Forest management and damages

This study simulates the long-term effects of set-aside establishment and tree retention practices on the future availability of large trees and dead wood. These are two forest structures of high importance to biodiversity conservation. The researchers used a forest decision support system to project the amounts of these structures over 200 years in two landscapes from Northern Sweden under different management scenarios: with and without set-asides and tree retention.

^{Photo: Ida Wallin}

As much as 150,000 cubic meters of timber are estimated to have been destroyed this winter in South and Central Ostrobothnia, Finland. The heavy snow loads are the reason behind this. Loss of timber sales revenues, extra harvesting costs and loss of profit due to discontinuity of forest cover are just some of the problems forest owners are faced with.

There has always been a long discussion around which management methods are most profitable for forestry. It seems that there is still no definitive answer.Results always depend on the characteristics of each forest compartment, and the particular needs of each forest owner. Hence, the diversity of each forest component is extremely complex and research can only provide us with a narrow picture of the real situation. 

A health programme in South-eastern Finland aimed at improving the lifestyle and eventually the general fitness and health condition of forest workers. Many of the workers had many years of experience of working in the forest and were doing a professional job. But after taking part in the health programme they soon found that the new changes in lifestyle improved their performance in the field and even halved the risk of injuries at work. Since the programme was such a success, workers who already participated in the training are passing on the knowledge to their fellow colleagues.

Researchers from the RWTH Aachen University in Germany are developing the project "Virtual Forest” which aims to streamline and mechanize forest management operations by virtually simulating real forests.  The aim is optimize woodland processes by causing minimal damage to the forest left after harvesting.

Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) implies maintaining a forest canopy during the regeneration phase without clear-felling the stand and thus favoring alternative silvicultural systems. There is a potential for greater use of continuous cover forestry in many parts of Northern Europe. CCF can offer more diverse forests for multi-purpose benefits.

New research looks at the trade-offs between forest protection and wood supply in Europe thus trying to shed light on the question: does more protected forest mean that there will be less wood supply in Europe?

The study looked at the extent of protected forests across the European Union’s twenty seven member states plus Norway, and Switzerland. The hypothesis was that protected areas imply felling restrictions that could in turn affect the potential annual wood supply in Europe.