Vom Forst zum Wald. Entwicklungstendenzen im naturnahen Waldbau | From a Production-Oriented Forest to a Multipurpose Forest. New Trends in Near-Natural Silviculture

Concepts of near-natural forestry are in great demand these days. Most German forest administrations and private forest enterprises attach great importance to being as «near-natural» as possible. This should allow them to make the most of biological rationalisation. The concept of near-natural forestry is widely accepted, especially by conservationists. However, it is much too early to analyse how successful near-natural forestry has been to date, and therefore to decide whether an era of genuine near-natural forest management has really begun. Despite wide-spread recognition, near-natural forestry is jeopardised by mechanised timber harvesting, and particularly by the large-timber harvester. The risk is that machines, which are currently just one element of the timber harvest will gain in importance and gradually become the decisive element. The forest would then be forced to meet the needs of machinery, not the other way round. Forests would consequently become so inhospitable that they would bear no resemblance to the sylvan image conjured up by potential visitors. This could mean taking a huge step backwards: from a near-natural forest to a forest dominated by machinery. The model of multipurpose forest management would become less viable, and the forest would become divided into areas for production, and separate areas for recreation and ecology. The consequences of technical intervention need to be carefully considered, if near-natural forestry is not to become a thing of the past.

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Impacts of Alternative Harvesting and Natural Disturbance Scenarios on Forest Biomass in the Superior National Forest, USA

Forests ◽

10.3390/f9080491 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 491 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Matthew Russell ◽

Stephanie Patton ◽

David Wilson ◽

Grant Domke ◽

Katie Frerker

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Forest Biomass ◽

Natural Disturbance ◽

Timber Harvest ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Volume Control ◽

National Forest ◽

Total Biomass ◽

Natural Disturbances ◽

Project Area

The amount of biomass stored in forest ecosystems is a result of past natural disturbances, forest management activities, and current structure and composition such as age class distributions. Although natural disturbances are projected to increase in their frequency and severity on a global scale in the future, forest management and timber harvesting decisions continue to be made at local scales, e.g., the ownership or stand level. This study simulated potential changes in natural disturbance regimes and their interaction with timber harvest goals across the Superior National Forest (SNF) in northeastern Minnesota, USA. Forest biomass stocks and stock changes were simulated for 120 years under three natural disturbance and four harvest scenarios. A volume control approach was used to estimate biomass availability across the SNF and a smaller project area within the SNF (Jeanette Project Area; JPA). Results indicate that under current harvest rates and assuming disturbances were twice that of normal levels resulted in reductions of 2.62 to 10.38% of forest biomass across the four primary forest types in the SNF and JPA, respectively. Under this scenario, total biomass stocks remained consistent after 50 years at current and 50% disturbance rates, but biomass continued to decrease under a 200%-disturbance scenario through 120 years. In comparison, scenarios that assumed both harvest and disturbance were twice that of normal levels and resulted in reductions ranging from 14.18 to 29.85% of forest biomass. These results suggest that both natural disturbances and timber harvesting should be considered to understand their impacts to future forest structure and composition. The implications from simulations like these can provide managers with strategic approaches to determine the economic and ecological outcomes associated with timber harvesting and disturbances.

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The Impact of Timber Harvesting Guidelines and Timber Sale Attributes on Stumpage Bidding Behavior

Northern Journal of Applied Forestry ◽

10.1093/njaf/22.4.275 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 275-280 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael A. Kilgore ◽

Charles R. Blinn

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Physical Characteristics ◽

The Other ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Bidding Behavior ◽

Specific Factors ◽

Timber Sale ◽

The Cost ◽

The Impact

Abstract Twenty-seven public timber tracts were auctioned in Minnesota where bidders were required to submit two sealed bids for a tract–one with and the other without the use of timber harvesting guidelines. After the auctions, bidders were mailed a questionnaire requesting information about their logging business, the sources of information consulted in developing their bids, and perceptions of how various tract- and sale-specific factors and guidelines influenced their bidding behavior. The majority of responding timber harvesters did not consult any special sources and only one-half visited the tract before submitting their bids. Although bidding behavior was influenced by several factors, a tract's physical characteristics (e.g., volume of merchantable timber) had a greater influence on their bidding behavior than did any guidelines. Of the guidelines evaluated, those that required leaving merchantable trees (e.g., for wildlife or visual purposes) were reported to have the greatest influence on stumpage bids. Sale-specific variables (e.g., timber harvester's need for timber) had only a minimal to moderate influence on bidding behavior. The findings suggest that timber sale design can help mitigate the cost associated with implementing forest management guidelines.North. J. Appl. For. 22(4):275–280.

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Improving Economic Management Decisions in Forestry with the SorSim Assortment Model

Croatian journal of forest engineering ◽

10.5552/crojfe.2020.586 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 71-83

Author(s):

Renato Lemm ◽

Clemens Blattert ◽

Stefan Holm ◽

Leo Bont ◽

Oliver Thees

Keyword(s):

Optimal Allocation ◽

Timber Harvest ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Forest Stands ◽

Economic Management ◽

Practical Advantage ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Forest Enterprises ◽

Individual Trees

The sustainable supply of timber is one of the most important forest ecosystem services and a decisive factor determining the long-term profitability of forest enterprises. If timber production is to be economically viable, there must always be a way to analyse forest stands and trees felled for exploitation with regard to the wood assortments they contain. Only then can the expected timber yields, achieved by various silvicultural strategies or actions and different sorting options, be quantified with sufficient accuracy. The SorSim assortment simulator was developed for forest practitioners and forest scientists in Switzerland to realistically simulate the sorting of individual trees and entire forest stands based on defined specifications. SorSim has a simple user interface and comes in a number of different language versions (G, E, F). The software is implemented in Java, making it platform-independent. It can be downloaded for free at (https://www.wsl.ch/en/projects/sortimentsimulator-sorsim.html). This article provides an overview of how the simulator works and demonstrates its potential applications based on a practical and a scientific example. A particular practical advantage is that the composition of the assortments of the planned harvests can be estimated according to quantity and value. When used in strategic planning and especially in research, SorSim provides a basis for analysing either long-term developments in yields from forest stands or silvicultural treatment methods. Based on an even-aged and a selection forest stand, the scientific example shows how strongly the assessment of the advantageousness of two different silvicultural strategies depends on the time when the calculation was made (using historical and current assortment revenues and timber harvesting costs). In particular, the combination of SorSim with timber harvest productivity models enables differentiated forest economic insights. Various approaches for value-based optimisation in the sorting of individual trees and for the optimal allocation of harvesting activities to defined customer demands are currently being examined as further SorSim developments.

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Die Forstbetriebe im Kanton Aargau; von traditionellen Besitzstrukturen und dynamischen Forstbetrieben | Forest enterprises in the canton of Argovia:traditional owner structures and dynamic forest management

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2003.0249 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 154 (7) ◽

pp. 249-253

Author(s):

Robert Häfner

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Private Sector ◽

Structural Changes ◽

The Past ◽

Legal Structure ◽

Publicly Owned ◽

Forest Enterprises

Approximately 250 publicly owned forest districts in the canton of Argovia manage 80 per cent of the total forest of the canton divided between 91 forest enterprises. All excepting 8 of the latter have joined forces with one or more partners and independently regulated the size, form and legal structure of their co-operation. The small size of the owner structures in the canton of Argovia led to overlapping co-operation and mergers of enterprises very early on. Nevertheless, over the past ten years structural changes have accelerated; the number of enterprises with between 400 and 800 ha of forest and annual wood yields of between 4500 and 9000 m3 has more than doubled from 16 to 35 enterprises. In most cases cooperation is regulated by communal contracts but the socalled«interest alliances» (Zweckverbände) are possible as independent bodies under existing law. Using two examples we also present and discuss entrepreneurial, private sector solutions.

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Integrated spatial fire and forest management planning

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x10-151 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 40 (12) ◽

pp. 2370-2383 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Mauricio A. Acuna ◽

Cristian D. Palma ◽

Wenbin Cui ◽

David L. Martell ◽

Andres Weintraub

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Net Present Value ◽

Road Construction ◽

Timber Harvest ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Harvest Scheduling ◽

Fire Loss ◽

Management Planning ◽

Forest Management Planning ◽

Access Road

Forest management planners usually treat potential fire loss estimates as exogenous parameters in their timber production planning processes. When they do so, they do not account for the fact that forest access road construction, timber harvesting, and silvicultural activities can alter a landscape’s vegetation or fuel composition, and they ignore the possibility that such activities may influence future fire losses. We develop an integrated fire and forest management planning methodology that accounts for and exploits such interactions. Our methodology is based on fire occurrence, suppression, and spread models, a fire protection value model that identifies crucial stands, the harvesting of which can have a significant influence on the spread of fires across the landscape, and a spatially explicit timber harvest scheduling model. We illustrate its use by applying it to a forest management unit in the boreal forest region of the province of Alberta in western Canada. We found that for our study area, integrated fire – forest management planning based on our methodology could result in an 8.1% increase in net present value when compared with traditional planning in which fire loss is treated as an exogenous factor.

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Forstbetrieblicher Kennzahlenvergleich Deutschland – Österreich – Schweiz

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2016.0073 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 167 (2) ◽

pp. 73-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Patric Bürgi ◽

Walter Sekot ◽

Nils Ermisch ◽

Bernhard Pauli ◽

Bernhard Möhring ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Data Sets ◽

Enterprise Networks ◽

Labor Costs ◽

National Data ◽

Forest Road ◽

Forestry Sector ◽

Forest Enterprises ◽

Country Specific

Forest enterprise key figure comparison Germany – Austria – Switzerland The forest enterprise networks in the so-called DACH region (Germany [D], Austria [A] and Switzerland [CH]) have a long tradition going back to the 1950s. Due to different concepts and definitions, however, the national results are not directly comparable. Therefore, the aim of the DACH initiative is to enhance the comparability of national data sets and to draw conclusions for the forestry sector from the comparison of key figures. In order to achieve this, differences between country- specific indicator definitions were first identified and then offset as much as possible. A subsequent key figure analysis showed that certain forestry key figures of the DACH forest enterprise network can be made comparable, revealing the effects of the partially different conditions in the countries. The comparison of key figures over the years 2008 to 2013 shows that the German and Austrian forest enterprises achieved continuous profits in forest management. In contrast, the Swiss forest enterprises were in deficit despite extensive subsidies and compensations. This is partly due to the significantly higher expenses for timber harvesting, silviculture and forest road infrastructure, resulting in part from higher labor costs and in particular a much higher operational personnel density.

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Public Attitudes about Private Forest Management and Government Involvement in the Southeastern United States

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10090776 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 776 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kreye ◽

Rimsaite ◽

Adams

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Forest Management ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Strong Support ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Private Forest ◽

Regional Survey ◽

Southeastern Us ◽

Government Involvement

In the southern United States the country’s top wood-producing region, factors such as intergenerational land transfer and population spillover from urban areas have resulted in forestland conversion and reduced production of critical ecosystem services associated with forest systems (e.g., timber, clean water supply, wildlife habitat). Public attitudes, which drive forestland policy prescriptions, may also be evolving due to the way people experience and perceive forests (e.g., recreation), and think about the role of government in private forest decisions. These changes have significant implications for forestland management and the forest-based economy, both locally and globally. We present the results of a regional survey (n = 1669) of residents in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, which assessed attitudes toward timber harvesting and government involvement on private lands. We found significant public support for timber harvesting with a somewhat stronger focus on ecosystem maintenance compared to timber production, and strong support for policies that empower landowners (e.g., assistance programs) over regulatory strategies. We conclude that existing government policies and programs are failing to help landowners meet public demand for ecosystem service provision on private forest lands in the southeastern US. Public attitudes appear conducive to innovative policy strategies such as market-based solutions and nudges. Perceptions of forest health will likely be the metric the public and landowners will use in assessing the value of policy alternatives, in addition to economic impact. Public ignorance and indifference towards forest management also appear to be growing.

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Umberto Eco’s Encyclopedia vs. Porphyry’s Tree

Laval théologique et philosophique ◽

10.7202/038404ar ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 65 (2) ◽

pp. 301-320 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrei Cornea

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Language ◽

Thomas Aquinas ◽

The Other ◽

Accurate Description ◽

Pictorial Representation ◽

Wide Spread ◽

Umberto Eco ◽

The Past ◽

Other Hand

Abstract The paper questions the postmodern, wide-spread tendency to abusively reconstruct the meaning of some texts of the philosophers of the past, so that they may serve as allies or foes in our own contemporary ideological wars. The chosen example is an article by Umberto Eco, called “Anti-Porphyry”, and the parallel chapter, “Dictionary vs. Encyclopedia”, from his well-known book Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. According to Eco, the famous “Porphyry’s tree” is the pictorial representation of the so-called “strong thought”, which — so he believes — was being subverted from the outset in the benefit of the “weak thought” or “Encyclopedia thought” even in the works of some essentialist philosophers like Aristotle or St. Thomas Aquinas. On the other hand, Eco thinks he found in d’Alembert’s Discours préliminaire to the French Encyclopédie a forerunner of postmodern “weak thought”, which resembles the so-called 3rd type labyrinth or the “rhizome” described by G. Deleuze, and which is the opposite of the logic encapsulated in the “Porphyry tree”. The paper attempts to show that Eco distorted the ideas of the above-mentioned philosophers by dislodging them from their original metaphysical context and by manipulating some of the relevant texts. So, in Eco’s view, both Aquinas and d’Alembert anachronistically became forerunners of postmodernism. In fact, what Eco eventually got was less an accurate description of some philosophies of the past, than a historical-philosophical reconstruction rather abusively legitimizing his own ideas.

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Improving Communications to Increase Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowner (NIPF) Participation in Forest Certification Programs: A Case Study in Arkansas, USA

Forests ◽

10.3390/f13010086 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 86

Author(s):

Elena C. Rubino ◽

Nana Tian ◽

Matthew H. Pelkki

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Information Sources ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Forest Certification ◽

Private Forest ◽

Certification Programs ◽

Management Actions ◽

Nonindustrial Private Forest ◽

Nipf Landowners

Despite the socioeconomic and ecological significance of the 10.4 million acres of forestland owned by nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners across Arkansas (approximately 58% of forestland in the state), only 5% of this land is certified through the American Tree Farm System. As such, understanding how to improve the reach and content of communications to NIPF landowners is vital for expanding certification participation and subsequent improvement of forest management in Arkansas and throughout the southern United States. To explore current and optimal communications to increase NIPF participation, we employed Berlo’s source–message–channel–receiver (SMCR, 1960) model to analyze survey data collected from Arkansas NIPF landowners regarding their familiarity with, interest in, and information sources for forest certification programs. Our results indicate that NIPF landowners have a relatively low familiarity with certification programs and a low interest in adopting a certification program regardless of personal involvement throughout the certification process, the transparency of on-sight inspections to the public, and the requirements of forest management plans. However, positive correlations were found between self-reported familiarity with certification programs and the perceived usefulness of various information sources, indicating that communications to NIPF landowners have the ability to be influential. Furthermore, the results showed that the greatest perceived benefits to landowners were improved timber growth and health, better management actions, and environmentally-friendly timber harvesting, whereas the most concerning perceived drawbacks were increased record-keeping and paperwork as well as management costs. These findings will offer actionable insights into future messaging campaigns and provide directions for new approaches of reaching NIPF landowners to increase their participation in forest certification.

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Changes in the Assortment and Species Structure of Timber Harvested from the Polish Managed Part of Białowieża Forest

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10093279 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 3279 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Dariusz Zastocki ◽

Hubert Lachowicz ◽

Jarosław Sadowski ◽

Tadeusz Moskalik

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Timber Harvest ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Management Plan ◽

Species Structure ◽

Wood Harvesting ◽

Białowieża Forest ◽

Management Plans ◽

Spruce Stands ◽

The Many

The subject of the research, which is the Polish managed part of Białowieża Forest together with Białowieża National Park, a remnant of primeval forests, is one of the most valuable forest areas in Europe. This article presents the history of the use of these forests. The assortment and species structure of the harvested timber was analyzed in detail for the Białowieża, Browsk, and Hajnówka Forest Districts from 2008 to 2017. The research is based on data from the State Forests Information System (SILP) and Forest Management Plans (PUL), as well as Nature Conservation Programs (POP). The volume of harvested timber was diversified. In 2011–2013, it was limited by a decision of the Minister of the Environment from 110,000 m3 in 2010 to 48,500 m3. This contributed to the increase of the European spruce bark beetle gradation, causing the death of spruce stands. By an annex to the Forest Management Plan issued in 2016, the Minister of the Environment increased the amount of the timber harvest. In 2017, it amounted to almost 190,000 m3, where 91% of the harvested volume was spruce, but the wood was markedly inferior in technical quality compared to previous years. Such a large increase in harvesting aroused the opposition mainly of environmental organizations and the European Commission. In April 2018, the EU Court of Justice decided that Poland violated EU law by increasing the number of felled trees in Białowieża Forest. After this decision, the Minister of the Environment repealed the earlier decision, the basis for conducting the increased wood harvesting in Białowieża Forest. Changes in the timber harvested in terms of volume, quality, and assortment, are due to the specificity of managing environmentally valuable areas. This relates to the many limitations on commercial forestry, which must take into account the need to protect nature and the legal acts regulating timber harvesting.

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