IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v174y2025ics1389934125000693.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing Douglas-fir management in the U.S. Pacific northwest: Integrating timber prices, thinning strategies, and harvest age decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Susaeta, Andres

Abstract

In this study, an optimal control model is developed to simultaneously determine the optimal thinning paths and harvest ages for Douglas-fir stands in the U.S Pacific Northwest, considering various thinning strategies, stochastic timber prices, and productivity conditions. The analysis generally indicates that a maximum of two thinnings is optimal for Douglas-fir across all productivity levels and price processes. Incorporating thinnings under stochastic timber prices results in significantly higher land values compared to unthinned Douglas-fir stands. For instance, with a fixed thinning rate, land values increase by 25.1 % ($330.8/acre) and 59.7 % ($1375.9/acre) under independent and identically distributed (iid) prices for low and high productivity levels, respectively. When thinning intensities are determined endogenously, land values rise by 108.1 % ($1426.8/acre) and 91.2 % ($2102.8/acre) with first-order autoregressive prices. The first-order autoregressive price process generally results in higher land values compared to the iid process. Both timber price models yield the same number of thinnings at the same ages; however, the thinning intensity is lower under the first-order autoregressive model when thinning rates are endogenously determined.

Suggested Citation

  • Susaeta, Andres, 2025. "Optimizing Douglas-fir management in the U.S. Pacific northwest: Integrating timber prices, thinning strategies, and harvest age decisions," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:174:y:2025:i:c:s1389934125000693
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103490
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934125000693
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103490?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregory S. Amacher & Markku Ollikainen & Erkki A. Koskela, 2009. "Economics of Forest Resources," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012480, December.
    2. Halbritter, Andreas & Deegen, Peter, 2015. "A combined economic analysis of optimal planting density, thinning and rotation for an even-aged forest stand," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 38-46.
    3. Tauchen, George, 1986. "Finite state markov-chain approximations to univariate and vector autoregressions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 177-181.
    4. Durbin, James & Koopman, Siem Jan, 2012. "Time Series Analysis by State Space Methods," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199641178, Decembrie.
    5. Rossi, David & Kuusela, Olli-Pekka, 2023. "Carbon and Timber Management in Western Oregon under Tax-Financed Investments in Wildfire Risk Mitigation," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 48(2), May.
    6. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, March.
    7. Lu, Fadian & Gong, Peichen & Lu, Fadian, 2003. "Optimal stocking level and final harvest age with stochastic prices," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 119-136.
    8. Schlosser, William E., 2020. "Real price appreciation forecast tool: Two delivered log market price cycles in the Puget Sound markets of western Washington, USA, from 1992 through 2019," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    9. Reimer, Jeffrey J., 2021. "An investigation of log prices in the U.S. Pacific Northwest," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    10. Reed, William J., 1984. "The effects of the risk of fire on the optimal rotation of a forest," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 180-190, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morag F. Macpherson & Adam Kleczkowski & John R. Healey & Nick Hanley, 2018. "The Effects of Disease on Optimal Forest Rotation: A Generalisable Analytical Framework," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 70(3), pages 565-588, July.
    2. Deegen, Peter & Matolepszy, Kai, 2015. "Economic balancing of forest management under storm risk, the case of the Ore Mountains (Germany)," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-13.
    3. Bernardi, Mauro & Catania, Leopoldo, 2018. "Portfolio optimisation under flexible dynamic dependence modelling," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-18.
    4. James Sampi, 2016. "High Dimensional Factor Models: An Empirical Bayes Approach," Working Papers 75, Peruvian Economic Association.
    5. Wang, Yuhan & Lewis, David J., 2024. "Wildfires and climate change have lowered the economic value of western U.S. forests by altering risk expectations," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    6. Xu, Ying & Amacher, Gregory S. & Sullivan, Jay, 2016. "Optimal forest management with sequential disturbances," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 106-122.
    7. Wadjamsse Djezou, 2016. "Land Tenure Security and Deforestation: A case Study of Forest land conversion to Perennial crops in Côte d'Ivoire," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(1), pages 173-186.
    8. Susaeta, Andres, 2018. "On Pressler’s indicator rate formula under the generalized Reed model," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 32-37.
    9. L. Ferreira & M. Constantino & J. Borges, 2014. "A stochastic approach to optimize Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stand management scheduling under fire risk. An application in Portugal," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 219(1), pages 359-377, August.
    10. Caldeira, João F & Moura, Guilherme Valle & Santos, André Alves Portela, 2013. "Seleção de carteiras utilizando o modelo Fama-French-Carhart," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 67(1), April.
    11. Moeller, Jonas C. & Susaeta, Andres & Deegen, Peter & Sharma, Ajay, 2024. "Profitability analysis of southern plantations through timber alone or timber and carbon integration in pine-sweetgum mixes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    12. Khan, M. Ali, 2016. "On a forest as a commodity and on commodification in the discipline of forestry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 7-17.
    13. Creal, Drew & Kim, Jaeho, 2024. "Bayesian estimation of cluster covariance matrices of unknown form," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 241(1).
    14. Halbritter, Andreas, 2020. "An economic analysis of thinning intensity and thinning type of a two-tiered even-aged Forest stand," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    15. Susaeta, Andres & Carney, Tyler, 2023. "Optimal regimes of prescribed burning in forest plantations in the presence of risk of wildfires in the southeastern United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    16. Chang, Chiao-Yi & Lai, Jing-Yi & Chuang, I-Yuan, 2010. "Futures hedging effectiveness under the segmentation of bear/bull energy markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 442-449, March.
    17. Macpherson, Morag F. & Kleczkowski, Adam & Healey, John R. & Hanley, Nick, 2017. "Payment for multiple forest benefits alters the effect of tree disease on optimal forest rotation length," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 82-94.
    18. Susaeta, Andres & Carter, Douglas R. & Chang, Sun Joseph & Adams, Damian C., 2016. "A generalized Reed model with application to wildfire risk in even-aged Southern United States pine plantations," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 60-69.
    19. Patto, João V. & Rosa, Renato, 2022. "Adapting to frequent fires: Optimal forest management revisited," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    20. Yu, Zhihan & Ning, Zhuo & Chang, Wei-Yew & Chang, Sun Joseph & Yang, Hongqiang, 2023. "Optimal harvest decisions for the management of carbon sequestration forests under price uncertainty and risk preferences," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:174:y:2025:i:c:s1389934125000693. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.