Epsilon Open Archive

<p>During the past ten years, scientific research in the Nordic countries has shown that continuous-cover forestry (CCF, also known as Dauerwald) can be better than clearcutting in optimizing the forest's economic, ecological and social values. In Sweden, CCF generally entails partial cutting and can include logging methods (silvicultural systems) like: selection cutting (Plenterwald) including single tree selection and group selection; patch (gap) cutting; shelterwood cutting and seed-tree methods; diameter-limit cutting; close-to-nature forestry; and the Lübeck model.  Particularly interesting for Swedish private forest owners (non-industrial private forest owners) is the research that shows that CCF can be more profitable (generating higher net present values) than clearcutting on land with low site indices, when silvicultural costs are high, when the risk of forest damage is high, when the profitability of forestry is low, and when interest rates are high.  Ecologists have long shown that the biodiversity and ecological resiliency of Nordic forests increases when foresters practice both CCF and clearcutting within a forest landscape. Thus, because clearcutting is the absolutely dominating silvicultural system in Sweden, more CCF helps to increase the ecological values of Nordic forests. The fact that people in general do not like clearcuts has also long been common knowledge. Thus, CCF helps to increase the recreational values and esthetics (social values) of Nordic forests. Swedish forests in which CCF is practiced today include the following: the high altitude forests close to the Scandes; Sveaskog’s forests around Tiveden National Park; Vätteskogen just east of the town of Skinnskatteberg; urban forests in and around the cities of Göteborg, Örebro, Borås among others; and the noble hardwood (chiefly Fagus sylvatica) forests of southern Sweden. Accordingly, it is important that the Swedish forestry industry continues to develop knowledge of and research on CCF, so that it can become a common and widely accepted forest management method in Sweden's forests. <br></p>