Beer-bottle tops: a simple forest management game

Forest planning and management concepts can sometimes be difficult to grasp. Games provide an effective way to demonstrate different concepts and facilitate deeper understanding of approaches and practices to sustainable forest management. In this paper we describe a game devised to demonstrate alternative ways to set allowable harvest levels in large (>10,000 ha) native forest planning units. The game requires minimal materials (photocopies of relevant maps and a few hundred beer bottle tops), and can be played and debriefed in 23 hours. The game focuses on the principles underlying area control and volume control of timber harvesting, and provides a basis for discussion of inventory and monitoring needs. The game has been popular and effective in courses for forestry professionals in developing countries, and for students in an undergraduate forestry course.