A Generalization of the Tree Harvesting Paradigm

The tree harvesting paradigm finds the optimal length of each harvest cycle. Typically, only the extreme cases of one and infinite harvests are considered. We extend the model in two ways. First, we analyze an arbitrary number of harvest cycles and show that the optimal cycle length decreases monotonically with the number of cycles. Second, we relax the restrictive assumption requiring the disappearance of positive net present value opportunities as the final cycle is harvested. Instead, we assume these opportunities disappear after an exogenously fixed horizon. This simple change of assumptions produces solutions that may differ substantially from the traditional solutions.