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Although stakeholders' participation in forest management helps overcome problems and conflicts that prevent sustainable solutions, different approaches and nomenclature for similar contents in the literature hinder theoretical progress on the topic. This study organises existing information through a bibliometric analysis of scientific papers from the last 30 years (1991–2021) on sustainable forest management, focusing on the stakeholders' participation. Results demonstrate that stakeholders' participation in sustainable forest management gained relevance from 2017 onwards. Case studies are predominant (66%) and six major trends were identified. The first emphasises a systemic approach to participation. The second updates the community management discussion. The third studies historical problems related to the use of resources, rights, and services. The fourth focuses on regional assessments and studies. The fifth concerns assessment, decision-making, and planning, including issues related to certifications and policies. The sixth discusses innovation related to adaptation, climate change, equity, and resilience. The studies included in this last classification are problem-solving-oriented and seek new forest management. Although important, the role of innovation in stakeholders' participation in sustainable forest management is overlooked, which constitutes an avenue for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precommercial thinning could be a valuable tool for climate change adaptation, as it can promote stand diversity while increasing productivity. Softwood and hardwood stands are usually thinned following different methods, and we lack recommendations for application in mixedwood stands. We evaluated the effects of precommercial thinning on the growth and composition of balsam fir (Abies balsameaL.)–birch stands dominated by paper and yellow birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh. and Betula alleghaniensis Britt.), comparing methods and production objectives (systematic release-softwood, systematic release-mixedwood, crop-tree release-mixedwood, and crop-tree release-hardwood) in Québec (Canada). Precommercial thinning increased tree-level and stand-level growth, especially for both birches. Compared to the non-thinned control, thinning increased tree diameter at breast height annual increments by 60%–107%, with similar results among modalities. Thinning changed initial stand composition, but mixedwood production plots composition was similar to that of the control 15 years after treatment. Promoting diversity is often perceived to be made at the expense of wood production. Our results suggest that we can obtain both increased growth and maintain diversity. Precommercial thinning is currently suggested as an adaptation tool that can foster drought resistance. Based on our study, we suggest it could serve another purpose in climate-adapted forest management, that is, maintaining diversity and thus increasing resilience to disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is central to forest management. To determine the sustainable annual harvest, practitioners rely on a simulation framework that combines inventory data, growth models, and optimization software. Because this standard simulation framework is based on model predictions aggregated into yield tables, it may not properly capture natural dynamics. In this paper, we designed an alternative simulation framework that does not require aggregated model predictions. However, the growth model must implement a harvest submodel and produce stochastic predictions. To showcase this alternative simulation framework, we used a forest management unit in southwestern Quebec, Canada, and compared our simulation results with those of the standard simulation framework. Our alternative simulation framework showed that the standing volume of most coniferous species would decrease, whereas that of maple species would increase over the 21st century. The annual harvest of one species as determined through the standard simulation framework was found to be unsustainable in the alternative simulation framework. Being much lighter in terms of computation, this alternative simulation framework can be used as a complement to the standard simulation framework, notably for checking if the optimization-based annual harvest is sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the implications of managing for sustained yield in a world characterized by growing risk and uncertainty. We review the history of sustained yield (SY) forestry in North America, with an emphasis on economic benefits and the persistence of the SY paradigm today, despite a publicized shift towards managing for a wider range of forest values called sustainable forest management (SFM). We show that current forest management goals around sustainability as well as SFM indicators are still predicated on maximizing harvest levels and timber flows. We build a simple model to explore the implications of SY under extreme (fat-tailed) risk assumptions to show that maximizing a level of harvest without adequately accounting for risk leads towards the depletion of the forest stock with a corresponding decline in the forest economy. We discuss these results in relation to real-world events such as the increase in catastrophic fires and pest outbreaks like the mountain pine beetle in Western Canada. We then examine the theoretical and practical implications that flow from this model and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In forest management planning, the dynamic treatment unit (DTU) approach has become an increasingly relevant alternative to the traditional planning approach using fixed stands, due to improved remote sensing techniques and optimization procedures, with the potential for the higher goal fulfillment of forest activities. For the DTU approach, the traditional concept of fixed stands is disregarded, and forest data are kept in units with a high spatial resolution. Forest operations are planned by clustering cells to form treatment units for harvest operations. This paper presents a new model with an exact optimization technique for forming DTUs in forest planning. In comparison with most previous models, this model aims for increased flexibility by modelling the spatial dimension according to cell proximity rather than immediate adjacency. The model is evaluated using a case study with harvest flow constraints for a forest estate in southern Sweden, represented by 3587 cells. The parameter settings differed between cases, resulting in varying degrees of clustered DTUs, which caused relative net present value losses of up to 4.3%. The case without clustering had the lowest net present value when considering entry costs. The solution times varied between 2.2 s and 42 min 6 s and grew rapidly with increasing problem size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]