Watershed forest management using decision support technology

Using innovative partnerships and a variety of decision support tools, we identified the needs and goals of Baltimore, Maryland, for their reservoir properties containing over 17000 forested acres; developed a management plan; determined the information necessary to evaluate conditions, processes, and context; chose tools to use; collected, organized, and analyzed data; and developed alternative strategies to meet the landowner's goals. The key tools we used were the NED decision support system and ArcView. NED is a tool to gather, organize and analyze data; and compare alternative options and outcomes. Data can be exported to ArcView for spatial analysis. NED is most useful for implementation at stand and project levels. ArcView is most useful to display spatial relationships; analyze at landscape level; and show links with outside properties.