DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j0zpc86p1
title: Excel code for: Trading off nature for nature-based solutions: The bioeconomics of forest management for wildlife, timber and carbon

description: This dataset contains MS Excel spreadsheet code used to analyze an
 integrative model that illustrates the inherent trade-offs that will arise
 among the competing values for landscape space in a boreal forest
 ecosystem involving interactions among the main trophic compartments of an
 intact boreal ecosystem, aka “nature”. The model accounts for carbon
 accumulation via biomass growth of forest trees (timber), carbon loss due
 to controls from moose herbivory that varies with moose population density
 (hunting), and soil carbon inputs and release, which together determine
 net ecosystem productivity (NEP), a measure of carbon sink strength of the
 ecosystem. We examine how controls on carbon dynamics are altered by
 forest management for timber harvest, and by moose hunting. We link the
 ecological dynamics with an economic analysis by assigning a price to
 carbon stored within the intact boreal forest ecosystem. We then weigh
 these carbon impacts against the economic benefits of timber production
 and hunting across a range of moose population densities. Combined, this
 carbon-bioeconomic program calculates the total ecosystem benefit of a
 modelled boreal forest system, providing a framework for examining how
 different forest harvest and moose densities influence the achievement of
 carbon storage targets, under different levels of carbon pricing.
description: The Excel spreadsheet converts the analytical model into code to
 numerically calculate carbon benefits. Data in the article figures are
 generated using the spread code.
description: # Excel code for: Trading off nature for nature-based solutions: The
 bioeconomics of forest management for wildlife, timber and carbon
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j0zpc86p1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j0zpc86p1) CODE AND DATA FROM Trading off nature for nature-based solutions: the bioeconomics of forest management for wildlife, timber and carbon Jonah Ury, Matthew J. Kotchen, and Oswald J. Schmitz School of the Environment, Yale University 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511 USA ## Description of the data and file structure Overview This file and overview is supplemental material accompanying the article "Trading off nature for nature-based solutions: the bioeconomics of forest management for wildlife, timber and carbon." The assumptions are outlined in detail in the article's Appendix S1, and all model parameters, functions, and their literature sources are presented in Table S1. The analysis presented in the excel spreadsheet examines the interrelationships between three main components of the bioeconomic system: the ecological system, the forest growth and yield system, and the economic system. The ecological system relates the interplay among net ecosystem productivity, aka the carbon sink potential of an ecosystem to tree biomass (T), moose population abundance (M), moose hunting (HM), forest harvesting (HT) and dead organic matter pools (OM). The Forest growth and yield system characterizes merchantable timber yield (H_TY), harvestable biomass, and their impacts on OM. The economic system links the two, by applying prices to HM, HT and carbon storage. The following narrative provides a summary of the bioeconomic modeling tool presented in the excel spread sheet that produced the simulation data presented in the article's four figures. Navigating the tool This section helps the user navigate the calculation tool through the different worksheets in the Excel file. This tool is divided into four worksheets, summarized below. 1\. Inputs: This tab controls the key model parameters for both the "Harvested" and "Non-Harvested" forest scenario. The user can change these inputs to assess the model results under different input scenarios. 2\. Harvested Forest Scenario: This tab is a function-based worksheet in which the model results are calculated for a boreal forest area where timber is harvested in a continuously timber rotation. It is split into two sections. Users are advised not to modify cells in this tab as risks altering the calculation code. * The first section ("Calculation of Costs and Benefits") takes the model parameters and estimates the benefits from moose hunting, forest harvesting, and forest carbon (standing and dead organic matter pools) across a range of carbon prices. * The second section ("Maximizing System Benefit Across Carbon Prices") determines the moose population at which these calculated benefits are maximized. 3\. Non-Harvested Forest Scenario: This tab is a function-based worksheet in which the model results are calculated for a boreal forest area where no timber harvest rotation occurs. Like "Harvested Forest Scenario" it is split into two sections. Users are advised not to modify cells in this tab as risks altering the calculation code. * The first section ("Calculation of Costs and Benefits") takes the model parameters and estimates the benefits from moose hunting and forest carbon (standing and dead organic matter pools) across a range of carbon prices. * The second section ("Maximizing System Benefit Across Carbon Prices") determines the moose population at which these calculated benefits are maximized. 4\. Outputs: This tab brings together the model results from the two function-based worksheets and depicts the key result outputs from the model. The user can view the model results under different input scenarios here. ## Code/Software The file contains Excel code that converts an analytical model of forest ecosystem dynamics and forest economics to numerically calculate carbon benefits for various joint forest management activities (moose hunting, timber harvesting and carbon capture and storage) as a function of carbon prices.  The data inputs for the code are presented in Table S1 of Appendix S1:Trading off nature for nature-based solutions: the bioeconomics of forest management for wildlife, timber and carbon by Jonah Ury, Matthew J. Kotchen, and Oswald J. Schmitz.