Spatial and temporal specialization in forest ecosystem management under sole ownership

‘Ecosystem management’ complicates forest management considerably. In this paper we extend the economic analysis of forestry to capture both the temporal and the spatial dimensions, allowing optimization of timber harvest decisions throughout an ecosystem. Dynamic programming simulations illustrate the implications for the simplest ecosystem, consisting of two forest management units. Results indicate that explicit recognition of ecological interactions, even between identical forest stands, may prescribe specialization through time and across space. Such spatial and temporal specialization leverages opportunities to provide ecosystem goods that may be foregone through reliance on ‘rules of thumb’ derived from models that focus on the single stand.