scholarly journals Relating extension education to the adoption of sustainable forest management practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 92 (04) ◽  
pp. 412-417
Author(s):  
Maminiaina S. Rasamoelina ◽  
James E. Johnson ◽  
R. Bruce Hull
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Mail Survey ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Forest Owners ◽  
Family Forest ◽  
Forest Management Practices

Family forest lands represent a vitally important economic, environmental, and social resource in the U.S. A study of family forest owners was conducted in Virginia in 2007 to determine the relationship between attendance at Extension Service educational programs and the adoption of sustainable forest management practices. A mail survey was conducted to 3435 randomly selected forest owners, with a usable response rate of 32%. Participation in educational programs was shown to be significantly related to higher levels of adoption for all seven categories of sustainable forest management practices studied. For example, in the woodland management category, participants in workshops offered through the Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program (VFLEP) adopted one or more specific practices at a rate of 94%, significantly greater than 83% for forest owners who attended other general educational programs, which in turn was significantly higher than the 75% adoption rate for forest owners who did not attend any educational programs. Two key indicators of sustainable forest management are the preparation and use of a forest management plan, and the use of professional technical assistance providers. For both of these categories participants in the VFLEP adopted at significantly higher rates, 41% and 73%, respectively.

scholarly journals Understanding Sustainable Forest Management Certification in Slovakia: Forest Owners’ Perception of Expectations, Benefits and Problems

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Paluš ◽  
Ján Parobek ◽  
Rastislav Šulek ◽  
Ján Lichý ◽  
Jaroslav Šálka
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Forest Certification ◽  
Forest Stewardship Council ◽  
Forest Owners ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Price Premiums ◽  
Forest Management Practices

Forest certification as a voluntary verification tool has been providing an independent assessment of sustainable forestry practices and thus confidence in sustainability benchmarks for over 20 years. Using either the international or national approaches and initiatives, two main forest certification systems, PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), have spread in a number of countries worldwide. The specifics of local conditions in the forestry sector have to be taken into account when implementing the certification context in a given country or a region. Apart from the natural conditions, institutional structure, or legislative framework, it is also the local and national stakeholders and their perception of this issue that provides the background for the implementation of the certification criteria. The main objective of this study is to examine the general understanding of the certification concept as an environmental, economic, and social tool, and to determine the incentives of forest owners in Slovakia for sustainable forest management (SFM) certification. In addition, the benefits and problems arising from participation in certification were identified and differences reflecting the ownership structure of forests, size of forest area, and participation in a particular certification programme were analysed. Results indicate that certified forest owners, unlike non-certified, demonstrated a high level of understanding of the SFM certification concept. Certified entities mainly consider forest certification as their commitment to environmental responsibility and a tool for improving external company image, promoting sustainable utilisation of forest resources, and improving forest management practices. The main benefits are linked to the possibility to demonstrate forest management practices, a better understanding of the forest management concept, and improvement of forest management practices. PEFC users perceive more benefits following from certification; the most important are those associated with non-economic values, while FSC-certified forest owners perceive mainly economic benefits connected to market penetration, increased sales volume, and potential price premiums. The key problems associated with certification relate to duties to ensure compliance with certification criteria by contractors and administrative difficulties. Respondents reported minimum price premiums for the sale of their certified timber. Additionally, the findings of the study pointed out that a nationally developed certification system can better recognise the roles and objectives of forest certification in the context of forest policy.

scholarly journals Modelling Non-timber Forest Products for Forest Management Planning in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-322
Author(s):  
Jari Miina ◽  
Mikko Kurttila ◽  
Rafael Calama ◽  
Sergio de-Miguel ◽  
Timo Pukkala
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Joint Production ◽  
Forest Owners ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Forest Management Planning ◽  
Forest Management Practices ◽  
Non Timber Forest Products

Abstract Purpose of Review The increased popularity and commercial use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) calls for the development of models for NTFPs to include their predicted yields in forest management planning and to evaluate the potential of multi-functional forest management. This study assesses and discusses the current state of the art and trends in NTFP yield modelling in Europe and the integration of the models in multi-functional forest management planning at different spatial scales. Recent Findings Climate-sensitive empirical yield models already exist not only for a variety of NTFPs that are economically important to forest owners (e.g. cork and pine nuts) but also for wild-gathered berries and mushrooms, the harvesting of which cannot be controlled by the forest landowner in all European countries. Several studies on multi-functional forest management planning consider the economic profitability of the joint production of timber and NTFP. Harvesting NTFPs can create significant additional incomes for forest owners, compared with timber production only. However, maximizing the economic returns from the joint production of timber and NTFPs often calls for changes in forest management practices. Summary Continued efforts in modelling and predicting the yields of NTFPs have enabled forest managers to further expand the analyses of multi-functional forest planning and management in Europe. Climate-sensitive models also allow analyses on the potential effects of climate change on NTFP yields. New models and forest management practices are still needed for tree fruits, birch sap, a wider variety of wild edible mushrooms, specialty mushrooms cultivated on live trees as well as medicinal and edible forest herbs harvested for commercial value in Europe.

scholarly journals Oxidizable fractions of soil organic carbon in Caatinga forest submitted to different forest managements

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suellen Gomes Monteiro Batista ◽  
Patrícia Anjos Bittencourt Barreto-Garcia ◽  
Alessandro de Paula ◽  
Divino Levi Miguel ◽  
Willyan Charles Amaral Batista
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Selective Cutting ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Forest Management Practices

ABSTRACT: One of the main alternatives for the rational exploitation of the Caatinga biome’s natural resources is sustainable forest management. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and its fractions can be used to evaluate the conservation status of forest ecosystems after anthropic interventions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the short-term effect of different forest management practices on the distribution of SOC fractions in the Caatinga area located in Contendas do Sincorá National Forest (BA). Three forest management practices (clear cutting, selective cutting by diameter and selective cutting by species) were evaluated, using the unmanaged Caatinga as a control. Soil samples were collected at the 0-10cm depth. The SOC was fractionated into four fractions (F1’, F1, F2 and F3), adopting the chemical wet oxidation method based on increasing degrees of oxidation. The forest management caused a short-term change in the oxidizable fraction distribution of the SOC, which was reflected by a reduction of the most labile fractions.

Forest processes from stands to landscapes: exploring model forecast uncertainties using cross-scale model comparison

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 2345-2359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Papaik ◽  
Andrew Fall ◽  
Brian Sturtevant ◽  
Daniel Kneeshaw ◽  
Christian Messier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Dynamics ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Landscape Model ◽  
Tree Model ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Forest Management Practices ◽  
Landscape Models

Forest management practices conducted primarily at the stand scale result in simplified forests with regeneration problems and low structural and biological diversity. Landscape models have been used to help design management strategies to address these problems. However, there remains a great deal of uncertainty that the actual management practices result in the desired sustainable landscape structure. To investigate our ability to meet sustainable forest management goals across scales, we assessed how two models of forest dynamics, a scaled-up individual-tree model and a landscape model, simulate forest dynamics under three types of harvesting regimes: clearcut, gap, and uniform thinning. Althougth 50–100 year forecasts predicted average successional patterns that differed by less than 20% between models, understory dynamics of the landscape model were simplified relative to the scaled-up tree model, whereas successional patterns of the scaled-up tree model deviated from empirical studies on the driest and wettest landtypes. The scale dependencies of both models revealed important weaknesses when the models were used alone; however, when used together, they could provide a heuristic method that could improve our ability to design sustainable forest management practices.

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