Forestal management based on acoustical values

Abstract

Around and on military training areas there are usually a large number of forest stands. These primarily fulfil the special requirements of military use due to their special structure and tar-geted development. In particular, the dust, visual and noise protection functions of the forests protect the civilian environment from the undesirable effects of military training operations. The aim of forestal management measures in the forest stands is to provide and ensure these functions by selecting suitable tree species and optimising stand structures. A forest attenua-tion model has been developed in recent years, in which the acoustic attenuation of a forest stand can be deduced from forestal parameters. Furthermore, a method has been developed to predict the overall acoustic attenuation of several consecutive stands. For the planning and assessment of silvicultural measures in military functional forests with regard to their effects on noise attenuation, however, further definitions are necessary in order to be able to draw simple, comprehensible conclusions from the wealth of possible variations. The presentation introduces the models as well as the other necessary definitions and shows their application using an example.