Participation in Forest Management Practices, Livelihood Diversification and Welfare of Forest Dwellers in Gambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria

The management of forests, a source of livelihood in Nigeria, especially in the rural areas has received little attention in recent times. As a result, most of the forest dwellers who depend on these forests for survival are poor and are beginning to diversify their livelihood into off and non-forest activities as a relevant source of income. This study assessed participation in forest management practices, livelihood diversification and, the welfare of forest dwellers in Gambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria. Primary data, collected from 121 respondents using a multistage sampling Procedure were analyzed employing Descriptive Statistics, Logit, Tobit, and Ordinary Least Squares model. The decision to participate in forest management practices was significantly linked to gender, age, and membership in a forest association. Also, participation in forest management practices, gender, age, and credit accessibility significantly influenced livelihood diversification positively while farm size and monthly income had negative effects. The welfare of forest dwellers was found to be positively influenced by being a married indigene, having access to credit, participation in forest management practices, livelihood diversification, and monthly income while age, education, and market distance from homestead negatively affected the welfare of forest dwellers.

Historical Forest Management Practices Influence Tree-Ring Based Climate Reconstructions

Tree-ring widths (TRW) of historical and archeological wood provide crucial proxies, frequently used for high-resolution multi-millennial paleoclimate reconstructions. Former growing conditions of the utilized trees, however, are largely unknown. Potential influences of historical forest management practices on climatic information, derived from TRW variability need to be considered but have not been assessed so far. Here, we examined the suitability of TRW series from traditionally managed oak forests (Quercus spp.) for climate reconstructions. We compared the climate signal in TRW chronologies of trees originating from high forests and coppice-with-standards (CWS) forests, a silvicultural management practice widely used in Europe for most of the common era. We expected a less distinct climate control in CWS due to management-induced growth patterns, yet an improved climate-growth relationship with TRW data from conventionally managed high forests. CWS tree rings showed considerably weaker correlations with hydroclimatic variables than non-CWS trees. The greatest potential for hydroclimate reconstructions was found for a large dataset containing both CWS and non-CWS trees, randomly collected from lumber yards, resembling the randomness in sources of historical material. Our results imply that growth patterns induced by management interventions can dampen climate signals in TRW chronologies. However, their impact can be minimized in well replicated, randomly sampled regional chronologies.

The Effects of Forest Management Activities on Genetic Diversity of Forest Trees

Genetic diversity helps to survive forest trees in several environmental changes and disease conditions. Different forest management activities such as harvesting, thinning, natural or artificial regeneration, seedlings or coppice forests, fragmentation, and overexploitation have a tremendous influence on the genetic diversity and population structure of forest trees. This paper aimed to review the impacts of these activities on the genetic diversity of forest trees. For this, we reviewed several scientific literature related to forest management practices that affect genetic diversity. Altogether,75 papers were reviewed, interpreted, and evaluated to prepare our final manuscript. The result of this study recommends that the level of genetic impacts varies with management activities, stand structure as well as species characteristics. There is very limited information about the impacts of forest management practices on the genetic diversity of forest trees since it is only focused on the growth of stands. The field research activities for species-specific must be executed considering ecological and reproductive parameters to assure sustainable forest ecosystems. Hence, this review will be beneficial for forest conservationists, researchers, and managers for the management of forests through better forest management activities preserving a genetic pool of the forest trees, and sustainable utilization of forest products.

Restoration of Natural Forests After Severe Wind Disturbance in a Cold, Snowy Region With a Deer Population: Implications From 15 Years of Field Experiments

Questions have been raised about the application of conventional post-windthrow forest practices such as salvage logging, site preparation, and afforestation in response to the increase in wind disturbance caused by climate change. In particular, it is necessary to identify effective forest management practices that consider the pressure from deer browsing in forests in cold, snowy regions because the population of ungulates is expected to increase. The impacts of legacy destruction, i.e., the destruction of advance regeneration, microsites, and soil structure, caused by conventional post-windthrow practices have rarely been assessed separately from the impacts of subsequent deer browsing on forest regeneration or evaluated based on sufficiently long monitoring periods to assess vegetation succession. This lack of studies is one reason that alternative forest management practices to salvaging and planting have not been proposed. We conducted a field experiment at a large-scale windthrow site with a deer population to (1) assess the impact of legacy destruction and deer browsing on vegetation biomass and species composition after 15 years and (2) identify the effects of legacy retention. The study design allowed us to distinguish between and measure the impact of legacy destruction and that of subsequent deer browsing during a 15-year period. The results revealed the following: (1) Salvage logging and site preparation suppressed the development of biomass of shrub and tree layers in forested areas where harvest residues were piled up and shifted the plant communities in these areas to herbaceous plant communities. (2) Subsequent deer browsing suppressed the development of the biomass of shrub and tree layers throughout the forested site and shifted herbaceous communities to ruderal communities dominated by alien species; and 3. Compared with salvaging and planting, legacy retention enabled the windthrow sites to more quickly develop into a stand with characteristics similar to that of a mature, natural forest. Forest management practices that consider the presence of deer are necessary. We propose a policy shift from planting trees after salvaging to leaving downed trees to regenerate natural forests, unless there is concern about insect damage to the remaining forestry land in the vicinity.

Effects of thinning and understory removal on the soil water-holding capacity in Pinus massoniana plantations

Forest management practices play an important role in regulating the soil water-holding capacity of plantation. However, most studies focus on soil water dynamics present during large-scale forest loss and afforestation events, while little is known about how soil water under different forest management practices responds to rainfall events and which factors mainly regulate soil water-holding capacity. In this study, a stable hydrogen isotope was used to explore the contribution of three natural rainfall events (8.9, 13.3 and 67.7 mm) to soil water (CRSW) in a Pinus massoniana plantation under four forest management practices (no thinning (NTN), understory removal (USR), light-intensity thinning (LIT) and heavy-intensity thinning (HIT)) in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of the Yangtze River Basin in China. Furthermore, a structural equation model was employed to determine the effects of vegetation biomass and soil properties on the CRSW. The results showed that plantation soil under different forest management practices exhibited different water-holding capacities. Following light (8.9 mm) and moderate (13.3 mm) rainfall events, the CRSW in the HIT stand was slightly higher than that in the other stands. Following heavy (66.7 mm) rainfall event, the CRSW of most layers in USR stand was not different from the other three stands, while the CRSW in the LIT and NTN stands was significantly higher than that in the HIT stand in the 0–100 cm soil layers, suggesting that soil in the LIT and NTN stands had a greater water-holding capacity than that in the HIT stand. In addition, soil properties were the main factors directly affecting the CRSW, explaining 60% and 37% of the variation in the CRSW on the first and seventh days after heavy rainfall, respectively. Overall, compared to the HIT stand, the LIT and NTN stands showed greater capacity in retaining rainwater. Therefore, under expected global changes with frequent occurrences of extreme precipitation events, methods involving light-intensity and no thinning should be employed to build up soil and water conservation functions, which will be critical for keeping water-holding capacity and moderating floods.

Silvicultural Interventions Drive the Changes in Soil Organic Carbon in Romanian Forests According to Two Model Simulations

We investigated the effects of forest management on the carbon (C) dynamics in Romanian forest soils, using two model simulations: CBM-CFS3 and Yasso15. Default parametrization of the models and harmonized litterfall simulated by CBM provided satisfactory results when compared to observed data from National Forest Inventory (NFI). We explored a stratification approach to investigate the improvement of soil C prediction. For stratification on forest types only, the NRMSE (i.e., normalized RMSE of simulated vs. NFI) was approximately 26%, for both models; the NRMSE values reduced to 13% when stratification was done based on climate only. Assuming the continuation of the current forest management practices for a period of 50 years, both models simulated a very small C sink during simulation period (0.05 MgC ha−1 yr−1). Yet, a change towards extensive forest management practices would yield a constant, minor accumulation of soil C, while more intensive practices would yield a constant, minor loss of soil C. For the maximum wood supply scenario (entire volume increment is removed by silvicultural interventions during the simulated period) Yasso15 resulted in larger emissions (−0.3 MgC ha−1 yr−1) than CBM (−0.1 MgC ha−1 yr−1). Under ‘no interventions’ scenario, both models simulated a stable accumulation of C which was, nevertheless, larger in Yasso15 (0.35 MgC ha−1 yr−1) compared to CBM-CSF (0.18 MgC ha−1 yr−1). The simulation of C stock change showed a strong “start-up” effect during the first decade of the simulation, for both models, explained by the difference in litterfall applied to each scenario compared to the spinoff scenario. Stratification at regional scale based on climate and forest types, represented a reasonable spatial stratification, that improved the prediction of soil C stock and stock change.

Forest management practices in reduction of damage caused by Pine weevil (Hylobius abietis L.) and Cervidae animals in newly planted Scots pine forests.

<p><strong>Key words</strong>: forest regeneration, Conniflex, Trico, mechanical site preparation</p><p>Forest regeneration is crucial stage in commercial forest management because actions during this stage impact future forest productivity and value. Scots pine is one of the main tree species in forestry of the northern part of Europe. Foresters have to overcome different risk factors during regeneration process and two of them are seedling damage by Pine weevil (<em>Hylobius abietis</em> L) and browsing by herbivores of <em>Cervidae</em> family. Pine weevil is one of the main forest pests in Europe that damage regenerated coniferous stands. Damage caused by this pest can produce 70% mortality of planted seedlings. Another significant risk factor is browsing. With increase of deer <em>(Cervidae)</em> population the damaged forest area also increases to the extent that foresters choose other tree species for regeneration. The mitigation of these risks is possible with appliance of forest management practices.  There are used different repelents against Cervidae animals.  Regarding Pine weevil, due to restrictions on insecticide use in EU, different protective coating materials have been developed, and several studies show that soil preparation before planting reduce amount of damaged Pine seedlings and increase possibility of successful regeneration.  We evaluated if and how forest management methods - soil preparation techniques (spot mounding, disc trenching) in combination with different plant protection products (Conniflex, Trico) - affects the degree of damage caused by pine weevil and <em>Cervidae</em> animals to Scots pine seedlings one and two years after outplanting in four forest stands in Latvia. The results from this study shows that application of Conniflex reduce number of damaged trees by 16.8% first and 20.3% second year after outplanting compared to untreated seedlings. Soil preparation has significant impact on reduction of pine weevil damage. The best results have been achieved by planting with Conniflex treated seedlings on spot mounds (2.4% damaged trees compared to 48.9% in unprepared soil without treatment). Repellent Trico do not provide additional protection against Pine weevil and do not have long term protection effect against browsing. Overall conclusion is that combination of soil preparation and use of appropriate coating material (Conniflex) can provide sufficient protection without usage of insecticides, and Trico has to be applied before winter season to achieve effect of protection.</p>