Silvia: a flexible system for integrated forest management

Abstract

Silvia, the Forest Management System is a computer application designed to help managers and technicians in the sustainable management of forest plantations. Silvia version 2 includes a plantations database, an equations database, and modules to simulate current and future productivity, process inventories data and make financial analysis. Map layers in several GIS formats can be linked to Silvia to render several types of thematic maps. Simulations can be run with sets of equations provided by Silvia or by the user from his own growth studies. Silvia can be used for projects of different sizes, from small farms to multinational forest companies without any limitation regarding the number of stands or species.