Options for sustainable harvesting of timber products from woodlands: | Examples from Southern Africa
1996
Geldenhuys, C. J. | Mushove, P. T. | Shumba, E. M. | Matose, F.
In most cases products from the woodlands are harvested with no concern for management to secure regeneration, or to optimise and economise the utilisation of the treees that are felledm or to pursue multiple-use szstems. Verz few species are utilised, and some of the harvested species are relatively rare, or are over-utilized, and the management szstems do not favour their regeneration. Sustained-use management of woodlands require the maintenance of (a) the essential ecological processes of disturbance and recruitment, and (b) the balance of species. If inventories are conducted, the timber volume of onlz the commerciallz useful tree species and sizes are recorded. However, appropriately planned inventories could be used to assess the resource status of all species, i.e. the ratioo between regeneration and mature trees, as well as indications of the appropriate management system to secure regeneration of canopy species. Two criteria are used for this assessment. Grain gives the relationship between the composition of canopy species in the regeneration and canopy of the same stand. The shape of stem diameter distributions of species in different stand types provides useful insights into the resource status and management requirements for the specific species. Examples from a forest inventorz in miombo woodland in Sofala Province, Mozambique, are used to demonstrate the techniques used and their benefits. In particular the relative importance of fire-tolerant and fire-sensitive species in different communities require appropriate management with fire.
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