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Plantation Forestry: A Global Look. Forest Area: 3,952,025,000 ha Woodland Area: 1,375,829,000 ha. 620,138,943 m 3 wood (USDA 2008). 620,138,943 m 3 wood (USDA 2008). 620,138,943 m 3 wood (USDA 2008). 620,138,943 m 3 wood (USDA 2008). 620,138,943 m 3 wood (USDA 2008).
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Forest Area: 3,952,025,000 ha Woodland Area: 1,375,829,000 ha
620,138,943 m3 wood (USDA 2008) 620,138,943 m3 wood (USDA 2008) 620,138,943 m3 wood (USDA 2008) 620,138,943 m3 wood (USDA 2008) 620,138,943 m3 wood (USDA 2008) Annual World Wood Removal + + + 3.1 billion cubic meters =
Let’s Do The Math • Current World Population: 6,785,564,850 • Forest/Woodland Area (ha): 5,327,854,000 • Forest/Woodland per Person
Role of Plantations: Benefits • Plantations are < 4% of land base, but supply 35% of global roundwood • Increased productivity over natural forests • e.g., loblolly pine (400% increase) • Natural Stand: 42 tons per acre • Intensively Managed Plantation: 210 tons per acre • Restoration of Degraded Lands
Copper Basin Tennessee Restoration of Degraded Lands
Role of Plantations: Potential Tradeoffs • Biodiversity • Environmental Services • Impact on Local Communities • Nutrient Depletion • Monocultures of Exotics
Tree Species • Physiologically suited to establishing on exposed sites and growing in competition • Examples • Pinus spp. (e.g., loblolly pine, radiata pine) • Eucalyptus spp. • Acacia spp. • Populus spp. (cottonwood, aspen, improved hybrids) • Douglas-fir • Norway spruce • Black locust
Tree Planting and Density Management • Seed, seedling, or vegetative propagation • Initial plantation spacing controls stand development and growth rates • Thinning can be used to alter growing space utilization during rotation
Genetic Improvement • Seed, Seedling, or Vegetative Propagation • Traditional breeding programs • “Natural” selection • Improved seed orchards • Hybrids and Clones • Pitch x loblolly pine hybrid • Hybrid poplar (cottonwood x Black Poplar) • Biotechnology and clonal forestry
Loblolly Pine Improvement Program • Open pollinated • $45 to $70 per 1000 seedlings • Mass controlled pollinated • $140 to $230 per 1000 seedlings • Varietal • Produced through embryogenesis • $400 per 1000 seedlings
Fundamental dissimilarities between naturally regenerating stands and plantations • Diversity in plant species composition • Configuration of vertical layers and horizontal patterns of vegetation • Differences in branching patterns and lower uniformity in within-stand tree height contribute to greater diversity in older natural stands
Habitat quality of any given plantation (any forest stand) is defined by: • Within-stand characteristics • Adjacent land-uses • Alternative land-use • Cumulative landscape-scale and regional-scale land-use patterns
Plantation Establishment, Past, and Alternative Land-Use Scenarios • Pine plantation replacing a mature stand of mixed pine-hardwoods • Pine plantation establishment on highly erodible cropland • Mature stand of mixed pine-hardwoods replaced by: • Pine plantation • A housing development or Walmart
Reading: M. J. Hartley. 2002. Rationale and methods for conserving biodiversity in plantations forests. Forest Ecology and Management 155:81-95. • Management considerations • Harvest • Species composition • Site-preparation • Tending
M. J. Hartley. 2002. Rationale and methods for conserving biodiversity in plantations forests. Forest Ecology and Management 155:81-95. • Harvest Considerations • Retain legacy trees • Dispersed individuals • Aggregated clumps • Linear strips • Riparian buffer strips • Size/shape • Regeneration type • Incorporate irregular shelterwood or selection systems • Lengthen rotations
M. J. Hartley. 2002. Rationale and methods for conserving biodiversity in plantations forests. Forest Ecology and Management 155:81-95. • Species composition • Favor natives over exotics • Spatially and temporally juxtapose exotic and native stands • Maintain genetic diversity • Mixed species stands
M. J. Hartley. 2002. Rationale and methods for conserving biodiversity in plantations forests. Forest Ecology and Management 155:81-95. • Site preparation • Avoid intensive, soil disturbing site preparation • Retain snags and course woody debris • Prescribed fire to promote native understory species where appropriate
M. J. Hartley. 2002. Rationale and methods for conserving biodiversity in plantations forests. Forest Ecology and Management 155:81-95. • Tending • Thin some plantation early and heavy to promote diverse understory • Retain unthinned plantations • Mosaic of thinned and unthinned plantations • Avoid complete competition control with herbicides