Abstract
Continuous-cover forestry (CCF) is expected to reduce the negative environmental impacts of peatland forestry in comparison with rotation forestry (RF), but the unknown profitability of CCF on peatlands limits its application in practice. The profitability of CCF was analyzed by simulating management scenarios with a process-based ecosystem model, EFIMOD, which was complemented to describe the interplay between tree growth and water table depth, which is typical of peatland forests. A variety of harvest intervals and post-harvest basal areas for a mature Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) dominated stand was simulated on a nutrient-rich peatland site. Conventional RF was simulated for comparison. CCF provided a higher profit than RF. The best financial performance was obtained with a 15-year harvest interval regardless of interest rate, although the overall profitability of CCF depended on the interest rate used. Ditch network maintenance was needed to maintain the stand growth only when the post-harvest basal area was smaller than 10 m2·ha−1. There were many CCF scenarios in which the difference in the net present value of harvest revenues was within 10% compared with the best CCF scenario. Hence, there are many relatively profitable CCF harvesting alternatives for forest management in boreal spruce-dominated peatland forests.
Highlights
There are about 15 Mha of forests growing on peatland (Joosten and Clarke 2002), as a result of either draining and afforestation (e.g., Sloan et al 2018) or, as is more common in northern Europe, draining naturally treed peatlands to improve forest growth (e.g., Sarkkola et al 2004; Remm et al 2013)
The normalized root-mean-square deviation (NRMSD), calculated as RMSD/(max(y) À min(y)), was based on the difference between values predicted by the models and those from the yield tables and comprised 0.0534 for the mean height, 0.0724 for the mean DBH, and 0.0179 for the stand density
The growing stock mean annual increment (MAI) calculated, taking into account stand development from a young stage to a mature stage without cuttings, fitted the range of 4.5–6 m3·haÀ1 reported for the medium yield classes of drained peatlands (Gustavsen et al 1998)
Summary
There are about 15 Mha of forests growing on peatland (Joosten and Clarke 2002), as a result of either draining and afforestation (e.g., Sloan et al 2018) or, as is more common in northern Europe, draining naturally treed peatlands to improve forest growth (e.g., Sarkkola et al 2004; Remm et al 2013). In Finland, for instance, drained peatland forests cover more than 20% of the total forest area and comprise almost one-quarter of the total annual forest growth and timber reserves The growing bioeconomy is increasing pressure to utilize the timber reserves of peatland forests, but simultaneously, demands to reduce the significant environmental impacts of peatland forestry have increased, on the climate and water environment. In peatland forests, both tree growth and the environmental challenges generally depend on the depth to the ground water table (WT) in peat, as reviewed by, for example, Nieminen et al (2018).
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