Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The concept of sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation has become
more and more important in the last decades. The preservation of key habitats and
ecologically valuable forests is recognized to be a goal in the planning process. Forest
certification is a tool used to implement and achieve this objective. In Sweden the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) certification imposes to the forest owners who want to be
certified, to set aside at least 5% of their properties for biodiversity purposes. In southern
Sweden this mechanism becomes very relevant, since the small private forest is the most
common form of ownership.
This thesis aims to investigate how much the conservation value of the set aside areas
differs among different estates. Furthermore the presence of structures important for
biodiversity in such small private forest estates is analysed, in particular comparing set aside
areas and the most ecologically valuable non set aside areas.
The question that was tried to be answered was if the stands presenting the highest
ecological and biodiversity values were those set aside.
The study implementation consisted of inventorying ten estates certified according to
FSC scheme and estimating the ecological value of the stands belonging to both, set aside and
non set aside areas. A simplified biodiversity estimate was used where features representing
the most important structures for forest biodiversity were checked. In particular different
types of dead wood were surveyed and analysed, tree diameters (as a representation of old
trees) and deciduous tree component. In addition an assessment of biodiversity potential was
conducted in each stand, as a further variable which gives a score indicating the presence of
valuable elements.
The data analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the amount of dead
wood between set aside and non set aside stands. The only difference that was found was in
the amount of lying dead trees, with a slightly higher volume for the non set aside area. The
field survey, combined with the biodiversity potential and the data revealed that in some cases
low productive stands were preferred to stands with higher ecological characteristics in the
setting aside process. A lack of large trees was also noticed.
In conclusion, as a general observation, it could be said that in certified small private
forest estates, a good management of stands presenting high biodiversity potential is
conducted. Yet here are elements that could be improved, like ensuring the percentage of the
forest set aside fully corresponds to the most ecologically valuable area. Furthermore, the management could be done in a more efficient way, with more careful attention to substrates
and element lacking in the landscape, such as large trees and deadwood.