In many forest enterprises the number of game animals is often too high and requires the protection of young forest plants to prevent deer browsing. Then the question occurs, whether either fencing or the use of tree shelters is economically more favourable. In many cases the large number of in uencing factors and the complex econometric problem cause a wrong decision, which is forest aesthetically unsatisfactory and results in high expenses. Because of this Dr. Anton Hammer provided a solution to improve the situation, when he published his specialist article with the title “Entscheidungshilfe zu: Zaun oder Einzelschutz mit Wuchshüllen” in 2012.

The described decision support system was developed as a software solution with the application name “Wuchshüllenrechner”. This application is based on the named specialist article and offers a German version with an English translation. Besides the default values it is possible to enter the particular cost rates of the forest enterprise to compare the fence with the tree shelters. Afterwards the result is illustrated and explained in a descriptive chart view. With the parameters tree species, fence length (perimeter) and number of forest plants the users can derive a rational protection recommendation. Additionally, the application allows the users to playfully test and analyse silvicultural and economic conditions with variable input data.

During the development of the “Wuchshüllenrechner”, it was important to design a user-friendly and a platform-independent application. Although the software particularly addresses the management as well as the controllers of a forest enterprise, the application is supposed to support the foresters. Especially the cost translation dialogs support users to calculate the required cost rates. Because the “Wuchshüllenrechner” is open source software, it may be used and modified for free.