Forest Management and Planning

Chapter 6. Graphical Solution Techniques for Two-Variable Linear Problems

1. Pruning Contract. Assume that you work for Continental Pacific Timberlands in western
Washington, and you are in charge of the pruning program, which has a budget of $130,000.
After reviewing the forest inventory, you determine that there are a sufficient number of acres
of well-stocked Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in your district in need of pruning this
year. There are two available contractors for this work, and you want them to prune as many
acres as possible; however, you only want one contractor on the district at any one time. You
want all the work to be completed in 70 days. You determine through conversations with the
contractors that Crew #1 requires 0.16 days per acre, and Crew #2 requires 0.13 days per
acre. On average, you will have the contract crews prune 100 trees per acre. Crew #1
indicates that their work will cost $1.95 per tree. Crew #2 will cost $2.05 per tree. Finally, to
compare their work, you want to give at least 50 acres to each of the two crews. To visualize
the problem and the associated solution space,
(a) Write out the problem formulation (objective function and constraints).
Assume:
C1 = Contractor 1
C2 = Contractor 2
Assume also that you will be assigning acres to C1 and C2.
Objective function:
Maximize C1 + C2
Time constraint:
0.16 C1 + 0.13 C2 70
Budget constraint:
195 C1 + 205 C2 130000
Other constraints:
C1 50
C2 50
(b) On a graph, draw and label the lines to describe each constraint.
(c) Identify the feasible region on the graph.

Would it be feasible to allocate 100 acres to crew #1 and 300 acres to crew #2? Yes
Would allocating 250 acres to each crew lead to a feasible solution? No, it violates the time
constraint.
2. Developing a trail system. Assume that you work for a National Park in Colorado. As part of
your job you need to develop an estimate for the development of a new trail system. You
would like to develop as many trails (defined by their length) as possible, however your budget
is only $150,000. Two types of trails can be built: (1) easily traveled trails that are initially cut
with a small bulldozer, then hand-raked and graded, and (2) rougher, more natural trails
developed using picks, axes, and shovels. In each case, the average grade of the trails will be
maintained at, or below, 8%, and aligned to suit the topography of the area. All debris within
25 feet of the trails will be removed as well. You estimate that the first type of trail (1) can be
developed at a rate of five miles per month, at a cost of about $7,500 per mile. Since hand
tools are primarily used the second type of trail (2) can be developed at a slower rate, four
miles per month, yet cost about $4,000 per mile. At a minimum you decide that you want to
develop at least two miles of each type of trail. Ideally, you would like all the work to be
completed in six months, and you would like the work to be completed using only one
contractor and one crew. The rates of trail development can be converted to (1) 0.2 months
per mile, and (2) 0.25 months per mile to make the problem more readily solvable. To visualize
the trail development problem and the associated solution space,
(a) Write out the problem formulation (objective function and constraints).
Assume:
Trail_1 = Miles of trail type 1 to construct
Trail_2 = Miles of trail type 2 to construct
Objective function:
Maximize Trail_1 + Trail_2

Time constraint:
0.2 Trail_1 + 0.25 Trail_2 6
Budget constraint:
7500 Trail_1 + 4000 Trail_2 150000
Other constraints:
Trail_1 2
Trail_2 2
(b) On a graph, draw and label the lines to describe each constraint.
(c) Identify the feasible region on the graph.

Optimally, about how many miles of each type of trail should be built over the next six months?
About 12.5 miles of trail type 1, and 14 miles of trail type 2.
Would it be feasible to build 10 miles of trail type 1 and 20 miles of trail type 2? No, this
violates both the time and the budget constraints.
3. Cruising a Potential Land Purchase Area. Assume that you work for a timber investment
management organization (TIMO) in Louisiana. You need to develop an estimate of the timber
resources on 5,000 acres that your organization is considering buying. You need to have
cruised as much of this land as possible, however your budget is only $36,000. Two local
consulting foresters can do the timber cruising for you; consultant #1 prefers to use fixed plot
sampling, consultant #2 prefers to use point (prism) sampling. You want to give as much work
as you can to each of them. Consultant #1 is somewhat busy, but can cruise up to 3,000 acres
within your time frame, however they need a guarantee of 1,000 acres before they will agree
to do the work. You have agreed (by contract) to provide this. Consultant #2 also requires a
guarantee of 1,000 acres, but can cruise as many acres as are possible within the time frame.

Consultant #1 can do the work for $8.50 per acre. Consultant #2 can do the work for $6.50 per
acre. To visualize the problem and the associated solution space,
(a) Write out the problem formulation (objective function and constraints).
Assume:
Con1 = Acres assigned to consultant #1
Con2 = Acres assigned to consultant #2
Objective function:
Maximize Con1 + Con2
Budget constraint:
8.50 Con1 + 6.50 Con2 36000
Area constraint:
Con1 + Con2 5000
Other constraints:
Con1 3000
Con1 1000
Con2 1000
(b) On a graph, draw and label the lines to describe each constraint.
(c) Identify the feasible region on the graph.

Would it be feasible to ask consultant #1 to cruise 3,000 acres, and consultant #2 to cruise
2,000 acres? No, it violates the budget constraint.

Would giving 2,500 acres to each consultant lead to a feasible solution? No, it violates the
budget constraint.
4. Snag development. Table 6.1 is instructive in understanding the combinations of choices that
can be used to evaluate solutions from an algebraic manipulation of the constraints. Use the
constraints suggested for problem II.B to develop a table similar to Table 6.1 that illustrates the
options for CS and DS. Highlight the combinations that are infeasible, and make a note of the
optimal solution.
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
6.11

Maximize CS + DS
100 DS + 50 CS 80,000
CS 250
DS 100
DS 600

Constraint
combination

CS
(trees)

DS
(trees)

Total
(trees)

Budget
($)

(8) and (9)

250
675
925
$80,000
(8) and (10)
1,400
100
1,500
80,000
(8) and (11)
400
600
1,000
80,000
(9) and (10)
250
100
350
22,500
(9) and (11)
250
600
850
72,500
(10) and (11)
--------a
One variable undetermined through the constraint combination

Feasible?
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
---a

The optimal solution is the one that produces 1,500 snags (1,400 with a chainsaw, and 100
with dynamite), and adheres to the budget.
5. Hurricane clean-up plan. Given the information provided in Section II.D., solve algebraically the
hurricane clean-up plan problem.
6.17
6.18
6.19
6.20
6.21

Maximize CH + CPB
CH + CPB 1,000,000
CH 400,000
CPB 300,000
CPB 500,000

Constraint
combination

CH
($)

CPB
($)

Total
($)

Budget
($)

(18) and (19) 400,000

600,000
1,000,000
$1,000,000
(18) and (20) 700,000
300,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
(18) and (21) 500,000
500,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
(19) and (20) 400,000
300,000
700,000
700,000
(19) and (21) 400,000
500,000
900,000
900,000
(20) and (21)
--------a
One variable undetermined through the constraint combination

Feasible?
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
---a

The optimal solution is the one that requires $700,000 ($400,000 for CH, and $300,000 for
CPB), which adheres to the budget.
6. Cruising the Putnam Tract. You need to develop an estimate of the timber resources on the
2,602 acres that your organization manages within the Putnam Tract. You need to have
cruised as much of this land as possible, however your budget is only $20,000. As with the

Louisiana problem, two local consulting foresters are available who can do the timber cruising
for you; consultant #1 prefers to use point (prism) sampling, and consultant #2 prefers to use
fixed plot sampling. You want to give as much work as you can to each of them. Consultant #1
is somewhat busy, but can cruise up to 1,500 acres within your time frame; however, they
need a guarantee of 500 acres before they will agree to do the work. You have agreed (by
contract) to provide this. Consultant #2 also requires a guarantee of 500 acres, but can cruise
as many acres as are possible within the time frame. Consultant #1 can do the work for $7.20
per acre. Consultant #2 can do the work for $8.50 per acre. To visualize the problem and the
associated solution space,
(a) Write out the problem formulation (objective function and constraints).
Assume:
Con1 = Acres assigned to consultant #1
Con2 = Acres assigned to consultant #2
Objective function:
Maximize Con1 + Con2
Budget constraint:
7.20 Con1 + 8.50 Con2 20000
Area constraint:
Con1 + Con2 2602
Other constraints:
Con1 1500
Con1 500
Con2 500
(b) On a graph, draw and label the lines to describe each constraint.
(c) Identify the feasible region on the graph.

(d) What is the optimal solution to the problem? Give 1,500 acres to consultant #1, and 1,082
acres to consultant #2. This does not result in the entire area being sampled, but it makes the
best use of the budget.
(e) How would you allocate the areas on a map of the Putnam Tract?
Good question. We will let you decide how to allocate the acres to each consultant.
7. Stream enhancement project on the Lincoln Tract. Assume that as a land manager for the
Lincoln Tract, you want to improve fish habitat on about one mile of stream in the southwest
portion of the property. The fish habitat structures to facilitate the development of pools can be
developed using either logs or boulders. Assume that you would like to develop these
structures within the entire mile of stream, if possible, within the limit of your budget ($15,000).
After reviewing the site, you decide that at least 0.25 miles of the stream system should be
treated by placing logs in various places, and that at least 0.30 miles should be treated using
boulders. It will cost about $11,000 per stream mile to create fish structures using logs, and
$19,000 per stream mile to create structures using boulders.
(a) Write out the problem formulation (objective function and constraints).
Assume:
Logs = miles assigned to log treatment
Boulders = Acres assigned to boulder treatment
Objective function:
Maximize Logs + Boulders
Budget constraint:
11000 Logs + 19000 Boulders 15000
Other constraints:

Logs 0.25
Boulders 0.30
Logs + Boulders 1
(b) On a graph, draw and label the lines to describe each constraint.
(c) Identify the feasible region on the graph.

(d) What is the optimal solution to the problem? There are multiple optimal solutions along the
line A-B noted in the graph above. The constraint Logs + Boulders 1 has the same slope as
the objective function, therefore any combination of logs and boulders along this line results in
the same objective function value.
(e) How would you allocate the areas to treat on a map of the Lincoln Tract? Professional
judgement, after you decide how many miles of log treatment (from about 0.5 to 0.7) and
boulder treatment (from about 0.3 to 0.5) you can manage.