Understorey condition scoring of Ghanaian lowland tropical moist forest during stock survey: a technique for regulating the allowable cut in ecologically and structurally degraded production forest

Understorey condition scoring is a rapid assessment field technique for appraising and delimiting the various stages of ecological and structural decline in fire-degraded, lowland, tropical moist forest. The scoring system is designed to be incorporated into stock survey. It is simple and consistent, with only minimal time and labour requirements. The degree of degradation is assessed from the vegetation structure contained within the first 2 m of the stand's vertical profile and is assigned to one of six categories. Sample plots of 20 m radius are used to distinguish localised, degraded areas from natural forest chablis and a high sampling intensity is employed to enable accurate mapping of the forest condition. Establishing the spatial extent and degree of degradation facilitates a more appropriate determination of the allowable cut at the sub-compartmental level, thereby affording protection to affected areas of forest against further ecological and structural deterioration. In addition, the system can be used for long-term condition monitoring and targeting dry-season fire-control operations.