DIGITAL FOREST MANAGEMENT - CANFORS EXPERIENCE

Canfor's Englewood Division acquired a GIS two years age. Within this period, we have developed the framework necessary to digitally manage our 200 000 hectare Tree Farm License. This paper focuses mainly on the role GIS played in our Management and Working Plan. The plan is produced every five years to document and justify our forest land management techniques. It addresses issues of current and long-term wood supply; the 200 year horizon, silviculture regimes, and habitat requirements. GIS was used in conjunction with a forest estate model to test numerous management scenarios. Important issues included the decision to load 'dirty' data, the acquisition of contour data, networking data, raster/vector processing, restructuring for feature codes, and becoming a 'beta' test site for GIS software. In addition, we discuss our objectives for 1991 relating to training, wildlife habitat, ambrosia control, a cruise prediction system, coordinate geometry and other goals.