Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

During recent decades a new type of private forest owner has appeared in
Sweden, with forestry goals other than simply generating money from wood
production; these goals include hunting, maintaining biodiversity, cultural
aspects and historical values. However, multiple goals often conflict with each
other, leading to a problem of finding practices that can deliver several goals at
the same time. Recently, there has been an increasing move to continuous
cover forestry and other systems or practices that are considered more likely
than clear cutting to fulfil multiple goals. However, an additional problem is
that much of what is said about the suitability of different practices is partly
based upon beliefs rather than on sound data, so more research is needed in this
domain. Finally, identifying stands that are suited to specific practices
represents another challenge.

The main objective of the research presented in this thesis was to identify
tools that can help foresters to select appropriate practices and suitable forest
stands that will allow them to achieve the multiple goals of small-scale forest
owners.

Silvicultural practices were identified through a literature search and their
appropriateness and value was determined using matrices summarizing the
results of published studies. The results indicated that thinning and successive
felling were most suitable for delivering the goals considered. Passive practices
were less well adapted.

Further literature reviews were undertaken to find criteria relevant to six
different situations. In order to determine the link between management
practices and results, checklists were created for field-testing.

Checklists were also intended to be useful in other situations, and two
additional lists, ‘Optimizing natural regeneration of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris
L.)’, and ‘Avoiding false heartwood in ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.)’, were
proposed as further examples of useful checklists.