Planning and Decision Making Models in Forestry

Forest resources and related benefits represent an important part of fulfilling the human need for energy, raw materials and quality of life. These potential benefits of forests cover a broad specter of goods and services. Among other things, they include: wood, recreation, water, soil preservation, game, scenic beauty, etc. Many of these benefits and services can be simultaneously gained from forest stands. And still there are many debates on how to manage forests and to what purpose, while many countries have legislation that prescribes forest management and/or protects certain functions of forests, where the basic postulate of forest management is the multifunctional use of forests. In this manner the crucial economical, ecological and social functions of forests are fulfilled. Forest management should enable careful use of forests and forest land in the process of procurement of respective products and services. In that sense, the planning, decisions regarding the use of forests and forest land, specificities of management of respective resources, productivity and stability of forest functions have an important bearing on sustainable and effective management of forests.Planning and management of forest resources represents a very complex task mainly for its multitude and a broad specter of criteria used in the decision making process. That means that any decision making is under different influences, and that any decision made has further influence on various aspects of nature. These influences and criteria include: a) economical issues – wood production, non-wood forest products, game management, hunting; b) ecological and environmental issues – soil erosion, watershed regulation, biodiversity, carbon sink, scenic beauty, influence on climate; c) social issues – recreational activities, tourism, employment, rural development, etc. Moreover, the complexity of a large proportion of forestry issues is increasing due to the way in which interest and social groups and organizations perceive the relative importance of specific criteria and appraise the management of forests, and assess the goodness of management of forest resources, accordingly. The importance of specific criteria and evaluation of forest management in that sense depends on personal standpoints and opinions of each individual or group. All of the above daily increases the complexity of forest management, worsening the management conditions and making planning and decision making in forestry very demanding. In such a situation the common application of multi-criteria decision making and