Managing city forests for or in spite of recreation? Perspectives of forest managers

This paper provides insights into foresters’ perceptions of forest recreation and its management. It is based on qualitative interviews with foresters in Berlin and the region of Stuttgart, Germany (N = 16). The results highlight the lack of strategic planning concerned with recreation management at both locations. Moreover, recreation management seems to depend mostly on the local forester in charge. Foresters’ perceptions of recreation, in turn, appear to be closely linked with how they perceive their work. Three narratives of the foresters’ self-perception are constructed that address three key items: perception of foresters’ skills and tasks, perception of the societal and political context of the foresters’ work and of their own scope of action in this context, and visions for future recreation management. The first narrative emphasises classical forestry and silvicultural aspects; the second understands foresters as multifunctional service providers for communal clients; and the last criticises the classical orientation of forestry and highlights new challenges for foresters in urban areas. These three views of recreation management in urban forests relate to classical forestry culture in different ways: either embodying this culture; differentiating from it; or adopting a new view which challenges this culture. Further research needs are discussed. The paper lastly argues for increased awareness of the importance of the social dimensions of forest management as one of the crucial future challenges for the forestry profession.     

Thriving or Surviving? Forester Responses to Private Forestland Parcelization in New York State

Consulting forester business practices are challenged by significant decreases in the sizes of private forest properties and the changes in landowner values that accompany forestland parcelization. Though researchers have discussed the potential ways entrepreneurial foresters could adapt to these new ownership patterns and landscape dynamics, actual responses by foresters working in parcelizing landscapes are largely undocumented. We conducted twenty in-depth interviews with foresters working in New York State to determine (1) how foresters have experienced parcelization of properties they work with, (2) what challenges are associated with forestry projects on decreasing property sizes, and (3) what kinds of changes foresters are making to adapt to decreasing property sizes. We found that foresters across the state observe decreasing sizes of forest properties and see values of forest owners shifting beyond timber production, although most do not consider these changes to be the most urgent challenges to sustainable forestry and profitable forest consulting. Professional foresters are reacting to parcelization in diverse ways; while some are trying entrepreneurial approaches to reach new clients or offer different services, others are primarily interested in maintaining their traditional practices and roles. These findings indicate that strictly relying on independent entrepreneurial responses by private foresters may not be sufficient to close the gap between the historical role of consulting foresters and the trajectory of modern forest parcels. Additional measures like specialized training and policy changes may also be required to address the management challenges associated with forestland parcelization.     

Comparisons of Forestry in Britain and Mainland Europe

Selected topical aspects of British forestry policy, administrationand practice are compared with what is done in mainland Europe.The main conclusions are:

1. The forestry policy objectives inBritain are similar to thosevirtually everywhere else in Europeand no major changes areneeded.
2. Foresters in mainland Europehad to convert a natural forestinto a managed forest whilein Britain the main task has beento re-establish forests onbare land. This fact explains someof the differences in ourrespective handling of forestry issues.
3. The separation ofthe forestry authority and forestry enterprisefunctions intoseparate organizations has worked well in severalcountriesbut there is little evidence that it would be an advantageinBritain.
4. There may be a good case for further concessionson inheritancetax in Britain.
5. British foresters should strivefor greater silvicultural diversity;in particular they shoulddraw more than they have done on theexperience of France andGermany in combining environmentalforestry with the productionof high quality timber.

     

Monitoring managed forest structure at the compartment-level under different silvicultural heritages: An exploratory data analysis in Italy

ABSTRACT

The more and more diffused multifunctional role addressed nowadays to public forests, calls for targeted analysis aimed at highlighting the overall outcome of different practices implemented on the same forest compartment, according to the locally prevailing function. This study was carried out in four Italian beech forests across a latitudinal gradient representative of multiple management history, stand structure, and dominant stand age. We analyze forest structure at the compartment scale before and after silvicultural practices. We aim to explore relationships and similarities between 10 stand attributes (mensurational and structural variables) to identify relevant indicators for the monitoring and management of forest ecosystems. Results indicate changing patterns of correlation and similarity among mensurational variables following practice implementation. A sensitivity gradient to silvicultural practice was finally identified within the four sites investigated as a result of the diverging stand structure. Our approach suggests a way and provides an insight for the design of adaptive forestry management practices required to meet environmental targets, in addition to the already acknowledged supply of primary goods and services.     

The Relevance of Species Concepts in Sustainable Forestry

Species concepts and the definition of a species are discussed in the context of sustainable forest management and the sustainability of biological systems in general. Sustainable forestry requires that the habitats created by silvicultural manipulation match the ecological niches of the species being managed, enabling them not only to grow but to reproduce themselves so they can persist on the landscape beyond the current rotation. For this to be possible, foresters must be able to identify species and understand how species are defined.     

Understanding Loggers' Perceptions

Abstract

Loggers play a critical role in managing forest resources. This study focused on understanding loggers' attitudes-information that we believe would be useful for improving communications and ultimately improving forest practices. Through interviews and a mail survey, four themes emerged, providing insight into loggers' attitudes: (1) Pennsylvania loggers are proud of their industry, (2) Public pressure is affecting the logging industry, (3) Loggers are concerned about the future, and (4) Loggers, foresters, and landowners need to improve their communications. Pennsylvania loggers are a diverse group possessing a wide range of attitudes. Listening to loggers is essential for achieving sustainable forestry.     

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.     

Estimation of sequestered carbon in Article-3.4 private planted forests in the first commitment period in Japan

The purpose of this study was to predict the likely amounts of carbon sequestration on a national scale for Japan in the Article-3.4 private planted forests of the Kyoto Protocol during the first commitment period. We regarded the planted forests that had undergone silvicultural practices such as weeding, pruning, and thinning since 1990 as Article-3.4 planted forests in accordance with the definition given by the Forestry Agency of Japan. Regression models were developed to predict the forest areas that had undergone silvicultural practices, employing silvicultural subsidies and forest workers' wages as predictor variables. Then the time series changes in the predictor variables were provided by extending their recent trends, with the result being that the forest areas that have undergone silvicultural practices were predicted on the basis of the three scenarios of the variables. Thus, the Article-3.4 forest area was calculated considering overlaps of silvicultural practices over fixed stands, and the area was converted into the amount of carbon sequestration by multiplying it by coefficients such as a volume table, biomass expansion factor, and others. The result implied that Article-3.4 private planted forests were expected to sequester 8.16–8.87 Mt-C year⁻¹ during the first commitment period. These amounts cover 63%–68% of the carbon sequestration goal by land-use change and forestry activities capped under the Marrakesh Accords. To realize this prediction, it is important to provide a sufficient silvicultural subsidy to last until the end of the first commitment period and to implement silvicultural practices on the forest stands that have not undergone such practices since 1990.     

A refined view on the “Green lie”: Forest structure and composition succeeding early twentieth century selective logging in SE Norway

Abstract

Logging exceeded growth and timber trees were sparse in Norwegian forests in the early 1900s. Still, the forest canopy was lush green and characterised by large tree-crowns. This situation was referred to as the “Green lie” and was advocated by foresters throughout Scandinavia as an argument in favour of forestry practices based on clear-felling. Here we examine effects of past selective loggings on forest structure and composition in a spruce forest landscape using dendroecology and historical records. Our results show that forests that were selectively logged up to the early 1900s could be structurally heterogeneous with multi-layered canopies, varying degree of openness and continuous presence of old trees across different spatial scales. Because the past forests were not clear-felled, a diverse forest structure in terms of tree species composition and age and diameter distribution was maintained over time, which could enable forest-dwelling species to persist during the early phase following the loggings in the past. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in most modern managed forest landscapes in Scandinavia. A better understanding of the link between loggings in the past- and present-day forest structure and diversity will contribute to rewarding discussions on forestry methods for the future.     

森林生长经营模拟平台CAPSIS及其应用

林业工作者通过建立生长模型来研究、理解和展示林分的生长过程并制定经营决策,特定的计算机工具经常用来实现这些模型。CAPSIS是一个致力于建立森林生长模型并能充分整合各种模型的通用共享森林建模平台,可提供森林经营管理的工具设计和比较不同的森林经营方案。笔者对CAPSIS森林生长经营模拟平台及其在林业上的应用进行了介绍,并讨论了建模者和林业工作者利用这一共享森林建模平台进行森林生长研究、经营管理决策等的优势。     

Acceptable practices in Ontario's forests: Differences between the public and forestry professionals

We compare and contrast survey responses to statements about 1) environmental values, 2) agreement with forest management goals and approaches, 3) perceptions of risk, 4) trust in science and government, and 5) acceptability of forestry practices between the public and three groups of forestry professionals (government biologists, government foresters, and industry foresters) in Ontario. The survey emphasized issues surrounding forest vegetation management due to the contentious nature of herbicide use. Responses were gathered from a 140-question telephone survey administered from September and November 1994 to 1,500 members of the general public and 201 forestry professionals across the province. Forestry professionals tended to be less supportive of some environmental values and forest management goals, perceive everyday and forestry activities to be less risky, be more trusting of science and government, and be more accepting of forestry activities than the general public. Among the three groups of forestry professionals, industry foresters tended to be most different from the public, followed by government foresters, and government biologists. These differences reveal potential sources of conflict and miscommunication between the public and forest managers. Recognizing these differences can help improve communications with the public about forest management plans.     

FORESTAR：A decision—support system for multi—objective forest management in Northeast China

Past monoculture forestry in China has contributed to countrywide ecological disasters and economic difficulties in forestry regions. China‘s new forestry programs, Natural Forest Conservation Program and Returning Farmlands to Forests Program, provide opportunities for ecosystem management of mountain forests in China. A decision support system, FORE-STAR, has been developed for better managing and protecting natural forests in Changbai Mountain area. It uses GIS-based forest inventory data at a scale of forestry bureau. The first version contains two sub-modules: forest operation and forest res-toration. Under each sub-module, users can compare several decision options and make optimal choices. It can help field for-esters, forest managers, and policy makers make multi-objective and consistent decisions in planning forest management at hierarchical administrative scales.     

Comanaged Forests in West Bengal

Abstract

The forests of West Bengal have recently come under a comanagement initiative called Joint Forest Management. This paper will examine changing forestry regimes in southern West Bengal since the 1930s to suggest that the redefinition of forest management in the region since the mid 1980s cannot adequately be explained in terms of property rights. The nature of village community, overlapping jurisdictions of different agencies and groups in forest management, and the nature of expertise qualifying the scope of jurisdictions-that of foresters and villagers-are intersecting issues that have to be analyzed to understand the institutional politics of comanaging natural resources worldwide.     

Joint simulation of stand dynamics and landscape evolution using a tree-level model for mixed uneven-aged forests

• Context  

A century and more after a major reforestation program, large areas in the French Southern Alps have moved to a landscape mosaic of old pine plantations and new, heterogeneous and uneven-aged, mixed stands. These conditions are challenging foresters in silvicultural practices and management choices.     

Forestry in transition: Imperial legacy and negotiated expertise in Romania and Poland

The expertise of foresters has until recently been relatively uncontested in central and eastern European forest management, but political, economic and social changes are now challenging that, and create opportunities for understanding the relationship between expertise and context. Emphasising both the characteristics that central and eastern European countries have in common, and ways in which they differ, the paper outlines broad changes in forestry policy and practice in the region. It then explores constructions of foresters' identity, role and legitimacy, and the influence of context on their status as experts. The paper focuses on Romania and Poland, drawing on extended interviews, field observation and documentary analysis. Because forestry is tied into histories of power and institutional culture as well as science and political rationalisation, the evolution of forestry knowledge offers insights for wider debates about ‘expertise’ as a socially constructed alternative to lay knowledge. Foresters acquire expertise, both as it is conferred upon them (by law and education), and through their own authority (gained through experience, and the acting out of an emotional commitment to the forest). Post-socialist forestry offers rich potential for extending our understanding of contingency and subjectivity within the wider projects of empire and modernity.     

Profiles of forestry contractors and development of the forestry-contracting sector in Sweden

Abstract

Contractors perform the majority of forestry activities in Sweden, yet little is known about the development of their company structures and strategies. By analyzing data from the Swedish Forest Agency's yearly survey to forestry contractors for 2006–2009 and comparing the results with previous data for 1993–1998, we examined the current profiles of Swedish forestry contractors and their recent development. For 2006–2009, responses were received from 700 to 770 forestry contractors, corresponding to ca. 20% of the estimated total number of Swedish forestry contractors. In 2009, 60% of contractors were mainly performing logging activities, whereas 30% were mainly performing silvicultural activities. Between 1993 and 2009, the number of contractors increased by ca. 80%, while the number of forestry working contractors and their employees increased by 157%. These increases were mainly due to increased silvicultural activities. Although one-person enterprises still dominate among Swedish forestry contractors, most logging work is performed by small-sized enterprises, whereas most silviculture work is performed by large-sized enterprises. Our study suggests that there is an increased dependency upon contractors and forestry contractors have become more diversified, but still specialized, in the type of work they perform.     

Adapting through practice: Silviculture,innovation and forest governance for the age of extreme uncertainty

Adaptation in forest management is often framed as a scientific challenge, relying on more accurate modelling and better communication from science practice. However future scenarios of extreme uncertainty such as those characterising the Anthropocene may require a more flexible and interactive approach, drawing on a wider range of knowledge. The role of the practitioner in this is often highlighted, but little understood. This paper therefore seeks to contribute to empirical understanding of forest practice and its implications for adaptive forest governance. In the UK, devolved forest administrations are addressing new structures and politics, reduced budgets and staff, and several high impact tree health disasters. In the absence of scientific and operational guidance, foresters are finding new spaces in which to use their silvicultural knowledge, and work flexibly, generating new knowledge and practice through observation and local experiments. The capacity of state forestry organisations to learn and adapt is constrained by resource cuts, reorganisation, poor record keeping, increasingly top-down policy control, and de facto pre-eminence given to timber as the management objective. Individual relationships and personalities can nevertheless support communication and learning. The new circumstances are stimulating an approach which is both creative and grounded in silvicultural knowledge and experience. Important parts of the adaptive process lie with practice and innovation in the forest, rather than hierarchical, science-led approaches, but reality does not present us with a simple dichotomy between deterministic, reductionist forest management, and indeterministic, adaptive, ecosystem approaches. Further attention to practitioners' realities and contribution to knowledge is needed.     

Implications of Indian Foresters’ Perspectives of Joint Forest Management

A study was conducted in Kullu district in the province of Himachal Pradesh in Indian Western Himalaya, to investigate the perceptions of Indian foresters about aspects of forest management relevant for effective Joint Forest Management (JFM). A lack of uniform understanding was found amongst forestry staff about almost all the studied issues pertaining to JFM. A need is identified to emphasise social aspects in the training of the foresters (including in-service training), along with the existing silvi-technical aspects. For JFM success, measures need to be devised to reduce the political interference in JFM, reduce hierarchical rigidity, and increase interaction between field staff and the administrative hierarchy. Strategies should be devised to make JFM participants as well as forestry staff equally responsible to honour their commitments with respect to JFM.

Forest Growth-and-Yield Modelling

Abstract

Examples of effective growth-and-yield model implementation and use are documented throughout the forestry world. However, in the perspective of sustainable forestry, comparing the development of management requirements with growth-and-yield research backgrounds, some doubts arise concerning basic research hypotheses. The conflict between the necessary simplification implied in models development and the essential complex nature of forests plays a key role in the issue. Furthermore, present modelling concepts stem from a traditional framework relying at the fundamental perception level on the enforcement of external regulations on the forest, having some predetermined optimal structure as a goal. If tomorrow's strategic planning places in the forefront of the framework Oldeman's paradox “objectives are best achieved by first forgetting them in favour of forest survival and complexity maintenance,” we will really face quite a sharp concept change. Yet, it is important to clearly focus the role of models as potential adjuncts to the professional judgement and wisdom of foresters given their rational scientific character as learning, communication and screening tools. What is attainable is not the high precision of quantitative predictions, at least as far as complex biological systems such as forests are concerned. Compact representations (e.g., minimal models and “modeles simples”) with few state variables and a biologically-driven content may provide reasonable indications on future states over a wide range of conditions, contributing to operational forest management guidelines within an adaptive framework.     

Predivinsk Lespromkhoz: A Case Study on the Collaborative Restructuring of a Forest Product Based Community in Siberia

Abstract

Ecologists, managers, federal forest officials, biologists, Russian and international environmentalists are developing and rethinking the practices and products of a timber operation in central Siberia. Predivinsk Lespromkhoz is a timber producing community located on the Einisei River, 150 kilometers north of Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia. The four thousand inhabitants are faced with expanding costs, a loss of financial support from the government, a collapsed market and disappearing natural resources. The restructuring of the Russian Government gave local foresters and limber operations more control of their resources but unfortunately, inflation and the dwindling economy restricted capital for implementation of new, sustainable forest practices and improved marketable products. Predivinsk is relatively accessible to foreigners interested in the taiga of central Siberia and scientists from the Krasnoyarsk Forest Institute welcome collaborative projects.