Preparing spatial analyses

The most common spatial analyse in forest management planning concern the aggregation of final felled areas. An aggregation could be positive (e.g. when many stands share the fixed costs involved in harvesting) but usually regarded as a problem - large open areas are negative in nature preservation perspectives, in biological diversity matters (being bad for many species), etc. "Opening size constrains" are hence often used in a optimization model. Prerequisites for such analyses can be calculated here.

NB: "Harvest" is here corresponding to final felling, sometimes also called clearcut. Harvesting is done in thinning but a stand will, after such treatment, not show an open area. The real problem occur when seed trees are retained in final fellings. However, the stem density is usually quite low (less than 150 stems per hectare), where quite a few usually will be windthrown in the first couple of years, and hence regarded as an opening.

Look in PWs notes, should there be any explaining graphics?