Summary
Published in Canadian Journal of Forest Research. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2023-0224
Forest plantations play an increasingly important role in meeting global demand for wood. They usually have higher yield than naturally regenerated forests. Thus, plantations can support economically viable wood production, enable forest conservation elsewere, help mitigate climate change by contributing to carbon sequestration and increase forest resilience and resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors. If yield of plantations is not as high as anticipated, then their use could generate important sustainability issues. There are still major gaps in our understanding of the factors that influence yield, even with respect to black spruce, white spruce, and jack pine, three of the most commonly planted tree species in northeastern North America. Our objective was to evaluate the yield of forest plantations of these species over a 416 000 km2 region that was representative of northeastern North American forests. Contrary to our prediction, realized yield of operational plantations was consistently lower than anticipated. Site index and competition both played a significant role in determining the yield of plantations. In the context of uncertain realized yield of operational plantations, we emphasize the necessity of relying on adaptive management to determine harvest levels that are compatible with sustainable management objectives.
File
Sector(s):
Forests
Categorie(s):
Scientific Article
Theme(s):
Forest Ecology, Forestry Research, Forests, Silviculture
Departmental author(s):
Author(s)
BARRETTE, Martin, Isabelle AUGER, Nelson THIFFAULT and Julie BARRETTE
Year of publication :
2024
Format :
Keywords :
article scientifique, scientific article, sustainable forest management, allowable cut, silviculture, boreal forest, temperate forest, aménagement forestier durable, possibilité forestière, sylviculture, forêt boréale, forêt tempérée
