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Not All Biomass is Created Equal: An Assessment of Social and Biophysical Factors Constraining Wood Availability in Virginia

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dc.contributor.authorBraff, Pamela Hopeen
dc.contributor.committeechairPrisley, Stephen P.en
dc.contributor.committeememberCoulston, John W.en
dc.contributor.committeememberRadtke, Philip J.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-11T07:00:10Zen
dc.date.available2015-11-11T07:00:10Zen
dc.date.issued2014-05-19en
dc.description.abstractMost estimates of wood supply do not reflect the true availability of wood resources. The availability of wood resources ultimately depends on collective wood harvesting decisions across the landscape. Both social and biophysical constraints impact harvesting decisions and thus the availability of wood resources. While most constraints do not completely inhibit harvesting, they may significantly reduce the probability of harvest. Realistic assessments of woody availability and distribution are needed for effective forest management and planning. This study focuses on predicting the probability of harvest at forested FIA plot locations in Virginia. Classification and regression trees, conditional inferences trees, random forest, balanced random forest, conditional random forest, and logistic regression models were built to predict harvest as a function of social and biophysical availability constraints. All of the models were evaluated and compared to identify important variables constraining harvest, predict future harvests, and estimate the available wood supply. Variables related to population and resource quality seem to be the best predictors of future harvest. The balanced random forest and logistic regressions models are recommended for predicting future harvests. The balanced random forest model is the best predictor, while the logistic regression model can be most easily shared and replicated. Both models were applied to predict harvest at recently measured FIA plots. Based on the probability of harvest, we estimate that between 2012 and 2017, 10 – 21 percent of total wood volume on timberland will be available for harvesting.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:3001en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/63997en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectwood availabilityen
dc.subjectforest inventory and analysis (FIA)en
dc.subjectclassification and regression treesen
dc.subjectrandom foresten
dc.subjectlogistic regressionen
dc.titleNot All Biomass is Created Equal: An Assessment of Social and Biophysical Factors Constraining Wood Availability in Virginiaen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineForestryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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