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The Farm Forestry Toolbox is a collection of computer programs, referred to as 'Tools', intended to be used by farm forest owners and managers to aid decision making. The Toolbox includes a set of simple 'Hand Tools'; conversation of measurements and map co-ordinates; measuring the volume of stacked logs, slope, basal area; and a survey tool. A second set of more complex tools or 'Power Tools'; are used to estimate site productivity (growth rate), volume and value of wood grown for individual trees, at the coupe or stand level and forest estate level.
Contents
- Background
- Rationale
- Development
- Farm Forestry Toolbox version 5
- Contribution to Toolbox from researchers and others
- Citation of literature where Farm Forestry Toolbox used to model outcomes
- Peer reviewed publications
- Thesis
- Reports and conference proceedings
- References
The Toolbox was included in the 2009 CSIRO publication Agroforestry for Natural Resource Management.
The Toolbox Inventory tool is recognised in the A Standard for Valuing Commercial Forests in Australia, as a suitable tool to undertake inventory for the purposes of the Standard.
A Workshop - The Farm Forestry Toolbox - Australia's most versatile and widely used forestry software, was conducted as part of the 8th Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Forestry (ANZIF) Conference (2015).
Background
Farm Forestry is a term used in Australia to describe the use of private land to grow wood products and provide a number of other ecosystem services. Private land is land registered under Torrens title and leasehold land, usually leased from the government. Farm Forestry is defined as 'establishment and/or management of trees or forests on agricultural landscapes for commercial, aesthetic and/or environmental reasons The term 'Farm Forestry', as used in Australia, encompasses Afforestation, Agroforestry, Analog forestry, Buffer strip, Plantation, Reforestation, Riparian-zone restoration, Silvopasture and Windbreak.
Support for Farm Forestry is provided by both the Australian Government and State governments. In 2005 the Australian government released a Farm Forestry - National Action Statement.
Governments have provided grants, funded research, provided advice (extension) and tax incentives to encourage landowners to adopt Farm Forestry.
Rationale
The 'Tools' were initially developed to make routine tasks easier. For example, using the 'Stocking Tool' it is possible to calculated the number of trees required, given a row and in-row spacing, and area to be planted.
The 'Health Tool' has a similar approach. A user can diagnose tree health problems using the Toolbox, replacing the need to use reference texts, or having to enlist the assistance of a forest health expert.
Forest researchers have developed a number growth models, but these models are often difficult to access and use. The Toolbox was developed to ensure that growth models were available to farm forestry owners and managers, able to be used to inform decision making, and provide a link between the growth models outputs and financial modelling tools.
The 'Stand Manager' is more complex and used to calculate net present value, internal rates of return, and wood and product yield. This Tool is used to explore management scenarios, and the resultant financial return and wood yield. A user of the 'Stand Manger' is required to create log grade sets (log specifications), regimes (sequence of events over the life of the rotation detailing events, including timing and costs/returns), as input data. This Tool can also use the output from 'Site Productivity' and 'Inventory' tools.
Users can 'customise' the Toolbox by using the 'Editors' and/or manual input of key data, such as growth rate. This means the Toolbox can be used for any type of planted forest (windbreak or shelterbelt, agroforestry, woodlot, or plantation), and can be used for existing planted forest or an area being considered for planting.
Extensive user support is available for the Toolbox, with Manuals and Workbooks provided. In addition to 'On Screen Help', 'Help' panels are displayed in many Tools. A series of 'Video Help' Camtasia Studio files provides instruction on the use of the Tools. The Toolbox includes in the 'Editors' sample Log Grade sets, Regimes and Biomass sets, that a user can modify.
Development
Dr Andy Warner, then an employee of Private Forests Tasmania, conceived the concept of the Farm Forestry Toolbox in 1996. He obtained funding support for, and managed, the development of versions 1 to 5. Originally the Toolbox was promoted as a User Friendly PC Tree Modelling Package (versions 1 and 2). Dr Warner also conducted training courses around Australia and overseas. Now living in Thailand, he continues to support the ongoing development and promotion of the current Toolbox for wider use internationally.
Adrian Goodwin, initially as an employee of Forestry Tasmania and since 2003 as principal consultant of Bushlogic, is responsible for most of the concepts and code, and continues to expand the functionality of the Toolbox package. He has presented the Toolbox to forest growers, foresters and educators in Australia and overseas.
Farm Forestry Toolbox version 5
In 2008, Toolbox was completely re-written in VB.NET 2005 implementing .NET Framework 2. This has resulted in an improved user interface, and provided an opportunity to streamline code.
Version 5 of the Toolbox is sensitive to international currency and date formatting. It is possible to set defaults for anywhere in the world and select any currency. Non-English help and instructions can be displayed by populating appropriately named folders with translated .RTF files. The Toolbox developers are in the process of “internationalising” some of the Toolbox programs so that all labels and headings can be translated to non-English.
A number of enhancements were made to Version 5.1, and labelled as Farm Forestry Toolbox Version 5.1 - Carbon Ready. These enhancements allow a user to model biomass components and explore changes in accumulation of biomass due to climate change and changes in growth rates for planted forests. Carbon planting regimes were developed and modifications to the 'Stand Manager' allows a user to explore options to use planted forests for carbon storage.
The Toolbox is able to be used for a wide range of plantation species in Australia, including mallee oil and sandalwood. It is also suitable for inventory in teak plantations in Southeast Asia.
Version 5 contains 50 taper models, 15 empirical growth models, and 4 process-based growth models (3 parameterisations of AGGRO and an adaption of 3PG for oil mallee). AGGRO calibrations for P.radiata and E.nitens are currently unavailable and awaiting re-calibration.
It is reported that the Toolbox is being used in universities in Germany, Thailand, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Australia.
Contribution to Toolbox from researchers and others
The Toolbox is a means of ensuring research output is made available for forest owners and managers. The following summaries the contribution from researchers and others, and the organizations they worked for when the contribution was made Available as part of the Toolbox download.
3PG-FFT - (in Site Productivity and Stand Manager) - developed by Joe Landsberg and Richard Waring with additional contributions by Peter Sands and CSIRO.
AGGRO - (in Site Productivity and Stand Manager) - developed by Michael Battaglia of Ensis and CRC-Forestry with support for the Joint Venture Agro-Forestry Program (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation/Land & Water Australia/Forest Wood Products Research Development Corporation/Murray Darling Basin Commission (Authority) - joint venture) (Project CPF-1A).
Biometric Models - Developed and programmed by Adrian Goodwin; Eric Keady (Forestry Plantations Queensland); Steve Candy (Forestry Tasmania); Jerry Vanclay (Southern Cross University); Yue Wang and Thomas Baker (School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne) with the support of the Forests and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation and the Department of Primary Industries (Victoria); and Justin Wong (Department of Sustainability and Environment Victoria).
Forest Health Keys - Software concept and original programming by Tim Osborn (Forestry Tasmania). Keys prepared by Tim Wardlaw (Forestry Tasmania). Additional unpublished information, advice and comment were provided by the following specialists: Dick Bashford, Jane Elek, Andrew Walsh, Paul Adams (Forestry Tasmania); David de Little, Tim Hingston (Gunns Ltd); Dugald Close, Phil Smethurst, Clare McArthur, Caroline Mohammed, Geoff Allen, Marina Hurley (Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Production Forestry); Andy Warner. Unless otherwise acknowledged, photographs used in keys were taken by staff of Forestry Tasmania. Robyn Doyle provided many photographs taken specifically for use in this key.
Specialised models and data - Oil Mallee Production - Based on a concept by Alan Herbert, Senior Economist with AgWest and using growth models developed by John Bartle, Manager of the Farm Forestry Unit at Department of Conservation and Land Management (Western Australia); and Adrian Goodwin. Data provided by Kim Brooksbank (AgWest, Farm Forestry and Revegetation group), Dan Wildy (University of Western Australia) and the Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre. Sandalwood Production - Data provided by Kim Brooksbank.
Citation of literature where Farm Forestry Toolbox used to model outcomes
The Toolbox has been used to model financial and wood yield and results reported in peer reviewed publications, thesis, and reports and proceedings.