Study on Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii) as a Short Rotation Forestry in the North of Iran

Forests of Iran located on the Southern border of the Caspian Sea cover 1.9 million hectares. The Caspian forests are divided into four separate forestry areas. One of these being Guilan influx area with total area of 565000 hectares. About 30 to 40 percent of Guilan province forests are suitable to short rotation forestry for afforestation. Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is one of the main exotic species planted in the Guilan province. The objectives of this research were to estimate: stand parameters, form factors and a provisional volume table of Slash pine planted forest stands. A total of 142 individual trees were randomly sampled. Individual tree variables such as: dbh, height, volume, and form factors (f13, fm, f0.1 and fh) were measured and analyzed. The site index quality of study area, were broadly compared with stands of site index in the southeast USA. The results were shown that the site index quality at the study area in the north of Iran in agreement and parallel with stands of site index is 21m (63 Ft.) in the southeast USA. Therefore, operation of Slash pine is satisfied as short rotation forestry in the Guilan province of Iran

Comparison of allometric equations to estimate the above-ground biomass of Populus alba species (Case study; poplar plantations in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran)

Carbon sequestration into plants biomass, especially in fast growing trees is an easier and economically way for dropping off Co2 from atmosphere. This study was carried out in order to investigate above-ground biomass of white poplar (Populous alba, L.) plantations that was planted in four different plant spacing (0.5 × 0.5, 1 × 1, 2 × 2 and 4 × 4 m) in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in west of Iran. Selecting the trees was according to diameter classes. After inventory, 10 trees were selected from each density at one hectare area. The tree’s characteristics including diameter at breast height (DBH), total height, and crown diameter measured. Then measured trees felled down in order to measure the wet and dry weight of different organs including (whole tree, trunk, main branches, twigs and leaf).The regression analysis was applied to find out a relationship between mass production and poplar characteristics and to develop different allometry models between different organs and their carbon sequestration ability. The results showed that the independent DBH factor in P. alba, demonstrated high correlation against all the dependent variables. Height of trees also creates the allometric equations with average accuracy (0.30 - 0.81) against all the dependent variables. The crown diameter in dependent variable almost creates weakest equations. The result also indicated that there is no significant difference among equations of different planting spaces

Role of political power in forest administration policy of Iran

The area of natural forest in Iran is approximately 12.4 million hectares, comprising 7.5% of the total area of Iran. Forest management in the country was changed to the legislature after order of the Forest Nationalization Law in 1963. With civilization development, pressure on forests was significantly increased. In the early 20^th century a system of development planning began as a series of seven-year cycles, focusing on accelerating economic growth by improving capital-intensive industries and replacing religious and social traditions with rapid modernization. There are some essential challenges ahead of the common assets administration of the Hyrcanian forests which have many conflicts between including executive associations and regulations. So that, forest policy has been structurally shifted in policy sector, from private administration to governmental management. This paper has provided a literature review discussing the forest policy administration in Iran and its essential structural shifts during the last century as well as data collection from relevant governmental and private organizations

Goal programming and analytical hierarchy process approaches for sustainable plantation

The aim of this study was to develop an optimal sustainable forest plantation based on goal programming and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods. This study was carried out in Guilan province, north of Iran. First of all, the ecological capability of the study area for plantation establishment/maintenance was evaluated based on multi-factor method and specific ecological Makhdoum Model by means of GIS tools. Then goal programming approach as a multi criteria optimization technique was used for optimization. Therefore, ecological, economic and social aims were considered. Carbon sequestration was chosen as an ecological criterion. To estimate the total aboveground biomass and carbon content stem volume, stem biomass and crown biomass were measured using allometric equations. The net present value was also calculated using stumpage price, harvesting cost, consumer price index, annual growth, interest rate and optimal rotating. Estimated required labour for different plantation items were obtained from data base of Iranian Forests Rangelands and Watershed Management Organization. In order to achieve all purposes simultaneously, the goal programming technique was applied. Results indicated that using mathematical modeling provided a more logical set of consequences compared to using ecological modeling. The ability to change the weighting of the variables in the mathematical equations enabled decision makers to choose the optimal solution. Final results indicated that the appropriate plantation area for each species are as follow: Acer velutinum (810 ha), Alnus subcordata (348 ha), Pinus taeda (235 ha), Tilia begonifolia (165 ha), Quercus castanifolia (149 ha), Pinus nigra (110 ha) and Fraxinus excelsior (0 ha)

Effect of Forestry Cooperatives on Forest Conservation and Reclamation in Guilan Province

هدف این تحقیق ارزیابی میزان موفقیت تعاونی‌های جنگلداری استان گیلان در زمینة حفاظت و احیای جنگل‌های تحت پوشش بود. به این منظور از میان 8 تعاونی در استان گیلان،2 تعاونیِ قیصرکوه و نارون انتخاب شدند. در این مطالعه، روش تحقیق پیمایش توصیفی انتخاب گردید. برای گردآوری داده‌ها از پرسش‌نامه استفاده شد. تعداد 66 نمونه از تعاونی قیصرکوه و 43 نمونه از تعاونی نارون انتخاب شدند. تجزیه و تحلیل داده‌های به دست آمده با بهره‌گیری از نرم افزارSPSS و با کمک آزمون‌های t و من‌ویت‌نی صورت گرفت. نتایج نشان داد که تعاونی قیصرکوه با انجام 9/0% از تعهدات خود نسبت به جنگل‌کاری، 60% حصارکشی و انجام ندادن تعهد خود نسبت به احداث جاده، عملیات پرورشی و کمتر شدن مصرف سوخت و در بقیة موارد نیز در حد کم توانسته است در حفاظت و احیای جنگل‌ها تأثیر داشته باشد. اما تعاونی نارون با انجام 76% از تعهدات خود نسبت به جنگل‌کاری، 94% حصارکشی، 92% خراش سطحی و 79% احداث جاده توانسته است در حفاظت و احیای جنگل‌ها تأثیر مهمی بگذارد که این امر نشان‌دهندة موفقیت این تعاونی نسبت به تعاونی قیصرکوه است. از طرف دیگر، اختلاف معنی‌دارِ بین این دو تعاونی از نظر دستیابی به اهداف حفاظتی و احیای جنگل‌ها حاکی از تأثیرمستقیمومنفیمشکلات و نارسایی‌های تعاونی‌ها در حفاظتو احیای جنگل‌هاست

Socioeconomic evaluation of agroforestry systems : (Case study: Northern Iran)

The aim of this research was to investigate the socioeconomic values of different land use in the agroforestry system. Questionnaires were used to collect social and economic data in two villages at Guilan province, northernIran. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Profitability Index (PI) were used for cost-benefit analysis. Net Present Value(NPV) of different farming systems was determined. ANOVA test was used to compare the outcomes of different landuse. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between literacy and variety of land use in two villages. Results of IRR and PI indices show that these indices were higher in poplar plantation than in the other land use(paddy and tea field, horticulture and vegetable). Results of ANOVA test showed that there is a significant differencebetween net incomes from different farming systems in Tamchal village. Furthermore, the ANOVA test showed thatthere is no significant difference between net incomes from different farming systems in Narenj Bon Paeen village. Theresults showed that farmers tend to participate in training and promoting classes associated with the maximum use ofland. Chi-squared test was used in order to determine the effect of participation in training and promoting classes onmultiple uses of land, land use change, sericulture, and apiculture. The results of Chi-squared test showed that thereis a significant and positive relationship between people’s participation rates and the multiple use of land. In overall,results showed that traditional agroforestry systems provide a higher income than monoculture in the study area

Investigation of wood production and trading in Iran

The relation between wood export and import of Iran and a number of major macroeconomic variables,such as oil price, gross domestic production, population, exchange rate, unemployment rate, inflation and domesticwood production during 1980–2014 were described. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysiswere used for data analysis. The results showed that there is a significant relation at a significance level of 5% betweenwood export as a dependent variable and oil price, GDP, population, exchange rate and domestic wood production asindependent variables. Meanwhile, there is also a significant relation between wood import and oil price, exchangerate and domestic wood production. The findings also indicate that oil price as an independent variable has the highest effect on wood import in Iran during the studied period