The analysis of silver birch (Betula pendula roth.) stands in state and private forests in Latvia
2008
Zalitis, T., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia)
In Latvia, birch is the second most widespread tree species; the share of birch is higher in private forests. The Forest Research Inventory that was launched in 2004 provides credible and up-to-date information about all forests of Latvia irrespective of the ownership. The data from first three years’ data base of this Project has been used in the present study. The aim of this study was to analyse birch stands in state and private forests concentrating on different aspects: mixture degree, origin of the stand, productivity and quality of the stand. 735 sample plots were selected from the database for the analysis. The proportion of the birch stands in the private forests was slightly higher than in the state forests. There were more mixed stands in the state forests than in the private ones. The standing volume was higher in the mixed stands while the opposite was true for the current annual volume increment of birch. The main regeneration method in both the state and private birch stands was natural regeneration from seed. Artificial regeneration was used only rarely in the private birch stands. The productivity did not differ significantly between the state and private forests; the same was true for the quality, expressed by the outcome of veneer logs. The stand quality differed significantly among site types, being the highest in the forests on dry mineral soils and the lowest in the forests on drained peat soils.
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