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Timber sales from the US National Forest System (NFS) can provide ecological and economic benefits. Unsold ("no-bid") offerings can result in delays, additional costs, and missed targets. We used mixed methods, including analysis of administrative data, synthesis of research, and semi-structured interviews to understand situations considered "no-bid" offerings by different stakeholders. We measured prevalence, identified causes, and generated a framework for communicating interlinkages. From 2007 to 2020, the volume not sold at first offering was 11.9% nationally. However, a substantial amount is sold subsequently, leaving 2.7% never sold. Regions with the highest percentage never sold include Alaska, Southwestern, and Pacific Southwest. A new conceptual framework developed from a literature review and interviews with NFS and industry employees identified proximate causes and underlying factors. Proximate causes include road construction, equipment requirements, and timber condition; whereas underlying factors include staffing, communication, and appraisal methods. These insights can aid communication and help develop future strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long‐term effects of intensive forest harvest on sensitive demographic stages of the American black bear (Ursus americanus) have been often overlooked. Much of Maine, USA, is covered in forests that are hospitable to bears and commercial timber harvest. To investigate the potential effects of differing intensities of disturbance on black bears, and on females with cubs particularly, we designed a large‐scale natural experiment with 197 motion‐sensitive camera sites dispersed over representative forest stands in northern and central Maine. Using multi‐state occupancy models, we distinguished the overall trends in space use by females with young versus adult bears without young. Forest disturbance at large spatial scales was positively associated with the probability of use for both demographic groups and the availability of hardwood trees was an additional important factor for habitat use by females with young. Our study illustrates the use of motion‐sensitive cameras to monitor and understand habitat use by distinct life‐history stages of animals living in human‐modified landscapes, and results indicate that managers can maintain black bear habitat in areas of active forest harvest by ensuring the availability of hardwood species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As organisations and economic markets continually evolve, it becomes essential to improve risk management skills on an ongoing basis. In this respect, it is particularly important to make practical use of all the tools available to identify and quantify risks. As with most entities, the most important tool for forest management is the timber selling price risk (TSPR). Economic practice shows that global markets experience very high volatility in this respect. The awareness of some popular techniques to understand the nature of individual risks by properly identifying their impact on the functioning of the organisation is currently increasing in importance. One of these techniques is the Value at Risk (VaR) method, which was used in this study to measure TSPR in 38 timber-selling economic entities. The aim of this article is to examine the concept of TSPR estimation using the VaR method adopted in the methodology by implementing the main VaR assumptions in the Polish forest economy in order to improve the methods of quantification of market risk in forestry, taking into account the impact of the sales volume and trade pattern of wood species on TSPR. The article demonstrates that the application of the VaR method can be an auxiliary tool in the TSPR management process. It is noted that this method can be a basic tool to ascertain the degree of exposure to risk and that the structure of commercial classes of timber is important. Using VaR, the relationship between the level of generated revenue and TSPR as well as between the assortment structure and TSPR was identified and discussed. It is also shown that the class of timber had an impact on TSPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We modelled the potential impact of intensification of plantation management and thinning, on timber supply of an ∼500 000 ha forest in Alberta, Canada over a 200-year planning horizon. Pre-commercial and commercial thinning were applied to a portion of the better sites, which allowed shortening of the time to merchantability and earlier harvest than unthinned stands; less than 25% of the forest was thinned over the course of the plan. The sustainable harvest rate, represented here as the annual allowable cut (AAC), increased by ∼14% above baseline, when thinning was applied. Similarly, there was a 20.7% increase in AAC projected with the relaxation of even flow rules if thinning was also applied. Finally, thinning offset the expected decline in AAC after a 20-year surge in cutting of mature pine, designed to slow an epidemic of mountain pine beetle. In terms of wood supply, the volume extracted at thinning was <2% of annual supply but volume from final harvest from thinned stands, at times, surpassed that of unthinned stands of the forest. Individual tree size from thinned stands was ∼twice that from unthinned areas in the second part of the planning period, offsetting the expected decline in piece size after the era of harvest of natural forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As demand for wood products increases in step with global population growth, balancing the potentially competing values of biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and timber production is a major challenge. Land sparing involves conserving forest while growing timber in intensively managed areas. On the other hand, land sharing utilizes ecological forestry approaches, but with a larger management footprint due to lower yields. While the sparing‐sharing framework has been widely tested and debated in agricultural settings to balance competing values, such land‐allocation strategies have been rarely studied in forestry.We examined whether a sparing, sharing or Triad strategy best achieves multiple forest objectives simultaneously. In Triad, management units (stands) in forest landscapes are allocated to one of three treatments: reserve (where conservation is the sole objective), intensive (timber production is the sole objective) and ecological (both objectives are combined). To our knowledge, ours is the first Triad study from the temperate zone to quantify direct measures of biodiversity (e.g. species' abundance).Using a commonly utilized forest planning tool parameterized with empirical data, we modelled the capacity of a temperate rainforest to provide multiple ecosystem services (biodiversity, carbon storage, timber production and old‐growth forest structure) over 125 years based on 43 different allocation scenarios. We then quantified trade‐offs between scenarios, taking into account the landscape structure, and determined which strategies most consistently balanced ecosystem services.Sparing strategies were best when the services provided by both old‐growth and early seral (young) forests were prioritized, but at a cost to species associated with mid‐seral stages, which benefitted most from Triad and sharing strategies. Therefore, sparing provides the greatest net benefit, particularly given that old‐growth‐associated species and ecosystem services are currently of the greatest conservation concern.Synthesis and applications. We found that maximizing multiple elements of biodiversity and ecosystem services simultaneously with a single management strategy was elusive. The strategy that maximized each service and species varied greatly by both the service and the level of timber production. Fortunately, a diversity of management options can produce the same wood supply, providing ample decision space for establishing priorities and evaluating trade‐offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Height-diameter models are fundamental for the inventory of timber, biomass and carbon. Located in the central region of Mexico, Abies religiosa is a conifer with high timber value that lacks models to estimate its height as a function of diameter. The objective of this study was to determine a local height-diameter model for A. religiosa trees under a mixed-effects model approach in the region of Tlaxco, Tlaxcala, Mexico. The first step consisted in evaluating the quality of fit of three growth models and one power model. We used height-diameter data of 1,539 trees measured in 197 circular plots of 1,000 m². The selected model was the Weibull, which was adjusted in a second step under the mixed-effects modelling approach. Our results showed that the most accurate predictive capacity was obtained when using the sub-basin covariate as a clustering factor and the random effect in the parameter corresponding to the asymptote. Under this approach, the goodness of fit of the model was superior to the traditional one adjusted by nonlinear least square. Comparatively the gains in fit statistics R², RSME and AIC were of 12.19 %, 47.99 % and 8.46 %, respectively. The proposed model is robust, reliable, and biologically coherent for its operational application in the forest management of A. religiosa in the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Austria and Japan are considered to be forest-rich nations with a long forestry tradition. Currently, mutual consultations of forestry experts or visits of Japanese forestry experts to trade fairs such as Austrofoma are very popular. However, the starting point of this international exchange of forest knowledge has hardly been analysed in the discourse on forest history. Using the methodology of knowledge circulation and historical biographical research, this gap can be closed by attempting to identify and examine early milestones of the exchange. The exchange on forestry topics between Austria and Japan began as early as the 1860s and -70s. Important historical events such as the Imperial East Asia Expedition of 1868 and the World's Fair in Vienna in 1873 represent central milestones. These enabled the emergence of personal knowledge networks, starting with Wilhelm Exner and Gustav Marchet as well as Tsunetami Sano and Dohei Ôgata as key persons. Knowledge about forestry and forest science as well as the timber industry was mutually shared e.g. by visiting the forestry section of the world fair or attending forestry lectures. In Japan, this initially had an influence on the reform of the forest administration and the emergence of the first forestry associations until the beginning of the 1880s. After this, Austrian influence waned and the focus of Japan increasingly shifted to German forestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using timber from multifunctional forests for energy production can be economically viable and environmentally friendly when it is consistent with the principles of sustainable management; otherwise, it could be harmful from both an ecological and commercial point of view. The objective of this paper was to present the overall balance of timber biomass from felled trees in multifunctional forests and assess what kind and how much of this biomass can be used for energy purposes. The research material consisted of data on forest resources and the volume of timber removal in Polish State Forests in 2016–2020. The biomass of branches and stumps of felled trees was determined using biomass expansion factors (BEFs). The results obtained in this study indicated that industrial timber, energy wood, and biomass left in the forest as a source of deadwood are 67%, 20%, and 13% of the total woody biomass, respectively. The Polish State Forest's potential for energy wood is estimated at 6.18 million tonnes of biomass annually. Total available energy produced from woody biomass amounted to 104.8 PJ y−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous people, who are often economically, socially, and culturally dependent on forests, represent important stakeholders in forest management. Due to high costs, indigenous communities partner with external institutions to harvest timber, often resulting in forest degradation within their territories, internal and external conflicts, and disinterest in starting new timber management projects. Using a standardized methodology to investigate the outcomes of previous community forestry projects presents an opportunity to better understand and potentially resolve these issues. Hence, we conducted research in the Sinchi Roca I native community in Peru. Our objectives were (1) to describe the process of timber harvest, (2) to analyze gender differences in local perceptions of timber management, and (3) to evaluate the outcomes of the timber activity, applying socioeconomic criteria and indicators. Data collection included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and intra-household surveys. We found that locals partnered with a company for timber harvesting, which led to a sanction from the Peruvian government. Timber harvesting was therefore negatively perceived in the community, with 83.75% of survey respondents dissatisfied with the activity and 88.75% reporting internal and external conflicts due to the presence of the company. Moreover, women did not have a major role in timber harvesting, nor did they actively participate in planning meetings. Results suggest that improving future timber management projects in indigenous communities requires that projects be adapted to local realities and encourage local participation, including training for locals in governance, administration of documents, and negotiations with external stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although A. angustifolia is currently economically unimportant, the worldwide trend of conservation through the sustainable use of natural resources together with recent results of genetic breeding are delivering promising perspectives for a new wave of plantations. This study aimed to determine optimal pruning intensity by evaluating the diameter and height growth of A. angustifolia trees. Pruning quality in terms of occlusion and defect-core size were also investigated. At the age of 6 years, the pruning experiment was started by conducting six different pruning intensities, named after the number of whorls left after pruning (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8), as well as unpruned (U) trees as a control. From the results obtained in the present study, it was concluded that pruning intensity had a significant effect on the growth of young A. angustifolia trees. Diameter was more affected than height growth. Pruning A. angustifolia trees for knotty-free timber production must be conducted keeping 8 whorls after the intervention if no negative effect in current annual increment in diameter is to be observed. A defect core of 15 cm seems to be a feasible target for the species regarding optimal pruning intensity to avoid losses in diameter growth. This is strongly dependent on a fast occlusion process, which, in turn, is a result of a careful pruning technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of non‐commodity ecosystem services provided by forests is widely recognized, but intensive forest management practices are increasing, with uncertain consequences for a multitude of these services. Quantitative relationships among biodiversity conservation, timber production and other ecosystem services remain poorly understood, especially during the early‐successional period of intensively managed forestlands.We manipulated management intensity in regenerating forest plantations to test the prediction that treatments aimed at maximizing timber production decrease biodiversity conservation and non‐timber services. We measured species richness of 3 taxonomic groups and 13 proxies for provisioning, cultural and regulating services within stands randomly assigned to one of the three herbicide application intensities or an untreated control.Herbicides increased allocation of net primary production to crop trees, increasing projected timber volume and revenues at 40‐ and 60‐year harvest ages. Commonly used herbicide prescriptions reduced culturally valued plants by 71%, wild‐ungulate forage by 41%, avian richness by 20% and pollinator floral resources by 42%, the latter being associated with 38% fewer pollinator species. However, agriculturally valued bumblebees, pollination of blueberries, avian‐mediated arthropod control, wild ungulate observations and regulation services tied to forest productivity appeared unaffected by increasing management intensity and timber production.Species richness and flora‐provided services in young forest plantations exhibited strong trade‐offs with projected timber production, whereas post‐treatment vegetation regeneration and site‐level variation likely maintained a range of other services. Although vegetation recovery is important for supporting wildlife and some ecosystem services on industrial forestlands, it is unlikely that any single prescription can optimize both timber and non‐timber benefits to society across managed forest landscapes. Instead, producing different services in discrete portions of the landscape may be necessary.Synthesis and applications. We tested the effects of intensive forest management via herbicides on ecosystem services and found that biodiversity responses and services from early‐successional vegetation trade‐off against timber production. A number of services appeared to be compatible with timber production, although no single prescription optimized the full range of services. Stand‐level biodiversity conservation and a variety of services could potentially be provided by treatment skips and less‐intensive management on productive sites, although it is unlikely that all services can be optimized without landscape‐level planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plantation forestry in southern Brazil demands additional timber species to a higher market differentiation by providing high quality timber and exploitation of market niches. Cupressus lusitanica has long been recognized for this purpose but, until now, it was not properly region-wide quantified in terms of growth and yield. The present study delivers the lacking quantitative approach, which may encourage the commercial use of the species. With this study it was aimed at collecting and processing quantitative data from all known C. lusitanica stands in southern Brazil. Inventories were carried out (60 ha, 6-39 years of age) in order to model the development of dominant height (h100), basal area, volume and dominant diameter (d100). Dominant height was the basis for site quality evaluation, delivering site index curves, which, together with the commercial volume of the stands, allowed yield modelling. A wide amplitude of dominant height growth was detected (10-30 m at 20 years), indicating a great site quality variation. At age of 20 years, commercial volumes of 110 and 620 m³ ha-1 were observed for site indexes of 14 and 26, respectively, equivalent to a maximum of 6-31 m³ ha-1 year-1 at ages between 16-18 years. Results demonstrated in a robust manner that C. lusitanica has a high potential for cultivation in southern Brazil. Thus, offering the opportunity of market differentiation by promoting market niches whose demands timber for special solid end-uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compiled and presented a dataset for all timber species reported in the Amazon region from all nine South American Amazonian countries. This was based on official information from every country, as well as from two substantial scientific references. We verified the standard taxonomic names from each individual source, using the Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (TNRS) and considered all Amazonian tree species with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥10 cm. We also obtained estimates of the current population size for most species from a published approach based on data from 1900 tree inventory plots (1‐ha each) distributed across the Amazon region and part from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network (ATDN). We then identified the hyperdominant timber species. In addition, we overlapped our timber species list with data for species that are used for commercial purposes, according to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) taxa assessment and Red List categories. Finally, we also included IUCN Red List categories based on combined deforestation, and climate change scenarios for these species. Our final Amazonian timber species dataset contains 1112 unique species records, which belong to 337 genera and 72 families from the lowland Amazonian rainforest, with associated information related to population, conservation, and trade status of each species. The authors of this research expect that the information provided will be useful to strengthen the public forestry policies of the Amazon countries, inform ecological studies, as well for forest management purposes. The data are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest-grassland ecotones are a mosaic of grassland, savanna, and upland forest. As such, landowners may have opportunities to choose to manage their lands for multiple objectives. We estimated the economic returns from managing forest and rangeland in southeastern Oklahoma, USA to produce different combinations of timber, cattle forage, and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) browse for a 40-year period. We further conducted a survey to understand landowner perceptions of obstacles to adopting active management that involve timber harvest and prescribed fire. The highest net return was obtained from the treatment with harvested timber that was burned every four years (uneven-aged woodland/forest) because it had the greatest gross return from a combination of timber (46%), cattle forage (42%), and deer browse (11%). The return from this treatment was greater than that for managed for timber only (closed-canopy forest) or prioritizing cattle and deer (savanna). Survey results suggested that landowners were aware of the benefits of active management but that the majority (66%) considered cost a major obstacle in the management of their forest or rangeland. In particular, women forestland owners and older landowners considered cost an obstacle. Our findings advocate integrated timber, cattle, and deer management as the best economic strategy within the forest-grassland ecotone and for targeted outreach and landowner education related to the benefits of active management. • Treatment burned every four years provided the highest economic returns. • Annualized values were highest from cattle forage. • The cost was identified as the primary obstacle to active management. • Landowners having a higher proportion of rangelands were less concerned about costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branch development is related to the formation of wood knots and affects timber quality and future market value of plantations and native forests alike. This study provides a theoretical basis and reference for knot-free timber production in a Mytilaria laosensis plantation. The branch diameter, length, angle, status (alive or dead), azimuth, and branch height under 12 m were measured for 60 dominant or co-dominant trees in response to five planting density treatments (625, 833, 1111, 1667, and 2500 stems ha-1). With increasing planting density from 625 to 2500 stems ha-1, the mean branch diameter and branch length decreased by 7.09% and 8.70% respectively. Dead and live branch angle decreased by 10.54% and 9.66% respectively, while number of living branches increased by 31.67% from 625 to 2500 stems ha-1. Analyzing the spatial distribution using branch azimuth, we discovered that branches pointing north were more abundant and had larger diameter, larger branch length, and higher branch angle than branches pointing south. Branch diameter, length, and number were positively related to the relative branch height. Our results underline that increasing the planting density from 625 to 2500 stems ha-1 considerably affect branch growth. Thus, optimizing planting density when establishing Mytilaria laosensis plantations according to the forest management targets and future pruning can improve the timber quality and future value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The site index is the main estimate for evaluating the productivity of a forest, as it makes it easy to classify stands according to their productive potential. The objective of the present work was to determine the productivity of Pinus pseudostrobus var. oaxacana through the guide curve method, by adjusting different forest growth models. The Michailoff model statistically presented the best fit. However, the Prodan model better represents the growth pattern of Pinus pseudostrobus var. oaxacana, although statistically the models are similar, showing high significance in the relationship between growth in height and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research study is to find association or links between poor forest governance and illegality. The research area comprised three union councils i.e. Pir Khail, Agra and Totai of Tehsil Batkhela, District Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A sample size of 357 respondents was proportionally allocated to the mentioned three union councils of the study area and selected by simple random sampling technique. Perception of the respondents regarding illegality in forest management (independent variable) and forest governance (dependent variable) were measured on three level likert scale. Chi-square test was applied to test the association between the study variables. The results show that poor forest governance had highly significant association with people cut trees by legal permits (P=0.000), due to illegal forest use the environmental services are greatly reduced (P=0.000), people are illegally occupying forest land (P=0.000), implementation of forest law is not same for all (P=0.000), timber permits are issued illegally to rich and powerful (P=0.000), due to illegality in forest management the forest management is not sustainable (P=0.000) and forest are cut without permission (P=0.000). Bringing forest department out of political influence and fair implementation of rule of law were the main study recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of tropical forests is recognized as one of the most important challenges for forestry, ecology and politics. Besides strict protection, the sustainable management of natural forests should be enhanced as a key part of the foundation for the maintenance of tropical rain forest ecosystems. Due to methodological reasons it has been complicated to attain reliable growth data to plan sustainable felling cycles and rotation periods. Tree ring analyses enable the estimation of growth rates over the entire life span of trees and their age as well as giving hints from forest dynamics in previous centuries. For tree ring analysis, stem disk samples were taken from three important commercial tree species (Cariniana micrantha, Caryocar villosum and Manilkara huberi) in the upland (terra firme) forests of the Precious Woods Amazon logging company near Itacoatiara, Brazil. Based on radiocarbon estimates of individual growth zones, the annual nature of tree rings was proven for the three species. Tree rings were measured and the results used together with height estimates to model diameter, height and volume growth. The age of the eldest tree, a C. micrantha, was 585 yrs with 165 cm in diameter. The species’ diameter increments range from 0.20±0.12 cm yr-1 to 0.29±0.08 cm yr-1. At first sight, this is considerably lower than increments reported from other Amazonian or African timber species. Considering the respective wood density there is no significant difference in growth performance of dominant timber species across continents. The interpretation of lifetime tree ring curves indicate differences in shadow tolerance among species, the persistence of individuals in the understory for up to 150 years and natural stand dynamics without major disturbances. Management criteria should be adapted for the measured growth rates as they differed considerably from the Brazilian standards fixed by laws (felling cycle of 25–35 years and a common minimum logging diameter of 50 cm). Felling cycles should be increased to 32–51 years and minimum logging diameters to 63–123 cm depending on the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the optimal rotation period was a crucial component of forest sustainable management strategies, especially under climate change. This paper had two objectives: (1) to determine the economic benefits and optimal rotation periods for timber production when coupled to carbon sequestration, as predicted by time series prediction models for Pinus tabulaeformis plantations in China; and (2) to evaluate how different carbon prices and interest rates affected optimal rotation periods using the forest land expectation value. The results suggested that time series prediction models were valuable for estimating timber volumes and carbon sequestrations based on surveys of different-aged stands. Importantly, since integrating carbon sequestrations into timber production benefits did not increase optimal rotation periods, this should promote P. tabulaeformis plantation management. In the sensitivity analysis, a higher carbon price increased the profitability of carbon sequestration and timber production, but not optimal rotation periods, though they were reduced under higher interest rates. In conclusion, incorporating both timber production and carbon sequestration benefits would sharply increase forest-based revenues, while realizing the carbon sequestration potential of P. tabulaeformis plantations. This approach was clearly useful to the development of reforestation/afforestation projects trying to mitigate climate change and also provided a theoretical basis for sustainable forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts between biodiversity conservation and resource production can be mitigated by multi-objective management planning. Optimizing management for multiple objectives over larger land areas likely entails trading off the practicability of the process against the goodness of the solution. It is therefore worthwhile to resolve how large areas are required as management planning regions to reconcile conflicting objectives as effectively as possible. We aimed to reveal how the extent of forestry planning regions impacts the potential to mitigate a forestry-conservation conflict in Finland, represented as a trade-off between harvest income and deadwood availability. We used forecasted data from a forest simulator, a hierarchy of forestry planning regions, and an optimization model to explore the production possibility frontier between harvest income and deadwood. We compared the overall outcomes when management was optimized within the different-sized planning regions in terms of the two objectives, the spatial variation of deadwood, and the optimal combinations of management regimes. Increasing the size of the planning regions did produce higher simultaneous levels of the two objectives, but the differences were most often of the magnitude of only a few percentages. The differences among the scales were minor also in terms of the spatial variation in deadwood availability and in the optimal management combinations. The conflict between timber harvesting and deadwood availability is only marginally easier to mitigate at large spatial scales than at small forest ownership scales. However, regardless of the spatial scale of planning, the achievable solutions may not be good enough to safeguard deadwood-dependent biodiversity without active deadwood creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest management strategies, reflecting the cognition and the demands of the human population on forests, have significant effects on the forest structures and functions. Nowadays, numerous forest management strategies have been introduced and implemented worldwide for a long time. However, our knowledge about the impacts of alternative management strategies on forest multipurpose management practices is still insufficient. Therefore, the overall goal of this study quantitatively assessed the impacts of four alternative forest management strategies on forest timber and carbon values in a large forest area in northeast China, as an example. Four alternative forest management strategies: no intervention management (NIM), classical timber management (CTM), multi-purpose management (MPM), and spatial-constraints management (SCM), in conjunction with different management objectives and regulations, were quantitative assessed using optimization methods. The results of numerical analysis showed that implementing eco-friendly forest management strategies such as imposed in MPM and SCM strategies may be economic inefficiencies, mainly due to significant decreases of the joint benefits from forest timber and carbon values (approximately $18.75 and $22.36 million per year) have been observed under the current carbon trading market of China (namely $20 per ton of carbon) when the ecological- and spatial-oriented constraints were further integrated into the typical CTM strategy. However, both MPM and SCM strategies were quite meaningful for the restoration of forest resources in northeast China, in which an additional of 13.6 and 16.2 thousand tons of carbon were sequestrated during the 50 years simulated horizon. Therefore, forest decision makers should evaluate the potential effects carefully prior to altering their forest management strategy in practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Criteria and indicator (C&I) frameworks are frequently used for assessing sustainable forest management. Despite their suitability to assess performance, less attention is given to translating them into strategic forest management planning processes and practices that are of cross-cultural compatibility. Such compatibility is particularly relevant in landscape-level plans that involve Indigenous communities, or multiple groups with various interests. Our study addresses this gap by developing targets and compatible practices that can complement C&I suitable for integrating Indigenous forest management goals and timber production interests. The process for developing C&I is informed by values expressed by four Indigenous communities in central British Columbia (BC) through close revision of traditional use studies, land use plans developed by communities, one focus group discussion, and validation of the results by community representatives. The set of targets and compatible forest management practices we propose are based on a precautionary approach and a synthesis of technical studies conducted in BC. The outcomes are suited to inform both stand- and landscape-level forest management planning and can be considered a reference system to monitor change and facilitate the resolution of multiple interests on the land, reconciling holistic Indigenous values and timber production. Highlights • Indigenous C&I can improve forest management and help transcend cultural barriers • Managing for Indigenous values allows to combine production + conservation targets • C&I are reference system to monitor change and facilitate multiple interests • Targets and compatible forest practices complement criteria and indicators frameworks [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most significant European forest-related strategies highlight the importance of multifunctional forests for human wellbeing, due to the provision of a wide range of goods and services. However, managing competing aims, such as timber production, economic drivers and biodiversity conservation is often difficult for practitioners. In order to assess the loss and gain of ecosystem services caused by forestry, trade-off evaluation has been increasingly used to aid decision-making. In this study, four silvicultural scenarios are simulated using the Marteloscope approach to evaluate the trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and timber production. Tree-related Microhabitats (TreMs) are used as a proxy to evaluate forest habitat value, while timber production is assessed by the number of harvested trees, biomass removal and economic income. This study takes an innovative approach by investigating TreMs using the Marteloscope in mixed Mediterranean forest. The main findings from this paper confirm that tree-related microhabitats can be considered ecological indicators effective in identifying important habitat trees, to assess forest habitat value and support tree marking for thinning operations and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple and direct method to provide reliable approximations of the net present value (NPV) and the perpetual value (PV) of sustainable timber harvests from a monospecific uneven-aged forest based on dimensionless numbers. In addition, two new dimensionless numbers ρNPV and ρPV are introduced. These use the NPV or PV derived from the sale of timber throughout a harvest cycle, plus the final stocking value (as numerator), and the fair value of standing timber under IAS 41 (as denominator). They can be interpreted as economic performance indicators for forest management, inspired by the return on assets accounting concept, showing how profitable the forest is, relative to its total value, with sustainability and stability criteria. Those approximations to the variables NPV, PV, ρNPV and ρPV, were obtained under conditions of stable equilibrium from a matrix model. In order to exemplify and test the results, the model used data from uneven-aged managed Pinus nigra stands, considering three levels of tree diameter growth, six levels of basal area and 33 levels of recruitment, creating a total of 594 planning scenarios. Furthermore, the study revealed the existence of strong linear correlations between those variables and a dimensionless number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Thai timber trade is under increasingly competitive pressure given the international export commitments and simultaneous adherence to a sustainable forest management model, as required by legislation such as the European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade and the European Union timber regulation. Thailand, therefore, needs to build standards that can facilitate traceability in the timber trading system. Timber traceability provides assurance that a certain timber product has been manufactured from legal and sustainable sources. Auto-identification is becoming a common technology in product traceability, particularly the use of barcoding and radio-frequency identification (RFID), which have been used in various industries but is still rarely applied in the forest industry. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the possible application of a barcode and an RFID system in the Thai timber industry and to identify the most favourable technology for traceability. The results indicate that RFID is a more preferable identification method in terms of efficiency and user acceptance. However, the cost of an RFID tag should be reduced to 15 baht/tag or less. Barcodes are not suitable for timber products, at least in the context of the Thai timber industry, even though they are used for other purposes. RFID, on the other hand, provides several benefits throughout the whole supply chain compared with barcodes and other conventional identification systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesian small-scale forest holders are facing a dilemma due to the implementation of a mandatory national timber-legality verification scheme and an internationally popular forest certification scheme. The problems arise from limited financial, technical, and administrative information concerning the most preferred scheme and the “imperfection of such a scheme” for long-term business needs. Using the Forest Certification Assessment Guide (FCAG) this paper identifies the characteristics of four third-party forest certification schemes currently working in Indonesia, namely FSC, PEFC, LEI, and SVLK. An online questionnaire was used to survey a wide range of respondents about the future development of contested schemes and those preferred by small-scale forest holders. Our findings show that although FSC scheme obtained the highest score and is considered the best scheme according to the FCAG, small-scale forest holders prefer SVLK scheme, which had the lowest FCAG score because of its mandatory nature and available subsidies. Statements by the four schemes’ proponents, which delegitimize other schemes, reveal they are in competition especially in winning market acceptance and local adaptability. Finally, we suggest proponents enhance aspects where their schemes are lacking and contrive a comparable certification scheme in order to induce willingness to be certified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, inclusion of spatial considerations in forest operations management has attracted great attention of both researchers and practitioners. In the province of Quebec, Canada, forest product companies subcontract harvesting operations to contractors. One of the challenges faced by the harvesting teams relates to moving the harvesting machineries between harvest areas, which is usually very costly and time consuming. To facilitate these operations, we propose a planning support tool to group the harvest areas in a way that the spatial dispersion of the clusters is reduced. We employed the spectral clustering algorithm to generate many alternative clusters of a set of harvest areas based on their transportation distance from one another and their available timber volume. Afterwards, a set covering model is developed to choose the clusters corresponding to the least spatial dispersion and approximately equal volume of timber. The approach is tested in a real case in Quebec and the results of two versions of set covering model were compared and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest ecosystems play an important role in mitigating global climate change, and this role has recently been further reinforced by the Paris Agreement. However, our knowledge with respect to the trade-offs between timber production and carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems is still seriously deficient. Therefore, the overall goal of this study is to quantitatively analyze the effects of a set of economic and ecological constraints on the joint production capacity for forest timber and carbon by alternative forest management strategies for a large forest in northeastern China. The proposed forest planning models integrate four alternative forest management strategies, namely, the timber-oriented management strategy (TMS), the carbon-oriented management strategy (CMS), the multiobjective management strategy (MMS), and the resource-restricted management strategy (RMS). Four different planning scenarios for each strategy were further generated by successively adding one additional constraint, which mainly included the even-flow of timber production, the adjacent constraints of harvest activities, and the minimum targets of carbon sequestration, over a 50-year planning horizon. The results showed that increasing the prices of carbon resulted in positive quadratic polynomial total and carbon net present values (NPVs), positive logistic carbon sequestration and stocks, and negative logistic harvest of timber and its NPV for optimal forest management plans, in which the carbon price of $100 per ton was a significant threshold for balancing the harvest of timber and carbon sequestration. In addition to the CMS, our tested spatial and nonspatial constraints all showed significant effects on optimal forest management plans when a realistic carbon price (i.e., $20 ton −1 ) from the carbon trading market in China during 2014–2017 was employed, in which decreases of approximately 29.34% and 25.08% were observed for total NPV when twenty-percent deviations in harvest volume between any two consecutive periods were employed. Additionally, two periods of green-up constraints could further reduce the total NPV by approximately 17.87% and 15.73% for TMS and MMS, respectively, when compared with their base scenarios. However, increasing the minimum carbon target by one percent reduced the total NPV by approximately $29.44 per hectare per year when evaluated for RMS. Our optimization framework not only can be replicated in other regions with similar characteristics but also contributes to the ongoing debate about the trade-offs between carbon sequestration and wood production benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical, physical and biological characteristics of forest soils are very important for foresters especially for assessing the capacity of forest sites for timber production. More and more foresters started to take into consideration the relation between the forest soils, the tree layer composition and the silvicultural measures in order to find the best combination from a sustainable development point of view. The aim of this study was to realize a description of the forest soils from Prahova County. The data for the timeframe 1988-2012 from the forest management plans of the eight state-owned forest districts within Prahova Forestry Directorate were taken into account. The most common forest soils across Prahova County were the eutric cambisol, the dystric cambisol and the luvisol. By taking into account the values of the pH and soil base saturation, two of the most relevant chemical characteristics of forest soils, we can say that the forest sites with eutric cambisols and luvisols provide the optimum conditions for the development of beech and Norway spruce. In order to conserve or to increase the chemical characteristics of the forest soils to an optimum level, future silvicultural measures should be focused on promoting the mixed stands, even if by doing this, the forests managers will have to face several challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the potential effects of management and harvesting intensity on the timber supply from Finnish forests in a changing climate and, consequently, the possibilities of meeting the increasing wood demand of the growing forest-based bioeconomy. The study employed data from the 11th National Forest Inventory of Finland. Plots located on forest land assigned to timber production were used to develop two even-flow harvesting scenarios with annual timber harvesting targets of 60 and 80 million m3. Calculations were done for a 90-year simulation period under the current and changing climates using recent-generation (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) global climate model projections under three representative concentration pathways forcing scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5). Intensified management used improved seed and seedling stock in artificial regeneration. It also used fertilization on subxeric pine-dominated and mesic spruce-dominated stands and ditch maintenance on 40% of drained peatlands, when the growing stock characteristics fulfilled a set of predetermined criteria. Our results showed that, with intensified management, it is possible to harvest 80 million m3·year−1 of timber under mild (RCP2.6) and moderate (RCP4.5) climate change without decreasing the growing stock volume at the country level during the 90-year simulation period. This is not possible under severe climate change (RCP8.5) due to the rapid decline in forest growth, particularly in the south after about 30 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its widespread recognition as a successful model of participatory forest management, the community forestry program in Nepal is often criticized for its protection-oriented emphasis. Recognizing the need for more active timber management, the government of Nepal recently adopted a scientific forest management (SFM) policy in the lowland tropical region. In this study, strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat analytical hierarchical process criteria were employed to understand stakeholder perceptions concerning SFM implementation in Nepal. The overall perception was prioritized in the order of strengths (35%), threats (28%), opportunities (22%), and weaknesses (16%). The study results suggest that there is agreement among stakeholders regarding the need for active management of forests in the tropical lowland region. However, the perceptions of academic researchers and non-government organization professionals differed from those of the other stakeholders in that those two groups were more concerned about potential corruption and uncertainties surrounding policy and legal issues. The findings suggest that the long-term success of SFM may depend on the ability of the government to develop a mechanism that is transparent and capable of ensuring equitable benefit sharing among stakeholders. While the stakeholder perception analysis performed in this study was focused on SFM implementation in Nepal, the results could have implications for other countries that practice the participatory model of forest governance as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research explores local perspectives of a recent and controversial shift in conservation and development strategies in the Brazilian Amazon whereby legal timber commercialization is being pioneered in select extractive reserves, which are a type of comanaged sustainable-use protected area. To understand how this initiative might affect well-being, we documented perceptions of reserve residents about a legal logging project and factors that influenced their decision to participate or not participate. Semistructured interviews (N = 64) were conducted with both male and female heads of household from June to August 2014. We tested the effect of household-level livelihood assets associated with material and relational well-being on project participation. Participating households were significantly less economically well-off and were more educated than nonparticipating households. Individual perceptions indicated that project supporters were motivated by income, whereas nonsupporters most frequently criticized the low price of timber. Both groups expressed concern about the potential environmental impacts of logging. By gender, supportive men were more motivated by financial aspects, whereas supportive women pointed to improved physical assets. Men opposed to the logging project highlighted governance issues, whereas nonsupportive women tended to express environmental concerns. Our study corroborates previously documented interests (and needs) of residents to develop alternative income-generating livelihood opportunities. Further, most interviewed residents expressed support for a more locally customized logging project, indicating that a lack of resident inclusion in project development generated much of the project controversy. Our study highlights both economic development and comanagement governance challenges of sustainable-use protected areas and how project interventions relate to well-being of forest residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woodlots outside forests play a significant role in diversifying household income, reducing poverty, supplying timber and fuel-wood, and regulating the local environment in many countries with low forest cover. This study aimed to develop a method for delineating the spatial footprint of woodlots outside forests and assessing their changes over time. The test site was located in the Jhalokati District of south-western Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated regions. Landsat images from 2010 were classified using a supervised method. Woodlots were extracted, converted to vector layers, and manually edited. The overall accuracy of the 2010 land cover map was 87%-89%. A change vector layer was generated by further updating of the vector layer by overlaying a 1989 Landsat image. The total coverage of woodlots in the district increased between 1989 and 2010, from 19,638 ha (27%) to 27,836 ha (39%). The study identified two primary reasons for changes in woodlot coverage: (i) woodlot expansion associated with the population growth and establishment of new households; and (ii) conversion of cropland to orchards because of economic reasons. The results will improve understanding of the spatial distribution of woodlot coverage in the study area and their dynamics over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing forest resources occurs under various sources of uncertainty. Depending on the management problem, this uncertainty may have a substantial impact on the quality of the solution. As our knowledge on the sources and magnitude of uncertainty improves, integrating this knowledge into the development of management plans becomes increasingly useful, as additional information can improve the decision-making process. This adjustment requires a fundamental shift in how planning problems are viewed: instead of interpreting risk management as a technique needed only for addressing problems with natural hazards, risk management should be an integral part of most planning problems. Managing risks can be linked to a variety of adaptive planning methods: to help mitigate risk, either plans should be revised as new information becomes available or the possibility of adaptation should be accounted for in preparing the plans. We conduct a brief examination of the key topics in risk management and highlight how risk management implies trade-offs. Several decision problems that incorporate risk management are analyzed, and alternative perspectives for the problem are suggested to better address risk management issues. We then provide a decision framework for considering how to integrate risk management practices into the forest planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding maternity roost requirements is fundamental to guide timber production forest management given such roosts are vital to sustain bat populations. We tracked lactating females of three tree cavity-roosting species: Gould's long-eared bat (Nyctophilus gouldi) (n = 7), eastern broad-nosed bat (Scotorepens orion) (n = 6) and little forest bat (Vespadelus vulturnus) (n = 25), over five weeks in young (predominately <5 years old) forest regenerating from heavy timber harvest in southeast Australia. We aimed to investigate interspecific maternity roost selection in a regenerating landscape and by doing so, increase our understanding of the three species’ roost ecology. Sixteen V. vulturnus, 15 N. gouldi and six S. orion unique maternity roost trees were located. Bats displayed a degree of maternity roost selection plasticity, however, interspecific differences were found. Nyctophilus gouldi roosted selectively in retained riparian buffers, in trees of high senescence and switched roosts every day. Vespadelus vulturnus roosted in logged areas and displayed high roost site fidelity, with one roost used for 33 consecutive days. Scotorepens orion selected large live trees of low senescence. The preliminary data for this species suggests that females roost most days in ‘primary’ roosts but display a roost switching behaviour conforming to the fission-fusion model. Dead trees were identified to be important for both N. gouldi and V. vulturnus. Historical and recent logging at our study area drastically reduced cavity-bearing tree density to 1.4 trees per hectare in the logging zones (outside of exclusion areas), potentially limiting local populations of tree cavity-roosting bats and other cavity-dependent wildlife. Our data demonstrate that forest management must consider a range of maternity roost requirements to accommodate differences among species and highlight the importance of exclusion areas for roost habitat. We propose that an expanded ‘retention forestry’ approach should be implemented in logged areas that includes in-perpetuity forest patch retention to increase habitat complexity and continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to prevent irreversible impacts of climate change on the biosphere it is imperative to phase out the use of fossil fuels. Consequently, the provisioning of renewable resources such as timber and biomass from forests is an ecosystem service of increasing importance. However, risk factors such as changing disturbance regimes are challenging the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services, and are thus a key concern in forest management. We here used simulation modeling to study different risk management strategies in the context of timber production under changing climate and disturbance regimes, focusing on a 8127 ha forest landscape in the Northern Front Range of the Alps in Austria. We show that under a continuation of historical management, disturbances from wind and bark beetles increase by +39.5% on average over 200 years in response to future climate change. Promoting mixed forests and climate-adapted tree species as well as increasing management intensity effectively reduced future disturbance risk. Analyzing the spatial patterns of disturbance on the landscape, we found a highly uneven distribution of risk among stands (Gini coefficients up to 0.466), but also a spatially variable effectiveness of silvicultural risk reduction measures. This spatial variability in the contribution to and control of risk can be used to inform disturbance management: Stands which have a high leverage on overall risk and for which risks can effectively be reduced (24.4% of the stands in our simulations) should be a priority for risk mitigation measures. In contrast, management should embrace natural disturbances for their beneficial effects on biodiversity in areas which neither contribute strongly to landscape-scale risk nor respond positively to risk mitigation measures (16.9% of stands). We here illustrate how spatial heterogeneity in forest landscapes can be harnessed to address both positive and negative effects of changing natural disturbance regimes in ecosystem management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) intercropping is a novel forest management practice for biomass production intended to generate cellulosic feedstocks within intensively managed loblolly pine‐dominated landscapes. These pine plantations are important for early‐successional bird species, as short rotation times continually maintain early‐successional habitat. We tested the efficacy of using community models compared to individual surrogate species models in understanding influences on nest survival. We analysed nest data to test for differences in habitat use for 14 bird species in plots managed for switchgrass intercropping and controls within loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations in Mississippi, USA. We adapted hierarchical models using hyper‐parameters to incorporate information from both common and rare species to understand community‐level nest survival. This approach incorporates rare species that are often discarded due to low sample sizes, but can inform community‐level demographic parameter estimates. We illustrate use of this approach in generating both species‐level and community‐wide estimates of daily survival rates for songbird nests. We were able to include rare species with low sample size (minimum n = 5) to inform a hyper‐prior, allowing us to estimate effects of covariates on daily survival at the community level, then compare this with a single‐species approach using surrogate species. Using single‐species models, we were unable to generate estimates below a sample size of 21 nests per species. Community model species‐level survival and parameter estimates were similar to those generated by five single‐species models, with improved precision in community model parameters. Covariates of nest placement indicated that switchgrass at the nest site (<4 m) reduced daily nest survival, although intercropping at the forest stand level increased daily nest survival. Synthesis and applications. Community models represent a viable method for estimating community nest survival rates and effects of covariates while incorporating limited data for rarely detected species. Intercropping switchgrass in loblolly pine plantations slightly increased daily nest survival at the research plot scale (0.1 km2), although at a local scale (50 m2) switchgrass negatively influenced nest survival. A likely explanation is intercropping shifted community composition, favouring species with greater disturbance tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of access to modern energy, such as electricity, liquid fuels and gas, limits socio-economic development in developing countries, particularly in rural communities. Primary forest residues are potential bioresources for producing modern forms of energy beyond traditional biomass, which can be supplied to economic activities in the rural communities. However, variations in production of primary forest residues over time exacerbate sustainability challenges for developing sustainable bioenergy systems based on the residues supply chains integrated with timber production. A model is presented showing dynamics of primary forest residues, as bioenergy feedstocks, stemming from forest plantations management, harvesting systems, and stakeholder influence and interest along the bioenergy production value chain. Using a case study of the Viphya forest plantations established for timber production in Malawi, management and harvesting systems, sawmilling technologies, residues production and post harvesting management were assessed and key sustainability challenges along the residues supply chain have been identified. The decreasing stocks of mature stand over time results from over-exploitation for timber production, delayed replanting, high death rate of replanted trees and underinvestment in plantations management. An integrated framework for forest management and bioenergy production can promote sustainable harvesting of mature stand for timber and primary forest residues production through synchronization of harvesting and replanting of timber and establishment of thresholds for harvesting timber to generate residues at a rate that can match with the scale and rate of the bioenergy conversion. The framework can promote stability, availability and reliability of timber and primary forest residues supply for bioenergy production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the economic impact on sawn timber market in Peninsular Malaysia under the scenarios of sustainable forest management (SFM) practices. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach test was employed using time-series data from 1980 to 2015, comprising of five scenarios: (1) 24% reduction in harvested area, (2) 25% increase of the domestic price of sawn timber, (3) 47% increase in input cost, (4) incorporated with scenarios (1), (2) & (3) and (5) 10% increase in contribution of forestry and harvesting activities to total gross domestic products (CGDP). The result revealed that the supply and export of sawn timber had a positive impact on SFM. Even though domestic demand was affected by the increase of prices, the value could be used to compensate for the loss volume of timber. These findings are important to policymakers in order for them to reach a benchmark regarding an appropriate method to sustain forest resources. Based on the scenarios imposed under SFM practices, it was found that it is possible to boost sawn timber industry without compromising efforts to sustain and conserve forest resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical forest management often focuses on a few high-value timber species because they are thought to be the most vulnerable in logged forests. However, other tree species may be vulnerable to secondary effects of logging, like loss of vertebrate dispersers. We examined vulnerability of tree species to loss of vertebrate dispersers in Mabira, a heavily disturbed tropical rainforest in Uganda. Fruit characteristics and shade tolerance regimes of 269 tree species were compiled. Stem densities of tree species producing fruits of various sizes and having different shade tolerance regimes were computed for Mabira and compared with densities of conspecifics in Budongo, a less disturbed forest with similar floral composition. Seventy per cent of tree species in Mabira are animal-dispersed, of which 10% are large-fruited light demanders. These species are the most vulnerable because they rarely recruit beneath adult conspecifics and are exclusively dispersed by large vertebrates, also vulnerable in heavily disturbed forests. Comparison of densities between Mabira and Budongo showed that large-fruited light demanders had a lower density in Mabira. Other categories of tree species had similar densities in both forests. It is plausible that the low density of large-fruited light demanders is due to limited recruitment caused by dispersal limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions How do species richness and composition of fern assemblages change with elevation and, within elevational belts, in differently impacted forest habitats? Is there a relationship between fern assemblages and microclimate, both along gradients of elevation and disturbance? Which species are most sensitive to habitat disturbance and microclimatic changes? Location From sea level close to the Gulf of Mexico 81 km away in a direct line on the eastern slopes of the Cofre de Perote at 3500 m, central Veracruz, Mexico. Methods We studied the richness and composition of fern assemblages in 120 study plots at eight elevations from 20-3500 m in three forest types: natural forest ( NF), disturbed forest ( DF) subjected to timber extraction and grazing, and secondary forest ( SF) regrown after total clearance 15-20 yr ago. In addition, we measured microclimatic conditions in the three forest types at five elevations over a year. Results Fern richness peaked in humid montane forests at mid-elevations and was low in the drier habitats at the ends of the gradient. Humid montane forests were most sensitive to disturbance, showing increases in mean annual temperatures by about 1 °C and reduction in relative air humidity by about 20% in DF and SF compared to NF. This was together with a reduction in fern species richness of 5-60% and marked changes in species composition. In contrast, drought-deciduous forests at low elevations and coniferous forests at high elevations already had low humidity and high light intensity in NF and were less affected by human impact: their microclimatic conditions and fern assemblages did not change markedly in DF and SF. Conclusions The conservation of much of the humidity-dependent biota (ferns and presumably also groups such as bryophytes and amphibians) in humid montane forests depends on the protection of natural fragments without human disturbance. In contrast, the naturally open forests at the ends of the gradient can be subjected to some exploitation while conserving much of their fern flora as long as a general forest structure is maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest worldwide regarding managing plantation forests in a manner that maintains or improves timber production, enhances ecosystem services, and promotes long-term sustainability of forest resources. We selected the Gan River Basin, the largest catchment of Poyang Lake and a region with a typical plantation distribution in South China, as the study region. We evaluated and mapped four important forest ecosystem services, including wood volume, carbon storage, water yield, and soil retention at a 30 × 30 m resolution, then quantified their trade-offs and synergies at the county and subwatershed scales. We found that the wood volume and carbon storage services, as well as the soil retention and water yield, exhibited synergistic relationships. However, the carbon storage displayed a trade-off relationship with the water yield. Additionally, we compared the beneficial spatial characteristics among dominant species in the study region. The results showed that the Chinese fir forest and the pine forest exhibited lower overall benefits than natural forests including the broad-leaved forest and the bamboo forest. To propose a suitable management strategy for the study region, method of spatial cluster analysis was used based on the four eco-services at the subwatershed scale. The basin was divided into four management groups instead of treating the region as a homogenous management region. Finally, we proposed more specific and diverse management strategies to optimize forest benefits throughout the entire region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The jaguar Panthera onca requires large areas of relatively intact habitats containing adequate amounts of prey to survive. Since a substantial portion of jaguar range occurs outside of strict protected areas, there is a need for economic incentives for habitat conservation, which carefully managed selective logging can provide. Forest Stewardship Council and Pan European Forest Council certifications intended to regulate wood extraction to maintain the ecological functions of forests require evidence of biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. We draw on twelve surveys across four countries and a range of biomes to present evidence that adequate logging management can maintain jaguar populations, but that they are at risk without efficient control of secondary impacts of access and hunting. Where resident, the presence of jaguars can serve as an indication that the ecological requirements of certified timber extraction are being met. We present a gradient of rigor for monitoring, recommending cost-effective options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilized an ecosystem model and life cycle assessment tool for studying carbon flows between the ecosystem, technosystem, and atmosphere for scenarios utilizing forest biomass (biosystem) against fossil fuel intensive materials (fossil system). The net climate impacts were studied for a Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stand over two consecutive rotation periods (2 × 80 years) in the boreal conditions in central Finland (62°N, 29°E). The effects of alternative forest management on the carbon dynamics in the biosystem were studied in comparison with the fossil system by using an unmanaged and baseline thinning regime. The results showed that the biosystem produced carbon benefits compared with the similar system with the use of fossil fuel intensive materials and energy. The unmanaged stand stored the highest amount of carbon and retained carbon the longest when solely the ecosystem was considered. Studying the ecosystem and the technosystem together, the biosystem was found effective in storing and increasing the residence of carbon with or without changing the life span of biomass-based products. We found that the increase of the life span of biomass-based products could reduce emissions up to 0.28 t CO2·ha−1·year−1 depending on the management regimes over the study period. The increased stocking regimes could increase negative net climate impact by 47% over the study period compared with the use of baseline thinning in the biosystem. The proper climate mitigation strategies should consider the benefits from forest management and forest biomass in storing carbon into both the ecosystem and technosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for wood as construction material, renewable source for energy and feedstock for chemicals is expected to increase. However, timber increments are currently only partly harvested in many European mountain regions, which may lead to supply shortages for local timber industries, decreases in forest resistance to disturbances and functioning as protection from gravitational hazards. Using an inventory-based forest simulator, we evaluated scenarios to increase wood mobilization in the 7105-km Swiss canton of Grisons for the period 2007-2106. Scenarios varied with respect to landscape-scale harvesting amounts and silvicultural strategies (low vs. high stand-scale treatment intensity) and accounted for regulations and incentives for protection forest management. With 50 and 100% increases of harvests, the current average growing stock of 319 m ha was simulated to be reduced by 12 and 33%, respectively, until 2106 in protection forests of Northern Grisons, where management is prioritized due to subsidies. Outside protection forests and in Southern Grisons, growing stock was simulated to continually increase, which led to divergent developments in forest structure in- and outside protection forests and in the Northern and Southern Grisons. The effect of silvicultural strategies on simulated forest structure was small compared to the effect of future harvesting levels. We discuss opportunities and threats of decreasing management activities outside protection forests and advocate for incentives to promote natural regeneration also outside protection forests to safeguard long-term forest stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]