June 16, 2023
The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) puts forest growth modeling at your fingertips. What may our future forests look like? How will wild-fire, active management or preservation change our forests?
FVS (Forest Vegetation Simulator) is a forest growth simulation model developed and maintained by the US Forest Service. It simulates forest vegetation change in response to natural succession, disturbances, and management. It recognizes all major tree species and can simulate nearly any type of management or disturbance at any time during the simulation. FVS answers questions about how forest vegetation will change in response to natural succession, disturbances, and proposed management actions. It can assess the effects of insects, disease, and fire. Information from FVS can also be used to estimate changes in forest carbon stocks over time. Learn more here https://www.fs.usda.gov/fvs/whatis/index.shtml
Demand for FVS is increasing. The information produced through FVS is being used by new and broader audiences: sustainability consultants, consulting foresters, carbon project developers, conservation organizations, policy think tanks, and anyone else wanting their position or work to be informed by science-based forest information will benefit from FVS.
Effect on Forest Structure from Simulated Harvest Balancing Fuels Reduction and Carbon Storage, 2020 client project.
Some of our favorite FVS (Forest Vegetation Simulator) applications include: impact assessment of forest conditions and management strategies anywhere in the US, forest valuation for land acquisitions, timber flow forecasting, supply chain sustainability assessments, forest change over time, management planning, and sustainability metrics. Numerous forest carbon methodologies use FVS for quantifying forest carbon for offset markets. FVS can be used from pre-feasibility all the way through full project development; it is used to calculate rates of forest carbon sequestration and to determine the project baseline and additionality.
Simulations in FVS (Forest Vegetation Simulator) are highly customizable to individual client needs. Predictions can incorporate local specs for wood utilization, project-specific time periods, management scenarios, and more.