Maple Sugar Bush Management and Forest Biodiversity Conservation in Eastern Ontario, Canada

As in many parts of the world, rural and forest-dependent communities in Ontario are struggling with a variety of economic and demographic challenges. Ontario government ministries are seeking to enhance rural sustainable development while at the same time maintaining forest habitat and preventing forest biodiversity decline. Commercial maple sugar bushes, which in Eastern Ontario are typically family owned and operated, have the potential to play an important role in biodiversity conservation and habitat protection, while at the same time contributing to sustainable development. Existing research has shown the social and economic benefits of small scale maple sugar bushes, but room remains for greater study of the environmental impacts, particularly in terms of forest biodiversity. In this study, woodlot management practices on twenty-two sugar bushes in Eastern Ontario were compared against established forest biodiversity conservation guidelines, using information obtained through detailed interviews with operators. Sugar bush operators reported the presence of many important habitats on their properties. The interview results show that many standard sugar bush management practices are consistent with biodiversity conservation principles. Operators were found to be receptive to biodiversity conservation ideals, and could enhance their contribution to the provincial government’s official biodiversity strategy with additional guidance, incentives, and formal planning. The findings suggest that through sound management and planning, small scale commercial sugar bush operations generally can be made environmentally sustainable, and become important components in broader rural development strategies.     

人机工程学在森林采伐中的应用

本文着重讨论了振动所引起的生理反应,林业机械形成的振动环境以及设备设计与安全等问题。     

Assessment for Improvement: Harvesting Operations in Small-Scale Forest on Thai Steep Terrain

Timber harvesting on steep terrain is always a challenge in terms of safety, operating costs, and environmental impact. The motor-manual, cut-to-length method is the most common in harvesting operations in the mountainous areas of Thailand. The motor-manual operations are characterized by various negative features such as high fatality rates, expensive operating costs, and low productivity. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevailing harvesting operations, to propose new working methods and systems, and to suggest work safety improvement measures. The results indicated an extremely high fatality rate in Thailand compared to the average in other countries. Possible reasons for this may include ineffective safety regulations, inadequate worker training programs, seasonal forestry workers, and a lack of personal protective equipment. Consequently, alternative working methods have been suggested as a system. The proposed working method was intended to improve work safety, enhance productivity and reduce operating costs using by simulation to find best solution. Shifting from a cut-to-length to tree-length processing and moving forward to mechanization was introduced as alternative harvesting systems. The results showed that partly-mechanized systems would significantly improve the productivity. Potential work safety improvement measures may consist of adequate training, personal protective equipment, and technological improvement. Obstacle for implementation is the high investment for forest machines and silvicultural practices.     

Improved harvesting systems for wet sites

Environmentally acceptable and economical forest operations are needed for sustainable management of forest resources. Improved methods for harvesting and transporting timber are especially needed for wet sites. As the demand for hardwood lumber continues to increase, improved and alternative methods are needed to ensure acceptance of timber harvesting for the wet site conditions that are typical of bottomland hardwoods. Some alternative technological developments include grapple saw feller-bunchers, wide tires, larger forwarders, clambunk skidders, two-stage hauling, mats, cable systems, helicopters and towed vehicles and air-cushioned vehicles. These developments have the potential to improve the performance of the harvesting system and to reduce the negative effects of conventional operations on conventional sites and on difficult sites such as wet areas. Although many of these new alternatives are now operational, others are just concepts or evolving prototypes. More research is still needed to optimize these alternative technologies and to reduce costs associated with their implementation.     

森林认证对森林可持续经营的影响及其在中国的实践

开展森林认证是促进我国森林管理与国际接轨并实现森林可持续经营的有效途径。文中概述了森林认证的发展概况以及森林认证对森林可持续经营的影响,并以我国吉林省经过认证的森林经营企业为例,通过对森林认证前后的对比,以及与未经过认证的国有林业局对比,分析森林认证对经济、社会和环境等方面的具体影响。结果表明,森林认证的开展在经济上可行,使社会受益,对环境友好,能够促进森林可持续经营。文中还对我国开展森林认证工作提出了具体措施建议。     

Use of Smartphone Technology for Small-Scale Silviculture: A Test of Low-Cost Technology in Eastern Ontario

This study examined the potential use of low-cost consumer-grade smartphone technology to perform and improve field data collection in support of small-scale forest management. This proof-of-concept exercise for day-to-day forester operations focused on the effectiveness of the smartphone platform (form factor and functionality) rather than any particular smartphone software. An electronic data acquisition system for a smartphone was developed that combined a simple custom timber cruise application and mobile commercial mapping software to record and process forest stand and geospatial information, and transfer these to a small-scale operator’s existing desktop geographic information system. Workflow efficiency and system performance of the smartphone system was then measured and compared with paper-based methods presently being used in the managed forest. The smartphone greatly increased workflow efficiency by reducing data transfer and processing times, and eliminated the need to carry separate global positioning system (GPS) device, map, paper forms and digital camera. The GPS accuracy of the smartphone was more than adequate to meet operational requirements, and provided a capacity to map forest features on an ad hoc basis that is not easily done through the paper-based process. However, initial data entry using the smartphone takes longer than using paper-based notes, there is a greater chance of data entry error through inadvertent keypad touches on the small screen, and there is the potential for a device malfunction. Overall, it is concluded that smartphones offer an opportunity for small-scale operators to create electronic field data management systems that are affordable, operationally robust, compatible with existing management systems, capable of increasing data management efficiency and, in particular, expanding the types of data that can be collected during silvicultural operations.     

Location set-covering inspired models for designing harvesting and cable road layouts

One of the classic operations problems in forest management is to select the harvesting system and to plan the layout, which has a significant impact on overall operational and environmental efficiency. This paper addresses the design of a harvesting system in areas characterized by steep slopes requiring cable-based harvesting under central European conditions. We present two computationally efficient methods (designated as set-covering model SCM and bounded set-covering model BSCM) for solving problems of cable road layouts and comparing them with a previously developed model (CaMLOC). Formulating the problem as a type of location set-covering model allowed us to delineate a much smaller problem that was easier to solve. By applying the new model formulations, it is possible to identify mathematical optimal CR layouts for real-world forests areas up to 50 ha within a reasonable period of time and to even estimate the maximum gap in optimality (only with the BSCM approach).     

基于森林认证的环境影响评估应用指南研究

近年来森林认证在我国取得了较大进展,逐步成为我国森林资源管理制度的有益补充。森林认证的要求主要涉及环境、经济和社会等方面。现有的环境影响评估指南或操作规范主要针对建设项目,我国森林经营单位在开展森林认证的过程中,普遍面临着对环境影响评估的步骤、方法不了解和缺乏实践操作指南的问题。文中以国际、国内森林认证标准关于森林经营环境影响评估的具体要求为出发点,认为森林经营单位的日常环境影响评估包括总体评估和针对特定经营活动的评估,阐述了2类评估的具体内容及应评估的要素,指出在评估时应考虑的问题,在此基础上提出减缓负面环境影响的措施建议,以期为我国森林经营单位开展营林活动环境影响快速评估提供可操作的应用技术指南。     

编制森林经营方案的主要技术环节

针对当前社会经济发展对森林产品及环境服务功能的多种需求,提出在森林经营方案编制中要着重抓住14个主要技术环节,对于编制好森林经营方案和科学经营森林具有指导作用.     

动态数据驱动的林火模拟系统设计与实现——以北京市森林防火系统为例

在地理模拟系统理论基础之上,结合动态数据驱动应用系统技术范式,提出了林火模拟全新的技术框架和结构体系。探索林火模拟系统建设过程中的模型库建设与管理、模型适宜性选择、模型自适应修正、模拟过程实时验证和林火空间扩散模拟等关键技术。研究结果表明,林火模型的自动化和智能化选择精度可达到75%,模型模拟误差修正也达到了较为理想的效果。随着系统建设的进一步完善,本系统将与北京市林火管理业务化运行系统集成,这将进一步提高林火扑救的指挥决策能力。     

设施育苗 技术管理是关键

现代化工厂育苗的成功与否,与实际的技术管理息息相关.本文就育苗的技术细节、如何做好详实的技术记录、制订技术标准与操作规程等方面进行了阐述.     

经营措施对林地长期生产力影响的研究策略

随着社会对木材需求量的增大及更多的天然林被划为环境保护林,人工林在未来木材生产中将起越来越大的作用,致使林地长期生产力的维护问题引起了全世界的重视.主要介绍了经营措施对林地长期生产力影响的研究策略,并比较了演替时序研究、追溯研究及长期定位试验3种研究方法的优缺点及应用概况.     

Guiding Principles for Small-Scale Forestry in a Watershed of the Venezuelan Andes: Constraints and Opportunities

In the Venezuelan Andes, some small-scale forest plantations have become an important resource basis for forest management. In this paper, the forestry management progress in the Mucujún river watershed is analyzed. Constraints and opportunities for sustainable management within national policies, local regulations, environmental features and social benefits are also examined. Plantation assessment, and biophysical, legal and socioeconomics information, are used for guiding small-scale forestry practices in this watershed, with emphasis on the main principles of landscape management. These plantations have become an important part of the socio-ecological landscapes with potential for wood production—in the context of low intensity and low environmental impact environmental services and amenity—because of the two protected areas within the watershed. Current forest stand conditions, however, reflect that management requires improvement. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that improvement of local livelihoods may be achieved with a small-scale forestry approach, taking properly into account the basic criteria of social involvement and management of planted forests, while maintaining ecosystem services including biodiversity and water supply.     

Facing the Challenge of Social Forestry in Japan: The Case of Reviving Harmonious Coexistence Between Forest and People in Okayama Prefecture

Social forestry as a development strategy has evolved since the 1970s, especially in the tropics, to address forest degradation and promote local community development amidst the burgeoning population in these areas. As a practice, however, social forestry has been in place since ancient times in many parts of the world, including Japanese forest communities. Forest-people relationships in Japan drastically changed through massive afforestation programs after the energy source change and with the industrialization of the forest sector in 1950s. The majority of the planted forests are underutilized today and forest communities are marginalized due to the decline of forestry operations, depopulation, and changes in people’s values. Some communities address this concern by inviting potential urban migrants who may be interested in settling in rural areas. Using the case of the Nishiawakura Village in Okayama Prefecture, this paper explores the recent challenges confronting social forestry in Japan. It is found that underutilization of forest resources can be a cause of serious environmental degradation and marginalization of forest communities, and that Nishiawakura’s journey to renew forest management in partnership with migrants is a process of revisiting and creating the forest-people relationship. This study advances two related arguments, namely (1) the interaction of the local people and the migrants brings new perspectives to forest management, and (2) in a community facing depopulation and underutilization of forest resources, social forestry can be an effective approach to rediscover traditional forest management in a new form and revitalize forests and local communities.     

Bryophytes as potential indicators of forest integrity

Forest integrity has been proposed as one conservation endpoint that integrates desirable characteristics such as natural biodiversity, stand structure and continuity. Although its defining criteria are still under discussion, any surrogates must effectively represent or predict their status, and be easier to measure than the criteria themselves. Bryophytes have been proposed as such surrogates, because they are important components of forest integrity, and considerable research indicates that some groups are sensitive to the changes associated with specific forest management regimes. The objectives of this paper are (1) to review the issues in determining indicators of forest integrity, including desirable qualities in such indicators, (2) to review the state of knowledge concerning bryophytes as components of forest integrity (i.e. their responses to forest management practices), and (3) to assess bryophytes as potential indicators of forest integrity, in terms of both qualities desirable in indicators and our understanding of bryophyte response patterns. Although bryophytes possess some characteristics that suggest potential indicator value, many challenges prevent their reliable application. I highlight key areas in which research is required to identify operational bryophyte indicators of forest integrity. Along with a standardized protocol to select and calibrate such indicators, we urgently require strategic research to compile data on undisturbed reference forests on which to base selection of endpoints; species-specific ecological tolerances, with consideration of complex interactions; mechanisms of response to disturbance, with consideration of temporal aspects; population viability thresholds; and recruitment effects on community assembly. Whether we succeed in finding bryophyte indicators of forest integrity, this research would also provide the data to monitor and interpret the integrity of the bryophyte community.     

Ecological limitations of reduced-impact logging at the smallholder scale

Reduced-impact logging (RIL) has many demonstrated benefits to the industrial logging operations for which they were developed. It is less clear whether these gains remain consistent in smallholder forest systems that increasingly play an important role in global conservation and that target a broader suite of outputs in their management schemes. We evaluate potential ecological consequences of five RIL components (pre-harvest inventories, harvest intensity, cutting cycles, skid trail planning, and liana cutting) when applied to small-scale operations in the Brazilian Amazon and provide suggestions for modifications to RIL guidelines for smallholder systems. Rapid assessment inventories of the entire landholding should be a part of crop tree selection to minimize inbreeding and recruitment failure. Additionally, while community-based taxonomists accurately identify species to common names, botanical samples must be verified with herbarium specimens to avoid market and ecological problems when multiple species share a single common name. We advocate that smallholder managers move beyond an emphasis on RIL guidelines, while still incorporating its basic tenets into practical application. Based on our analysis, this would include evaluating benefits of particular RIL components and assessing potential advantages that smallholders have over industrial operations. We suggest incorporating anthropogenically-generated forest patches of varying sizes and successional stages into a more formalized management system, incorporating and expanding on traditional ecological knowledge acquired over generations, and integrating enrichment plantings and tending of regeneration.     

Developing a Community-Based Silvicultural System

Abstract

With the assistance of Maderas del Pueblo, the remote community of Chalchijapa in Oaxaca, Mexico is experimenting with an innovative forest management plan providing a long-term income source for the community, while emphasizing the importance of sustainable harvest guidelines. The plan is community-based in that ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the guidelines and monitoring of the process rests within the community. Under the forest management plan, Chalchijapan foresters apply single tree selection harvesting techniques. Currently, foresters are cutting the highest quality trees with the hope that the resulting gaps will be sufficient for regeneration. In order to be successful, planners and the community will have to overcome significant challenges. These challenges include: (1) fine-tuning selection criteria to the autecology of different species rather than assigning a cutting regime to cover entire plots of diverse species; (2) volume limitations that are constraining for the forester and result in high-grading practices which may lead to forest degradation over time; (3) inefficiency of tree removal and damage incurred by dragging logs into the village; and (4) designing a more equitable harvesting scheme to best serve the entire community. Although challenges remain, Chalchijapa has taken the first steps in using the resources in the surrounding forests while recognizing the importance of intelligent and well planned forestry practices.     

Standards and guidelines for forest plantation management: A global comparative study

The increasing area covered by forest plantations creates a demand for trustworthy mechanisms to ensure they are responsibly established and managed. In the last twenty years efforts have increased to develop standards and guidelines as voluntary-based policy tools for guaranteeing sustainable forest management. However, most are focused exclusively or prevalently on natural or semi-natural forests, while only a few are specific to planted forests or plantations. Many differences can be identified among existing standards and guidelines that can be applied to planted forests and forest plantations. The paper, which main aim is to assess whether and to what extent planted forests are properly considered within the existing sets of standards/guidelines and to identify areas for improvements, is based on a series of comparative analysis. Both quantitative (number) and qualitative (quality in terms of coherency, consistency and completeness) aspects of indicators for addressing environmental, economic and social issues are considered. First, 42 standards/guidelines are classified and compared. Secondly, 3 standards for forest certification and 3 guidelines developed by international organisations are compared. Finally, a gap analysis is carried out with respect to an ad hoc “reference standard” with 386 indicators. Ball-charts, radar graphs and histograms are used to show results.     

Factors affecting runoff and soil erosion: plot-level soil loss monitoring for assessing sustainability of forest management

The assessment on key ecological factors affecting runoff and soil erosion and the usefulness of plot-level monitoring of soil erosion was conducted by collecting runoff and soil loss records from 14 runoff plots. The runoff plots were set up in two catchments in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, where conventional logging and Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) took place. Runoff plots were set up in forest areas with different levels of logging disturbances, i.e. harvesting areas (four plots), skid trails (six plots), and undisturbed/control areas (four plots). The magnitude of runoff and soil loss from skid trail plots were found to be the highest, followed by control plots and harvest plots. Canopy cover, sapling density, litter depth and woody debris appeared to be important ecological factors that determine the magnitude of soil loss. Tree canopy determines the size and erosive power of the raindrops. Sapling, litter layer, and woody debris protected soil surface, thus preventing soil detachment, and provided surface roughness that minimised soil particle movement down the slope. The roles of these ecological factors were less significant compared to rainfall in determining the magnitude of runoff.

Canopy cover, sapling density, litter depth and woody debris can be measured quantitatively or qualitatively without complicated equipment and methods. Furthermore, they are sensitive to logging disturbance which make them suitable verifiers of soil erosion. Forest managers need to limit disturbance to these factors in order to minimise soil erosion in their logging operation areas. Monitoring of soil loss using runoff plots was cost-effective and provided valuable information about soil erosion risks caused by logging operations. Runoff plots clearly demonstrated site disturbances where the plots are located. Monitoring allowed more direct linkages to be made between management practices and their impacts on runoff and soil erosion, thereby enabling forest managers to identify problems and take appropriate preventive measures to improve their management practices.