A forest product/bioenergy mill location and decision support system based on a county-level forest inventory and geo-spatial information

The forest products industry is a major component of the economic base for many states in the southeastern United States. Forest inventories precise within a mill working circle and the availability of decision support tools for locating mills are important in attracting and sustaining the industry. This research focuses on the status of Mississippi's efforts to provide forest inventory information to attract forest industry. A pilot study is described that integrates a decision support system (DSS) in a 40-mile radius working circle with a geo-spatially based county-level forest inventory and a transportation network to determine the feasibility and optimal location of a case study Oriented Strand Board (OSB) mill. A linear programming (LP) model was constructed to minimize the cost of procuring and transporting wood to the case study OSB mill site. Net revenue (NR) was calculated to assess financial feasibility of placing the mill at the selected location.