Forest Plantation Management

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Evaluation of traditional plantation management techniques with respect to modern concepts of plantation management.

The traditional Sri Lankans led a simple yet a sustainable life in harmony with the nature utilising its resources wisely and appropriately. Since the vitality of forest resources were well known, properly designed plantation management techniques were followed by them even in ancient times. The traditionally practiced plantation management techniques are highly significant since most of these methods are more or less similar to the plantation management practices which are used in modern plantations leading to a sustainable management of forest resources. These traditional practices are evaluated on a scientific basis along with the modern concepts of sustainable plantation management to signify the eco consciousness of traditional plantation management techniques. Different traditional plantation management practices were gathered from literary sources such as ancient manuscripts, palm leave books, publications etc. The gathered methods were verified through oral interviews with experienced traditional experts and the verified methods were scientifically evaluated and were compared with the basic plantation management concepts practiced under sustainable plantation management at present. The methods of assessing soil suitability for various plantations, the specific requirements of floral species, ecofriendly land preparation techniques (such as phytoremediation etc.), different seeding or plantation methods (based upon the used floral species), the optimum spaces or gaps that should be maintained between two trees (for different floral species), plant treatment methods, harvesting ages of different species are discussed in detail within the traditional sources which seem to bear the same core concepts as of the modern techniques. Hence the traditional plantation management techniques can be defined as the fundamentals of sustainable forest resources management that have been gradually evolved into modern concepts of plantation management

Project Report No. 46, Loblolly Pine Plantations in East Texas Two Harvest Schedules No Thinning & Final Harvest at 25 Years Thin at 10 Years & Final Harvest at 25 Years Sawlog/Veneer Wood Flow Comparison, A Simulation

DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE SAWLOG/VENEER 1000 FLOW? DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE NET PRESENT VALUE

Project Report No. 46, Loblolly Pine Plantations in East Texas Two Harvest Schedules No Thinning & Final Harvest at 25 Years Thin at 10 Years & Final Harvest at 25 Years Sawlog/Veneer Wood Flow Comparison, A Simulation

DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE SAWLOG/VENEER 1000 FLOW? DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE NET PRESENT VALUE

Plantation forests and biodiversity conservation

There are five key reasons why biodiversity conservation should be considered a part of plantation management. (1) The plantation estate is large, and balancing various land management values with wood and pulp production is important when extensive areas of land are involved. (2) The locations and management of new plantations will affect the biota that currently exist in such landscapes. (3) Maintaining some elements of biodiversity within plantations can have benefits for stand productivity and the maintenance of key ecosystem processes such as pest control. (4) The retention (or loss) of biota in plantations is relevant to the formulation of ecological standards and the certification of plantations in many parts of the world. (5) Plantation forestry has a narrow and intensive management focus on producing a forest crop for a limited array of purposes. It will not meet future societal demands for a range of outputs from plantations (in addition to wood and pulp supply), and will not be congruent with the principles of ecological sustainability. This paper briefly reviews the biodiversity conservation values of Australian plantation s. It shows that almost all work in Australian plantations, whether conifer or eucalypt, highlights the importance of landscape heterogeneity and stand structural complexity for enhancing biodiversity. Management of plantations to promote landscape heterogeneity and stand structural complexity and enhance the conservation of biodiversity will, in many cases, involve tradeoffs that will affect wood and pulp production. The extent to which this occurs will depend on the objectives of plantation management and how far they extend towards the more complex plantation forestry models that incorporate social and environmental values. We argue that the widespread adoption of plantation forestry that leads to homogenous stands of extensive monocultures will risk re-creating the array of negative environmental outcomes that have been associated with agriculture in many parts of Australia

The effectiveness of riparian buffer zones for protecting waterways during harvest in the Pipiwai forest in Northland, New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Natural Resource Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The harvest of plantation forests has the potential to cause significant negative impacts on the waterways that flow through them. It has been proposed that to mitigate any such impacts waterways should be protected by undisturbed riparian buffer zones (RBZ). As such, this research has been conducted to investigate if RBZs protect plantation waterways during harvest. To do this a case study was carried out in the Pipiwai forest, one of Carter Holt Harvey Forests (CHHF) Northland plantations. In the investigation, 15 first order streams were sampled using an extended version of NIWA's stream health monitoring and assessment kit (SHMAK). The samples were taken from three different stream treatments, those harvested with undisturbed buffers, harvested with no buffers (clearcut) and standing mature pine forest. Each site had the quality of its aquatic and riparian habitats and invertebrate communities assessed via the SHMAK, which presented a rating for each streams health. Statistical analysis was also carried out to determine if any differences in the results were significant or simply an expression of the variation that could be expected in a single population. The management of the plantation was also investigated. CHHF managers were interviewed to determine the activities that could have impacted on the forest's waterways. The results showed that clearcut streams had degraded riparian and aquatic habitats through the loss of vegetation, exposed and eroding soil, and increased streambed sedimentation. This degradation was reflected in the invertebrate communities which were dominated by high numbers of pollutant tolerant species such as mollusks and midges. Buffered waterways, however, had no such degradation and their invertebrate communities had high numbers of pristine requiring invertebrates such as mayflies. Statistical analysis showed that the habitat and invertebrate scores of the clearcut sites were significantly lower than the buffered and pine sites, and it also showed there was no significant difference between the buffered sites and the mature pine sites. The results also showed that the management of the Pipiwai plantation was conducted to industry and council standards, but that this was insufficient to prevent the degradation of the waterways in the clearcut catchments. The two main conclusions of this research were that RBZs in the Pipiwai forest protected waterways from degradation during plantation harvest and maintained them in a state similar to that of standing mature pine forest, and that management practices and regulations in use at the time of harvest, though within industry and government standards, were unable to prevent waterway degradation and achieve results equal to those of the RBZs

CENFED spreads wings to Sabah, Sarawak

Universiti Malaysia Pahang's (UMP) Centre for Continuing Education & Professional Development, or fondly known as CENFED, has spread its wings to Sabah and Sarawak when it launched its Executive Diploma in Plantation Management & Technology Programme there recently

The Role of Land Conservation in Plantation Management

The main problem of agricultural activities in the steep slope upland area if without adequate soil conservation practices is that it will results in soil erosion. Soil erosion causes agricultural land degradation which reduces the physical, chemical, and biological soil roperties and decreases land productivities. Soil erosion is very harmful to agricultural land productivities, because loss of the fertile topsoil in a relatively short time causes decrease of fertility and productivity of the soils. The role of conservation techniques are the way of soil conservation, which have three principles of definitions, i.e. a) to protect the soil against soil degradation, b) to improve the degraded soil, and c) to make the soil more fertile. Soil conservation practice in the field have used two methods i.e. mechanical conservation methods and vegetative conservation methods. Mechanical conservation method is the earth embankments constructed across the slope to intercept surface run off and to protect soil erosion (soil cultivation along the contour, terraces constructed, contour bank, waterways ditch, drop structure, silt pit, checkdam, gully plug, etc). While the vegetative methode are reducing the kinetic energy of the raindrops on the soil surface, reducing the run off velocity, increasing infiltration rate and reducing soil water contents. The effectiveness of soil conservation techniques in uplands area on the the soil erosion and the land productivity is different in each location. This is because of the difference of the land capability (site specific, soil behavior and properties, and the climate). Farmers’ motivation as the user of the soil conservation technologies is included as one on the determinant factors of the successfulness in improving degraded upland and in increasing land productivity