Plantation Forestry: A Global Look

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

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Total Wood Removal 2005: 3.1 billion cubic meters

Rank Country Productive Protective Total Percent

    Plantation Plantation Plantation Plantation

    million ha  

1 China 28.5 2.8 31.4 15.9%

2 USA 17.1 0.0 17.1 5.6%

3 Russian Federation 11.9 5.1 17.0 2.1%

4 Brazil 5.4 0.0 5.4 1.1%

5 Sudan 4.7 0.7 5.4 8.0%

6 Indonesia 3.4 0.0 3.4 3.8%

7 Chile 2.7 0.0 2.7 16.5%

8 Thailand 2.0 1.1 3.1 21.3%

9 France 2.0 0.0 2.0 12.7%

10 Turkey 1.9 0.6 2.5 24.9%

The Gorilla in the Room

The Gorilla in the Room

Let’s Do The Math

• Current World Population: 6,785,564,850• Forest/Woodland Area (ha): 5,327,854,000

• Forest/Woodland per Person

5,327,854,0000.79 ha

6,785,564,850

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

How can silviculture enhance productivity to such a degree?

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

FlexStand System

Site Preparation

Competition Control

Fertilization

Loblolly Pine

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

14 Year Old Loblolly Pine Plantation – 9 ft x 9ft Spacing

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

Plantations and Diversity

A Regional Look at Wildlife Habitat in Southern Pine

• Newly established plantations that support abundant herbaceous vegetation will provide sustenance for species dependent on cover provided by such vegetation

• 10 to 15 year-old pines furnishes a preferable combination of habitat traits for species like white-tailed deer

• As the stand matures, habitat quality for these species linked with herbaceous component as this vegetation eliminated by a woody overstory

Patterns of habitat and wildlife species use reflect changes in stand development and composition

Recommendations for improving wildlife habitat associated with even-aged, pine plantations in the southeastern United States

• Species Composition– Diversify species

– Advocate mixed pine-hardwood stands

– Limit conversion of hardwood and pine/hardwood to plantations

– Maintain and restore hardwood-dominated stream corridors

– Encourage planting of the best genetically improved pine seedling stock for faster growth

Recommendations for improving wildlife habitat associated with even-aged, pine plantations in the southeastern United States

• Management– Encourage precommercial and commercial thinning

– Increase flexibility in tree stocking rates• Wider spaces within rows (e.g., 8 ft).

• Wider spacing between tree rows (e.g., 12 ft)

– Advocate prescribed burning of younger stands

– Encourage sawtimber-dominated stands

– Encourage partial harvest to establish multi-age plantations

– Emphasize low-intensity mechanical site preparation over use of herbicides.

• When herbicides are needed, favor those products that have minimal effect of plant species

Recommendations for improving wildlife habitat associated with even-aged, pine plantations in the southeastern United States

Size and Configuration• Limit plantation size to 50 ac or smaller

• Establish a ratio of 1 ac of permanent opening per 20 ac of trees within plantations > 50 ac

• Establish irregular plantation boundaries

• Establish or preserve hardwood corridors and firebreaks-roads planted to herbaceous cover to increase diversity

• Plant borders roads to legumes or wildlife food plots

• Establish soft borders between plantations and agricultural lands