The Effect of Management for Timber Production on Floristics and Growing Stock in the Southern Cape Indigenous Forests

Abstract

SYNOPSIS The present selection system for management and harvesting in the Southern Cape indigenous forests is discussed in relation to silvicultural systems used in tropical high forests in various countries and to the historical development of indigenous forest policy and management in the Southern Cape. The approximation of the normal basal area distribution for forests under management for the production of timber is described. A removal preference index was calculated to investigate the effect of the system for marking of removable surplus growing stock on the species composition and size class distribution of the forest in three compartments. Several species have been over-exploited in one or more compartments, e.g. Canthium obovatum, Olea capensis subsp. macrocarpa, Burchellia budalina, Maytenus peduncularis and Ocotea bullata. Only two common species, Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus and Curtisia dentata, were consistently marked below the level of equal selection. Often trees other than the old trees were removed, Recommendations are made for the improvement of the present marking system.