(This page is still under construction but still contains useful information)

Providing the "fair share" of commodity production:
At the present time, the commodity of most concern about sustainability is timber production. There are three potential goals:
1. Providing a "fair share"of commodities
2. Ensuring that forests are growing sustainably
3. Ensuring that the wood quality is sustained

1. Providing a "fair share" of commodities:

The objective is to ensure that timber harvest is approximately equal to growth - that the forest is not being harvested unsustainably, or that the forest is not providing so little timber that other forests must overharvest to compensate for the difference.

Measurable criteria: A "fair share" of timber harvest is considered as 80-100% of the forest's growth during the 50-year planning period. (Maintaining an even flow of timber for Pack Forest are discussed in the socio-economic considerations section.) An example of the standing, cut, and harvested volumes for one 5 year management cycle are shown below. Note that the target was not met because no timber was harvested; however, the overall goal could be met by harvesting during other management cycles.

The objective is to provide a fair share of commodities over the long time; therefore, it is important to keep track of the standing volume, growth, and harvest over time. In the example below, harvest exceeded growth during some management cycles, while growth exceeded harvest during others.

Summary Value: The summary value will be measured as the proportion of harvested timber volume relative to volume growth, as follows:

• Full value (10) will be given if the harvest is between 80% and 100% of the growth;
  
• If harvest is less than 80% of growth, the summary value is the ratio of harvest to growth, normalized to a value of 10 (maximum);
  
• If harvest is greater than growth, the summary value is (1 minus) the ratio of harvest in excess of growth to growth, normalized to a value of 10 (maximum). A ratio of more than twice the harvest to growth would receive a value of 0.

When expressed as an equation in a spreadsheet (e.g., excel), the formula would be:

2. Ensuring that forests are growing sustainably

A measure of the growth under a given management regime relative to the maximum potential growth is used to ensure that forests are being managed in a way that does not curtail their growth, and so pressure other forests in the world to increase their harvest. The summed value over the entire planning period will be considered, rather than values for each decade, for reasons described above.
Maximum potential growth is determined during the "development of alternatives" process. As different alternatives are developed, a maximum possible volume growth, summed over all of the planning period, will be determined.

Measurable criteria: The measurable criterion will be the ratio of total growth (summed for each 5-year period) during the planning period to the maximum growth (attained through the "development of alternatives" process) normalized to a maximum value of 10.

Summary Value: The summary value will be the quantitative measure of the measurable criterion:

Ensuring that the standing forest volume is sustained

A comparison of the standing volume at the end of the 50-year planning period with that at the beginning is used to ensure that the forests are not being depleted. The summed value over the entire planning period will be considered, rather than values for each decade, for reasons described above.

Measurable criteria: The measurable criterion will be the ratio of standing volume in the year 2000 (the beginning of the planning period) to the standing volume in 2050 (the end of the planning period), normalized to a maximum value of 10. Since the objective is to sustain volume, a maximum value (10) will be given to any management alternative where ending (2050) volume is greater than or equal to beginning (2000) volume.

Summary Value: The summary value will be the quantitative measure of the measurable criterion, as follows:

• Full value (10) will be given if the final standing volume is equal to, or greater than, the initial standing volume;
  
• If final standing volume is less than initial standing volume, summary value will be the ratio of final to initial standing volume, normalized to a value of 10 (maximum);

When expressed as an equation in a spreadsheet (e.g., excel), the formula would be:

3. Ensuring that the wood quality is sustained

Higher quality uses of wood can be made from wood outside the juvenile core and free of knots; therefore, trees of larger diameters provide generally higher quality wood. To ensure that wood of high quality is being provided, a comparison of the amount of timber harvested in small trees (less than 12 inches DBH), medium-size trees (12 to 24 inches DBH), and large trees (greater than 24 inches DBH) will be made for each management cycle. The minimum acceptable target be to provide at least 40% of the volume in trees of large diameter for each management cycle.

Measurable criteria: The measurable criterion will be the percent of harvested volume provided in trees of each size (quality) class during each management cycle. For each cycle, a value of 10 will be given for a value of 40% or greater for large trees (by volume). Volumes less than 40% will be assigned a number between 0 and 10 proportionate to their ratio to 40%.

Summary Value: The summary value will be the average value for all management cycles. However, to ensure that high quality wood is not harvested and replaced by low quality wood removed during the last half of the planning period, a summary value of "0" will be assigned if the average percent of high quality wood harvested during the last two decades (last 4 planning cycles) is both less than 40% and less than during the total planning period.