Application of growth and yield modeling for sustainable forest management planning and decision making
2002
Teshome, T. | Teketay, D. | Yemshaw, Y.
The availability of adequate and precise information on present and predicted future conditions of forests is essential for forest management planning. Detailed information, such as stand volume and basal area, may be obtained from forest inventories, while forecasts of the future condition of existing stands may be predicted using growth and yield models. I developed a number of growth and yield models for C. lusitanica stands for South Ethiopia. These models have been put together in a standard EXCEL package to portray the growth and yield performance of cypress stands over a long period of time. The simulation model is called SIMULCUP. This model gives ample opportunity to examine the effects of different types of silvicultural practices such as thinning intensity and frequency, spacing site quality and many other stand establishment parameters on the growth and yield performance of an individual tree and/or stand. The time of first thinning is also objectively determined using stand dominant height as it considers site quality as opposed to age, basal area and volume production of various stands. For a given limiting top diameter, the proportion of saw log, pulpwood and fuel wood is estimated at individual tree and stand levels. This enables the forest manager to sell forest products objectively. SIMUCUP is, thus, an essential tool that portrays the development of cypress stands over a long period of time for a number of alternative silvicultural options. Silvicultural options that yield profitable venture could be easily chosen before the reforestation program is being launched. Information obtained from these models is basic for forest management planning and decision making particularly for reforestation programs.
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