Should the wind disturbance patterns observed in natural forests be mimicked in planted forests in British uplands?

Recent developments in UK forestry policy require the adoption of management practices that maintain and improve the biodiversity of managed forests. One approach is to use natural disturbance in unmanaged forests as a template for setting the scale, frequency and pattern of forest operations in managed forests. This review considers the relevance of this approach for conifer plantations in upland Britain. The dynamics of British planted forests are compared with the disturbance dynamics of analogous natural forests with particular reference to disturbance by strong winds. Western hemlock-Sitka spruce (Tsuga heterophylla-Picea sitchensis) forests in the Pacific North-west of North America and particularly South-east Alaska provide the most promising comparison. There are few reports on disturbance in these forests, but the regime includes both gap-phase and stand replacement dynamics due to wind. However, the landscape proportion and pattern of resulting structural types are not well defined. The dynamics of planted forests in Britain are dominated by rotational patch clearfelling which results in regular stand replacement and little possibility of the stands developing beyond the stage of stem exclusion towards old-growth. The pattern and timing of felling is driven by economic and visual amenity considerations rather than by an attempt to mimic natural disturbance patterns. Moreover, the structural complexity and remnant elements (such as deadwood, large trees, vegetation patches) left after large scale disturbance are rarely found after conventional timber harvesting. The authors conclude that natural wind disturbance regimes have potential as a reference point for management in British upland forests but at present are not relevant as a model to mimic explicitly. This is because the biodiversity benefits of adopting a 'natural' approach in planted forests are unclear compared with management guided by other criteria such as rarity. Furthermore, the spatial and temporal pattern to be mimicked is not sufficiently well understood. Improved knowledge could inform decisions on the scale and distribution of harvesting across a landscape, and modify silvicultural operations to create and maintain the structures and patterns associated with natural disturbance. However, further research is needed to quantify the spatial and temporal characteristics of wind disturbance in upland forests in Britain and in natural forests elsewhere.