Site Management Schedule

The site management schedule specifies when land-use events and changes occur. A schedule is stored in a schedule file (.sch file extension), which has the following parts:

1. Simulation Configuration specifies the time limits and global configuration information for a simulation.
2. Management Blocks specify a group of related events that can occur repeatedly in simulation time. A schedule contains one or more blocks.

A management block is a list of events that occur at specified years and months within the block. Years are years within the block, not in the simulation. Events are land-use management actions such as cultivation, planting a crop, fertilization and harvest. For grasslands, events might be grazing and fire. For forests, typical events are senescence, fire, and harvest. Each management block has a header which specifies when in simulation time the block ends, and how many years the block spans.

An example crop schedule containing 5 blocks is:

Block   Years          Management                          Repeating sequence
1       0-1919       Spinup: Grass with grazing          1 year
2       1920         Cultivation to break the sod        1 year
3       1921-1950    Wheat-fallow, plow, straw removal   2 years
4       1951-1980    Wheat-fallow, stubble-mulch         2 years
5       1981-1992    Wheat-sorghum-fallow                3 years

In this example, the simulation configuration will give the simulation years 0-1919. This would be followed by the 5 blocks, each containing events specific to the agricultural management show.

See Also

Management Blocks
List of Management Events
Management Schedule (.sch) File
Site Parameters
Model Parameters
Utilities for Management Files