A DISCRETE STOCHASTIC PROGRAMMING MODEL TO ESTIMATE OPTIMAL BURNING SCHEDULES ON RANGELAND

McCartney rose is a range management problem on 500,000 acres of rangeland in Texas. Roller chopping followed by burning is an effective method of improving infested rangeland. However, uncertainty associated with implementing effective burns adversely affects economic feasibility of the treatment sequence. Discrete stochastic programming is used to determine optimal burning schedules under uncertainty. Optimal schedules and expected net returns vary with changes in the probability of a successful burn.