3.
Forest management
system
Forest are an important part of our state’s environment and
economy.
When they are well managed ,forest provide clean air , and
water , home for wildlife , beautiful scenery , place for
recreation and more than 5000 products we all use every day.
When they are not well managed, forest are often unhealthy
and unproductive b/c of over crowding ,disease, insects ,and
competition for light, water, and nutrient
Why forest management is needed?
To maintain /improve the health and productivity of forest .
To achieve the land owners objectives for the property.
Foresters use a number of management
techniques(silvicultural practices) , including:.
– Tending
– Harvesting
– Prescribed burning
– Reforestation
3.1 Silviculture
o Silvics and Silviculture
Silvics is the study of life history and general characteristics of
forest trees and crops with Particular reference to environmental
factors, as the basis for the practice of siliviculture
Silviculture is the branch of forestry which deals with the
establishment, development,Care and reproduction and stands of
timber
– simple-‘The art and science of cultivating forest crops’
Silviculture is the subject dealing with all the biological aspects of
growing trees and forests for a particular purpose. The purpose can
be to produce logs and wood for the industry, producing firewood or
any other commercial product or benefits.
Very often the purpose of human intervention in the forests is
complex and not aiming at one objective alone.
There should be a clear objective with any silviculture work or
silviculture intervention in the forest. Such objectives are
found in the forest management plans.
The regeneration is the first step of silviculture activity.
To secure the regeneration is to make sure that the young
forest plants have the necessary conditions for growth and
become the next generation of forest.
As the young trees in a forest are growing, there are normally
so many small trees that they all cannot survive. There are not
enough nutrients, light and water for the survival of all. When
the forest reaches this stage it will be appropriate to do spacing
or thinning.
A. Pruning
A silvicultural and a horticultural practices involving the
selective removal of parts of plant such as branches, bud and
roots
Reason to prune plant includes:.
o Dead wood removal
o Shaping by controlling or by directing growth
o Improving or maintaining health
o Reducing risk from falling branches
o To improve plant appearance by controlling plant size and
shape
The practice entail targeted removal of :.
o Diseased , damaged & dead
o non productive
o structurally un sound or
o other wise un wanted tissue from crop and landscape plants.
In general the smaller branch that is cut , the easier it is for
woody plant to
compartmentalize and limit the potential for pathogen and
decay.
Therefore , it is preferable pruning young plant rather than
removing mature branches from mature plant
In nature , meteorological condition such as wind , ice , snow
and salinity can cause plant to self prune this natural shedding is
called abscission.
B. Thinning
Is a term used in agricultural science to mean the removal of
some plant or parts of plant to make room for the growth of other.
In forestry thinning is the selective removal of tree primarily to
undertaken to :.
Improve the growth rate
Improve the health of remaining trees.
Overcrowded trees are under competitive stress from their
neighbors.
Thinning may be done to increase the resistance of the stand to
environmental stress such as:.
– Drought
– Insect infestation
– Extreme temperature
– Wild fire.
In forestry, thinning is done to make:.
o The stand more profitable in up coming final felling ,
o To achieve ecological goal such as increase bio diversity
accelerating the development of desired structural
attributes(large diameter tree with long tree crown).
o On early thinning would encourage
trees to get wider crowns ,
increase diameter &
to be more stable against threats, wind throw and breakage
A thinning operation takes place sometimes 2 – 4 times during the
life of given forest area, before the final harvesting of the produced
trees.
The number of thinning operations depends on
the life cycle of the trees,
on the site quality and
on what is the desired quality of the final product.
Since most thinning operations are quite costly compared to the
final harvesting, it is important to be aware of the economical costs
and benefits. The forest management plans are normally made with
these economical factors in mind.
When doing silviculture interventions, the forester must have good
knowledge to the forest management plan, about forest biology
and forest ecology as well as forest harvesting and economy and
not at least, about how to communicate with people.
C. Pollarding
Is a pruning system in which the upper branches of trees are
removed , promoting a dense head of foliage and branches.
Traditionally trees were pollarded for two reason for fodder to
feed livestock or for energy
One consequence of pollarding is pollarding tree is tend to live
longer than un pollarded specimens because…
– They are maintained in a partially juvenile state
– They do not have the weight and windage of the top part of
the tree.
D .coppicing
Is a traditional method for wood land management w/c takes
advantage of the fact that many trees makes new growth from
the stump/root if cut down ;
Example, eucalyptus species and moringa oleifera tree.
The process of cutting tree down , allowing the stumps to
regenerate for a number of years and then harvesting the
resulting stems.
Coppicing is a highly effective method of producing a great
deal of fast growing sustainable timber production with out
need of replanting. because
As a coppiced tree already have a fully developed root system
and re-growth is rapid.
E.harvesting
Harvesting includes all the activities linked to the felling of trees,
transport and the commercial sale of wood. The harvesting of the
commercial wood is important for the country as the industry and
other customers are supplied with needed raw material and
products.
The harvesting is also important because it provides employment
for a number of forest workers, for forest entrepreneurs and the
companies who deliver the necessary supplies and service to the
activities involved.
The harvesting is one element in the forestry supply chain. Such a
supply chain is an important part of the logistics in forestry. When
this supply chain is managed efficiently, the economical benefits
will be the best for everyone involved, including the customers.
In forest management trees are harvest for variety of
reason including:.
o Improving the health of the forest.
o Controlling the types of tree that grow on the site.
o Attracting certain wild life species.
o Providing a source of income for land owner.
o Producing paper , lumber ,and numerous other forest
product.
o Improving access to the area for hikers ,hunters ,and other
recreational users.
Economy
When utilizing the forest resources, the cost of the production
should not higher than the price for the final product. Still we
have to manage the forests in a sustainable way, which means
that the forest shall not be destroyed or reduced by our
activities. A sustainable forest management means to secure
the forests and the production for the future generations.
Therefore the cost of silviculture, such as necessary planting,
thinning, pest control and other activities, is a part of the total
production price.
Example: A private forest owner has a young oak forest. The
forest is very dense and he is advised to carry out thinning. The
forest owner decides to do the thinning but he also keeps record
of all the expenditures and the incomes. The plan is to cut 40 m³
of wood. Because the trees are young and small the wood can be
sold only as firewood for €10 per m³ .
o Costs in €
– Planning of the thinning operation 2 days 15
– Salary for the workers who do the thinning 4 man days 60
– Transport of the wood from the forest to the nearest market 60
– Repair of some necessary equipment 40
– Sum costs for the thinning € 175
o Incomes in €
– Sale of wood €10 x 40 = 400
– Surplus € 225
– The surplus per cubic meter 225 / 40 = € 6.60 per m³ . According to this
calculation, the operation has been profitable.
• If however the price for this wood in the market had been only
€ 5, then the operation would have given a surplus of only €
0,63 per m3 .
• After the thinning operation the remaining forest is in a better
condition and the quality of the future stems will be better.
• Similar thinking is to be employed prior to all investments,
such as buying a machine, a tractor, a house, make a forest
road, planting or other things. Very often there are high
immediate investment costs, while the benefits are coming
later.
• Supply chain management (SCM)
This is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling
the operations of the supply chain with the purpose to satisfy
customer requirements as efficiently as possible.
SCM spans all movements and storage of raw materials, the
industrial process, and finished goods from point-of-origin to
point-of-consumption.
The supply chain management also includes the equally
important opposite flow of information. The professional
forester must know the whole supply chain, although it is not
for one person to have detailed knowledge on all details.
The necessary knowledge includes both forestry and also
knowledge about communication between people.
Successful forest management depends on the people, their
ability to cooperate, to work in team and to communicate and
organize the work within a sound and transparent economic
system for the best for the whole society.
3.2. Forest Management Planning
In a wide context the planning implies a systematic consideration of
all possible actions within a certain field, with the purpose of
coordinating all these actions in an efficient way in order to reach
given objectives or goals.
Without defined objectives or purpose of these actions, it is
useless to do planning.
Similarly it will not be possible to win a football match if the goals on the
football field are removed. A football match will also be quite uninteresting for
everyone without the possibility to reach the goal.
There is no point in planting forest trees, to do pruning or thinning,
harvesting or other silviculture activities if the forester or the forest
owner does not know what she/he wants to achieve by these activities:
the objectives for the forest work must be defined and be well known.
In forestry the management planning is based on several
documents, of which the Forestry Law may be considered as being
the most important.
The Forestry Law outlines the general and nationals goals with the
management of the forests as natural resource.
A basis for the forest management is the knowledge about the
available resources.
These resources are the forest area, the terrain conditions, the
growing stock and the increment, the species, the distance from the
market etc. etc. Such information comes from a forest inventory
From the inventory it can be calculated the annual increment and
the sustainable allowable harvesting of different qualities.
A general rule in forestry is that over a period of time, the
harvesting of wood from a given forest should not exceed the
increment or production from this forest during the same
period of time. The harvesting of the forest will then be
sustainable.
Other resources and information to be considered are;
the available staff and their qualifications,
the forest roads and transport capacity, the available
machinery,
the available capital,
the costs for licenses and other harvesting costs, as well as
the market for the harvested products.
Some general principles in the process of Forest
Management Planning are as follows.
1. Definitions of the general objectives
2. Date collection of the available resources, necessary to make a
plan
3. Analysis of the resource assessment
4. Make a synthesis of this analysis and find the most likely and
optimal set of activities.
5. Writing and editing the forest management plan for the forest in
question
6. Implementation of the plan
7. Control of the quality, quantities, qualities and economic results
and make possible adjustments of the written plan and/or make
adjustment on the activities, based on the experiences gained
