On the development of a new approach to calculating parameters of the annual allowable cut for sustainable forest management

A new approach to calculating parameters of the annual allowable cut for sustainable forest management in mature and over-mature exploitable forests and computer-based programs, developed on its base that allows to calculate the parameters of the annual allowable cut for sustainable forest management in these forests for a predetermined number of years are presented. The proposed approach is based on the simulation model of the age structure dynamics of the stand – from initial age classes of ("sapling stands ") to older ones ("mature stands"). The advantage of the proposed approach is that the procedure and the results of simulation are independent of any predefined formulas for calculating the allowable cut, thus it can be used to calculate allowable cut for exploitable forests with a variable initial age structure and intensity of forest management. Unlike currently applied formulas of the annual allowable cut, based on the thought model of the depletion of over-mature, mature, ripening and other stands in certain time, the simulation model enables to calculate in detail the process for all different age groups of trees. In fact, the entire age structure of the stand is reconstructed in numerical form (virtually, within the computer) for any chosen period of time. Cuttings are considered as abrupt and territorially localized changes in the stand age structure, and the model aims to compute their consequences, as well as to solve the problem of calculating the optimal allowable cut under the restrictions in a given area. The proposed new approach is considered by the example of clear-cutting of mature and over-mature stands in the Republic of Karelia