Abstract:The present study aimed to optimize the location of wood storage yards in forest management for the production of wood in the Brazilian Amazon. The area of forest management studied was 638.17 ha, with 1478 trees selected for harvest with a diameter at breast height of at least 50 cm in accordance with Brazilian legislation. Taking the topography into account-permanent preservation areas, restricted areas, and remaining trees-and using GIS tools, 7896 sites were identified that could be used as wood storage yards. By using mathematical programming techniques, more specifically binary integer linear programming, and based on the classical p-median model, optimal locations for the opening of yards were defined. Four scenarios were proposed combining distance and volume constraints. The scenarios evaluated promoted reductions in infrastructure investment compared with traditional planning. The results showed reductions in the number of forest roads (-6.33%) and trails to extract logs (-15.49%) when compared to traditional planning. The best performing scenario was that with the maximum volume restriction. It was concluded that the application of mathematical programming was able to promote significant gains in the harvest planning of native forests of the Amazon with the potential to reduce environmental damage.

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In Amazonian native forest management, forest road infrastructures, such as log storage yards and skid trails, are the most expensive attributes and are responsible for the significant environmental impacts with selective tree felling. Road optimization is crucial for reducing environmental impacts and production costs and is strongly linked to the optimal location of storage yards, which are essential to forest road planning. Considering the present problem and the current solutions available, this case study aimed to evaluate the efficiency and eventual gains of optimized forest planning (OFP), as compared to traditional forest planning (TFP). The TFP method is currently used most frequently by forest companies in the Amazon region. The study area of 126.41 ha belongs to the National Forest (NAFO) Saracá-Taquera, Forest Management Unit II (FMU-II), Annual Production Unit (APU) 04/2018, and Work Unit (WU) 2. For the analysis, two areas were defined for exploration: the first was explored using the OFP mathematical model (57.75 ha) and the second followed the TFP plan of the company (68.66 ha). Plans and executions for both areas were compared. The OFP model significantly reduced the Euclidean distances between tree and yards, with only 0.23 km difference in the amount of planned forest roads, when compared to TFP. Additionally, OFP demonstrated a higher productivity (trees.h -1 and m 3 .h -1 ), a reduction of skid distance (by an average of 17.16%), and reduced the cost of log skidding (m 3 by 25.76%). Thus, this study proved that OFP is a viable solution that can be adopted by companies to increase productivity. Selective logging is intended to only remove trees of commercial value. Its use is associated with forest management techniques and is referenced in the current legislation (Implementing rule no.