Evaluation of different felling intensities in management of secondary carob forests under silvopastoral use in the Humid Chaco

Abstract

The progressive reduction of the forest surface to enable land destined for other productive activities and its subsequent abandonment, allowed the appearance of fragments of secondary forests, frequently dominated by carob trees. Prosopis alba that have been identified as a strategic biological resource of the Chaco Park, due to its characteristic of multipurpose tree, which gives it a high value for the management of secondary forests in areas abandoned by agriculture and livestock, offering at the same time an alternative productive. A fundamental aspect in the management of secondary forests of this species is the need to concentrate growth on the dominant trees, since the achievement of large-sized individuals is essential for supplying the wood industry. Within the framework of a project aimed at designing management tools that make it possible to make high forest production compatible with livestock. To this effect, preliminary results of the response of the forest mass as well as of the remaining individuals are presented against three intensities of selective thinning. The objective of the work is to have basic information that allows establishing sustainable management guidelines in secondary forests, in its initial stages for the provision of quality wood for forestry-industry with forestry-livestock production schemes.