NED-3 Ecosystem Management Decision Support

NED-3 builds upon the foundation of NED-2 (retired) with several key improvements. It runs simulations much faster and works with all the latest variants of Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), which can be updated by the user as new ones are released. NED-3 also allows the user choices of board foot volume equations, including the ability to enter their own volume table. The report generation interface has been revised substantially to make it easier to use and to keep using a standard set of reports. NED-3 now incorporates SILVAH 7, a sister program created by the Northern Research Station that can provide expert-based prescriptions for timber management of a stand. There are now four different wildlife habitat evaluation models built into NED-3 for a wider area of applicability, according to the user’s request. NED-3 can also link to an Excel-based tool, ForGATE, to provide a life-cycle analysis of carbon from the forest and forest products.

One of the pieces of NED-3 that was not completed is the help system. Because almost all of the former version’s help system is still accurate, though the interface has changed slightly, the “NED-2” online help system is made available as part of the NED-3 installation files. In addition, material contained in the help system are available in two publications, a printed NED-2 user's guide with step-by-step instructions on how to use the software and a separate NED-2 reference guide (available in PDF format only) with detailed explanations of the models, equations, and rules that underlie the software.

Paper tally sheets are available for NED-3, at the bottom of this page under Documentation and Downloads. On some of the tally sheet pages, not all NED-3 variables are shown due to space limitations. Download the Excel version of the tally sheets if you would like to substitute variables or make other modifications. A companion PDF version is available that will handle most inventory situations.