MASH – a comprehensive system for planning and scheduling regional wood production.  B. F. Gibson, J. E . Opie and I. C. A. Weir.  March 1974.  25 pp. (unpubl.)

SUMMARY

This paper introduces MASH, a computer-based system to aid in the planning of wood production from a complex forest region. Based on a planning horizon of one rotation, and assuming evenaged management of the component stands, MASH defines the strategy for thinning and clearfelling that maximises the present net worth of the wood resource, subject to various constraints. The main constraints relate to wood flows (outputs of sawlogs and pulpwood through time); these can be varied parametrically so as to explore various supply possibilities. Other factors such as a planning period, stumpage, and the net area for wood production can also be varied. The output of MASH includes the optimal cutting strategy and the wood flows, cash flows and present net worth associated with that strategy.

The paper commences with a general discussion of the planning problem for complex forest regions, and then describes the particular region concerned - the ash resource of the central highlands and South Gippsland, Victoria. The approach embodied in the MASH system is then described, followed by a description of each of the computer programs that, linked in sequence, make up the system. Various aspects of the system and then described in detail. The paper concludes with a case study - the application of MASH to a subset of the ash resource.