SIMPPLE/MAGIS -- Simulating Vegetative Patterns and Processes at Landscape Scales/Multi-resource Analysis and Geographic Information System

DESCRIPTION

As described in "A Risk Based Comparison of Potential Fuel Treatment Tradeoff Models", SIMulating Processes and Patterns at Landscape scaLEs/Multi-resource Analysis and Geographic Information System is a knowledge-based system that has been developed to simulate future vegetative changes caused by different processes (including insects and disease), identify a range of conditions of plant communities and processes that can be expected for specific landscapes, and to analyze treatment scenarios for their impact on processes, individual community attributes and vegetation pattern.

Knowledge about vegetative change is represented in the form of all possible states that may exist (pathways) but a transition matrix is not utilized. Each plant community is evaluated separately to determine what process may be responsible for vegetative change. The probabilities of processes occurring for each community, such as wildland fire, insects, and disease, are derived from a combination of existing hazard rating systems, observed frequency of occurrence and expert opinion.

MAGIS is a modeling system for integrating ecological and social information and scheduling management treatments spatially and temporally for a landscape. It also computes the effects from the schedule of treatments. A wide variety of management practices can be accommodated including alternative silvicultural methods, logging methods, and prescribed burning.

A variety of relationship types are available for addressing management issues: outputs (e.g., wildlife habitat indexes, sediment yield, harvest volume), acres with specified characteristics (e.g., acres in a specific stand structure class), miles of network with specific characteristics (e.g. miles of road closing), costs, and net revenues. These relationships can be calculated for the entire planning area, or sub-components such as individual drainages. In addition there are spatial relationships for addressing wildlife security areas, corridors, and activities on adjacent treatment units.

SIMPPLLE and MAGIS are executed as separate entities that share information between them. The process begins by using SIMPPLLE simulations to identify the frequency and locations of disturbance processes, particularly fire, for a no action alternative. The results from SIMPPLLE are used to help formulate treatment priorities as input into MAGIS. MAGIS is used to develop a schedule of treatments in space and time to best achieve management objectives, including impacts on various resource values. The resulting schedule of activities is then utilized in SIMPPLLE to verify the treatment effects on disturbance occurrence.

SCALE AND AREAS OF APPLICATION

SURVEY COMMENTS

No survey respondents mentioned using SIMPPLLE/MAGIS.

BENEFITS (PROS)

COSTS (CONS)

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