Terra Vision is a new and exciting decision support system that integrates the latest in GIS, ecosystem modeling, decision analysis, and visualization technologies. It has been used to develop several Sustained Yield Plans for private timberlands that balance environmental and economic concerns. ArcInfo and ArcView provide the underlying geoprocessing and data management capabilities of the system. This presentation will describe the comprehensive planning approach and the underlying data structure and software tools. It will demonstrate how complex ecosystem plans can be developed and modified to meet diverse goals in near real-time. Note: Please refer to ARC News, Winter 1995 issue (Vol. 17 No. 4) for a more detailed description of Terra Vision's capabilities.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is moving quickly into the next era of forest management in Ontario, with the help of an integrated forest management decision support system product called ArcForest. The ArcForest product, developed by Esri-Canada, works with ArcInfo software and the Oracle relational database management system (RDBMS), and is designed to assist the forest community handle not only current but future management challenges as the forest industry progresses toward more ecosystem-based, sustainable resource management practices. With input from the ArcForest team at Esri-Canada, the Kirkland Lake District of the OMNR has recently completed the development of a Timber Management Plan for the Elk Lake Forest Management Unit utilizing the ArcForest product. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of this application with specific focus on the preparation of the inventory, undertaking of planning scenarios, presentation of planning alternatives, and the cost-benefits of utilizing ArcForest compared with conventional approaches.
Slowly, over decades, biological field stations accumulate significant regional ecological and environmental databases that become invaluable for understanding, protecting and managing natural and biological resources. For the past 12 years, the James Reserve has become the center for ecology-based information resources pertinent to the land management issues facing the government agencies and private property owners throughout the San Jacinto Mountains (Riverside County, California). Recently, under the umbrella of Forest Stewardship, our primary ecological information management interface has been constructed using ArcView 2.1 for the Power Macintosh. This new system incorporates and integrates all of our previous work ranging from ArcInfo coverages, macGIS raster maps, satellite and airborne video, laserdisc multimedia images and movies of local biodiversity, species lists, long-term data sets, and researcher field notes. Application areas which utilize these information resources now include wildland fire pre-attack planning, forest stand management, wildlife habitat assessment and modeling, rare species studies, fire hazard abatement on private property, and research planning. Over the next year, much of this information will be made available over the World Wide Web with an interface designed to allow a user to construct and order a custom CD-ROM.