Use of forest inventory and monitoring data in the spruce budworm decisionsupport system

Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana Clem.) outbreaks cause severe mort ality and growth loss of spruce and fir forest over much of eastern North A merica. The spruce budworm decision support system (DSS) links prediction a nd interpretation models to the ARC/INFO GIS, under an ArcView graphical us er interface. It assists forest managers to predict budworm outbreak effect s on forest structure and productivity, forecast forest growing stock and s ustainable harvest levels, optimize protection (biological insecticide use) programs, and use silviculture and harvest scheduling to restructure fores ts to reduce future damage. The spruce budworm DSS has been operationally i mplemented on 8 million ha of susceptible forest in the province of New Bru nswick, and is being implemented on test landbases in Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta. The use of inventory and monitoring data in the DSS will be descri bed in four areas, stand growth model calibration; model validation; pest m onitoring; and forest stratification for calculating marginal timber supply benefits. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.