)	5.6 mb
SILVAH Allegheny Hardwoods Quick Reference Guide	pdf	643 kb
SILVAH Oak Quick Reference Guide	pdf	645 kb
SILVAH Overstory Data Entry shortcuts	pdf	21 kb
User's guide to SILVAH	pdf	1.2 mb

 

(Some documents on this page are in PDF format. You may obtain a free PDF reader from Adobe.)