The Good Fairy Problem: One More Look at the Optimum Rotation Age for a Forest Stand

The good fairy problem reexamines the question of the optimum age to harvest a stand of trees. The metaphor of a financial portfolio reveals the sense in which the financial rotation age is optimal and the sense in which the rotation age that maximizes the mean annual increment in net value is optimal. This metaphor clarifies the distinction between economic efficiency and forest policy. In particular, it indicates the ultimate inevitability of the financial rotation age while demonstrating that the financial rotation age implicitly rejects the notion of sustained yield. A sustained yield forest with a financial rotation age is not economically optimum.