Forest Exploitation Research Articles

Forest Exploitation at La Graufesenque in Roman Times: Would Long-Term Considerations Have Qualitatively Modified Its Course?

Forest Exploitation at La Graufesenque in Roman Times: Would Long-Term Considerations Have Qualitatively Modified Its Course?

Efficiency of a common natural forest exploitation by the system of individual transferable quotas with overlapping generations, capital, and monetary inheritance

This article focuses on the economic analysis of the exploitation of a renewable natural resource in common property, namely forests. In the Sahelian zone of West Africa with little forest cover, these natural assets are exposed to overexploitation despite the participation system established as a mode of their management for more than three decades. Thus, another mode of management is necessary to avoid the extinction of forests in certain countries like Niger to continue to benefit from the countless services that they provide. This paper proposes another mode of management by analyzing the effectiveness of the operating system through free distribution of transferable individual quotas with overlapping generations, capital, and monetary inheritance. From a general equilibrium model, the resolutions of the optimization programs using the Lagrangian show that the system in question provides the conditions for optimal management of the forest in common property. Moreover, it allows for an intergenerational transmission of renewable natural resources without any other incentive instrument such as taxes or subsidies despite the non-cooperative behavior of the actors.

Recreation characteristics of the green zone forests of the Zhytomyr city

Recreation in forests is important for residents of cities, including Zhytomyr. The forests of the city’s green zone require a comprehensive assessment to regulate the recreational use of state and municipal forests. In order to analyse the recreational indicators of the forests of the green zone of Zhytomyr, a comparative analysis of forest management data of landscape mensuration was carried out and compared with the results of our own field research. To analyse the recreational indicators, the forest management database, materials of previous field studies, as well as electronic mapping materials and a geographic information system were used. According to the forest management data, the spatial structure of the forest park area is far from optimal due to the small share of open and semi-open landscape types. The existing functional zoning in most areas does not correspond to the actual recreational use of the territory. There are areas with intensive visits that are not classified as forest parks and do not have landscape mensuration data, although they have a high level of improvement. In terms of walkability, sustainability, aesthetic and integrated assessment, the forest park areas demonstrate mostly mediocre results. The recreational digression of the vast majority of sites is insignificant. Some plots have the necessary indicators for a high additional assessment. The results of the field surveys confirmed the unreliability of some recreational indicators determined by forest management. The largest discrepancy was noted in the determination of walkability, additional and recreational values, which are significantly underestimated. In the most visited areas, the actual indicators of recreational digression and aesthetic assessment are lower than those in the forest management materials. Refinement of the data on recreational characteristics of the forest park zone areas allows updating the information on landscape mensuration and developing a comprehensive functional zoning of the territory of suburban forests in Zhytomyr. The results of the study will help state and municipal forestry enterprises to optimize the recreational exploitation of forests within the green zone of the city, rationalize the use of natural resources for recreational purposes, while ensuring environmental sustainability

Regenerated bacterial cellulose fibres

The global shortage of cotton for textile production, forces the exploitation of forests´ lignocellulosic biomass to produce man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCF). This has a considerable environmental impact, pressing the textile industry to search for new sustainable materials and to the development of sustainable recycling processes. Bacterial cellulose (BC), an exopolysaccharide produced by fermentation, could represent such an alternative. In particular, we tested the possibility of improving the mechanical properties of cellulose filaments with a low degree of polymerization (DP) by combining them with high DP from BC, so far exploited to little extent in the textile field.In this work, BC with different degrees of polymerization (DPcuaxam) (BCneat: 927; BCdep:634 and BCblend: 814) were dissolved in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) and their spinnability was studied. The rheological behaviour of the dopes was assessed and all were found to be spinnable, at suitable concentrations (BCneat:9.0 %; BCdep:12.2 %; BCblend:10.5 %). A continuous spinning was obtained and the resulting filaments offered similar mechanical performance to those of Lyocell. Further, the blending of BC pulps with different DPs (BCblend, obtained by combining BCneat and BCdep) allowed the production of fibres with higher stiffness (breaking tenacity 56.4 CN.tex−1) and lower elongation (8.29 %), as compared to samples with more homogeneous size distribution (neat BC and depolymerized BC).

Estimating changes of forest carbon storage in China for 70 years (1949–2018)

In the realm of forest resource inventory and monitoring, stand-level biomass carbon models are especially crucial. In China, their importance is underscored as they form the bedrock for estimating national and international forest carbon storage. This study, based on the data from 52,700 permanent plots in the 9th National Forest Inventory (NFI) of China, was directed towards developing these models. After computing biomass and carbon storage per hectare using specific tree models for 34 species groups, we devised robust volume-derived biomass and carbon storage models for 20 forest types. The application of these models and historical data reveals notably a decline in China's forest carbon storage to 4.90Pg by the late 1970s due to aggressive forest exploitation. However, subsequent conservation and afforestation campaigns have affected a recovery, culminating in a storage of 8.69Pg by the 9th NFI. Over the past 40 years, China's forest carbon storage has surged by 3.79Pg, split between natural forests (2.25Pg) and planted forests (1.54Pg). In benchmarking against three pre-existing models, we discerned discernible biases, underscoring the need for larger modeling sample sizes. Overall, our models stand as a monumental stride in accurately gauging forest carbon storage fluctuations in China, both regionally and nationally.

Tantangan Konservasi Alam Di Kalimantan Timur Di Tengah Eksploitasi Hutan, 1967-1998

The nature conservation in East Kalimantan in 1967-1998 has been the focused of this study. After the 1967 to 1998 is the period of the massive conservation of Kalimantan natural forest, especially in the East Kalimantan that destroys natural forest extensively. The damage does not only affect the forest cover, but also threaten the habitat of various important animals. In the middle of the forest exploitation, the East Kalimantan nature conservation has been growing since the late 1970s. The objective of the research is explaining the development of East Kalimantan nature conservation area and its challenges in the vortex of forest exploitation. The historical approach is applied to compile and elaborate problems historically consisting of four stages, namely heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The results show the New Order economic development policies significantly affect the emergence of threats to nature conservation in East Kalimantan. In the late 1970s, the growth of conservation area in the East Kalimantan natural forest was lagging due to the previous forest exploitation that ran for decade since 1967. Continuous forest exploitation since 1967 has fragmented conservation areas and created various threats that bear challenges to nature conservation efforts. The emerging threats include conflicts of flora and fauna, encroachment and tenurial conflicts, as well as illegal logging and mining.

Гидромеханические трансмиссии лесотранспортных машин: технологическая связь с воздействием на почвенно-растительную среду

Reducing the negative impact on the forest soil and vegetation environment of wheeled propellers of biaxial articulated forest transport vehicles, along with changing the parameters of the propellers themselves, can be effectively carried out by redistributing the power flow in the hydromechanical transmission. In order to ensure high traction performance and cross-country capability through single obstacles (root systems) in the conditions of a cutting area, it is necessary to take into account the rational parameters of the components and assemblies of the hydromechanical transmission based on new scientifically sound technical solutions. A review of the designs of hydromechanical transmissions of domestic and foreign-made forest transport vehicles revealed their advantages and disadvantages that affect the effectiveness of their use in the conditions of forest exploitation. The primary transportation of trees, which occupies a significant volume during logging, is effectively handled by forest transport vehicles with high energy saturation. The use of a promising torque converter design as part of a hydromechanical transmission unit for the separate drive of the drive axles of wheeled articulated timber vehicles will compensate for the effect of external forces and reactions to the wheel mover, as well as minimize the phenomenon of power circulation in a closed loop "wheel mover – bearing surface", which will contribute to an increase in traction performance. The technological relationship from the use of different powertrain designs is characterized by moderate differentiation (p < 0.05) according to the criteria of impact on the soil environment, based on the use of the median method in the statistical analysis of similarities and differences. Future research will answer the following questions: how will the level of loss of useful power in the hydromechanical transmission of a wheeled forest transport vehicle equipped with a new torque converter change in conditions of constantly changing external influences? How and how closely will the transmission parameters with the new torque converter affect the performance and patency of the forest transport vehicle, taking into account the characteristics of the soil and plant environment?

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF FUELWOOD CONSUMPTION IN YOBE STATE, NIGERIA

Since rural and urban poor areas in Nigeria depend mainly on fuelwood (Biomass) as their major energy source, this triggers fuelwood consumption and adversely affects the environment. The analysis focused on fuelwood production as a source of livelihood in rural areas of developing countries. The study employs a purposive sampling technique in selecting case study units within the study area. The selected units include Bade, Damaturu, and Potiskum, respectively. Their selection was based on the population’s size and the state’s zonal districts. Three hundred and ninety-five respondents from fuelwood collectors have been obtained through stratified and random sampling techniques. Data were collected using a questionnaire, focus group discussion, personal interview, and observations. The finding reveals that more than 85% of people living in the study area use fuelwood collection as their second major source of livelihood after farming. On identifying the importance of fuelwood collection, the study suggested encouraging massive campaigns on tree planting programs, coppicing practices, and applying protective rules safeguarding forests. On the other hand, provision of grant and empowerment projects, and access to modern fuels, among others. Thus, it improves people’s ways of living in rural areas, encourages livelihood generation, reduces forest exploitation, and maintains environmental protection.

EXPLORING THE DRIVERS FOR HOUSEHOLD COOKING ENERGY TRANSITION IN GOMBE METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Transition to sustainable energy in the household sector is a one-way solution to significantly reducing the contending problem of forest exploitation on one hand and on the other hand an important effort to minimizing the challenging subject of climate change. This study aimed at exploring the drivers for household cooking energy transition in Gombe metropolis with a view to providing detailed information on the transition pathways in the area for policy implications. The study used quantitative research method with structured questionnaire as the instrument for data collection, while secondary data was obtained from the Gombe State Bureau of Statistics. For data collection, systematic sampling strategy was used to select sampling locations and the households to be administered the questionnaire. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Result from descriptive analysis revealed that household size (69.5%), households’ level of income (65.5%) and public influence (65.5%) were the major factors influencing modern energy choice in the study area on one hand and on the hand environmental consequences (35.8%), health risks (34%) and seasonal changes (49.5%) has no significant influence on household modern energy choice for cooking. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed the likelihood of respondent’s socio-demographics and modern energy adoption (p-value <0.05). The study recommends conducting public awareness campaigns on the benefits of modern energy services for cooking through media and public gatherings. It also suggests providing adequate access to affordable modern energy to encourage households to adopt and shift to modern energy consumption for cooking.

The global potential of log-driven trees for reconstructing forest ecosystems dynamics

The composition and structure of modern forest ecosystems result from past and present climate as well as centuries of anthropic and natural disturbances. Concerns related to the integrity and resilience of forests in the context of climate change have led to novel ecosystem-based management methods that require extensive knowledge about the preindustrial state of forests and past disturbance regimes. At the beginning of industrial forest exploitation, waterways were used as the main conduits to transport wood, but the timing and impacts of this log driving remain understudied. Given that an estimated 15% to 50% of log-driven logs sank during their transport, this accumulation of subfossil wood can serve as a proxy tool for reconstructing the dynamics and structure of preindustrial forests and inform modern forest management practices. This review provides a global overview of log driving and highlights the significant value of these submerged logs for disturbance ecology. We demonstrate that log driving was used on most continents, implying that proxy records from subfossil logs may be available from numerous boreal and mountainous regions. Our review is one of the first to illustrate the paleoecological value of log-driving remnants and explain how such a resource provides a valuable tool for understanding past forest ecosystems. Such knowledge is crucial for informing forest management in the face of climate change.

Трудовые отношения и конфликты на концессионных предприятиях лесной промышленности Архангельской губернии в 1920-е годы

This article dwells on the labour relations at the timber enterprises of the Arkhangelsk Province granted by the Soviet government as a concession to foreign entrepreneurs in the 1920s. The main sources include archival (concession contracts and reports, results of inspections of concessionary enterprises by the authorities, shorthand reports of meetings of Soviet party and trade union organizations, materials of factory rates commissions and investigative and judicial authorities), as well as published sources, primarily, contemporary (publications in newspapers and magazines). Emphasis is placed on the authorities’ attitude to labour conflicts. Timber enterprise concessions were of great international importance to the central government and economic importance to the local authorities; therefore, unlike at other concessionary enterprises, the authorities often supported the “capitalists”. The concessionaires, in their turn, being interested in attracting skilled workers to their enterprises and seeking to normalize relations with the population and the authorities on the territory designated for forest exploitation, were accommodating the employees by spending substantial funds to build housing as well as social and cultural facilities in the factory settlements. Labour relations and conflicts are examined in the article using the example of four personnel categories: skilled workers; labourers at the sawmills; peasants engaged in logging and delivering timber to the factories (loggers and rafters, united in artels); administrative and clerical employees. In addition, a conclusion is made about the specificity of labour conflicts caused by the post-revolutionary social expectations of the population.

Multidisciplinary approach to investigate human-forest relationships in southern French Alps: How to estimate the impact of populations on the local mountain wood stock?

This study presents a multidisciplinary approach between palaeoecology and the analysis of historical archives to reconstruct forest history subjected to long-term human activities. We focus on a case study from the southern French Alps (the Bléone Valley), for which a rich historical corpus but little palaeoenvironmental data are available. We compared and contrasted (i) pedoanthracological data obtained along an altitudinal transect (ca 400 m), (ii) dendrochronological data from historical buildings and old living trees, and (iii) historical data from written sources on forest management and land-use change. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the comparison between different proxy data to understand the history of mountain forest ecosystems and human-forest interactions is very challenging. We show that the spatial distribution of forest and treeline position have been impacted by human activities, mainly due to agro-sylvo-pastoral practices through the use of fire and forest cutting to maintain open pasture lands and local building purposes. Despite centuries of local agro-sylvo-pastoral activities, the forest composition has remained relatively unchanged since the Middle Ages. Our comparison of historical documents with dendrochronological data on local buildings and soil charcoal data shows that the local demands of wood cannot explain the observed large-scale changes in forest spatial continuity. Curiously, the highest demand for wood by local residents did not occur in pace with modern demographic boom (17th century), as would be expected. Thus, we suggest that supra-regional external regulations and State's control played a more important role in forest management. Royal shipbuilding industry, more lucrative economic stakes, and expanded demand for timber for construction of buildings in urban areas of the lower valleys and plains are among the external factors which impacted forest exploitation during periods when logging was prohibited.

OPTIMALISASI SIFAT MEKANIK SERAT ALAM DARI SERBUK KAYU ULIN MELALUI TEKNIK PENGERINGAN SEBAGAI PENGUAT MATERIAL BIOKOMPOSIT ANJUNGAN KAPAL

Ironwood (eusideroxylon zwageri) is a type of wood that has great potential for industrial development. Currently, forest exploitation activities and the wood industry produce 30%-60% solid wood waste and have not been utilized optimally. One way to use it is to make composite materials. The purpose of this study was to determine the most optimal drying technique of ironwood powder, to provide information on the morphology, content and functional groups as well as the mechanical strength of the biocomposite with a volume fraction ratio. The ironwood powder samples in this study were characterized using the SEM-EDX, FTIR, and Vickers hardness tests. The results of the SEM test obtained information that the morphology of all samples had similarities, namely the surface was rough and the measured diameter of the sample ranged from 50-100 µm. While the EDX test obtained information that all samples had high carbon and oxygen content. The FTIR test results showed that ironwood powder had a cellulose content as evidenced by the absorption peaks and chemical bonds that were the same as pure cellulose. The results of the mechanical test on the biocomposite showed that sample C had the highest average HV value of 13.3 N/m2, while sample E had an average HV value of 12.26 N/m2 below the HV value of sample E. Meanwhile, sample A obtained the lowest hardness value with an average HV 5.93 N/m2.

Re-appraisal of the global climatic role of natural forests for improved climate projections and policies

Along with the accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, the loss of primary forests and other natural ecosystems is a major disruption of the Earth's system and is causing global concern. Quantifying planetary warming from carbon emissions, global climate models highlight natural forests' high carbon storage potential supporting conservation policies. However, some model outcomes effectively deprioritize conservation of boreal and temperate forests by suggesting that increased albedo upon deforestation could cool the planet. A potential conflict of global cooling vs. regional forest conservation could harm environmental policies. Here we present theoretical and observational evidence to demonstrate that, compared to the carbon-related warming, modeling skills for assessing climatic impacts of deforestation is low. We argue that estimates for deforestation-induced global cooling result from the models' limited capacity to account for the global effect of cooling from evapotranspiration of intact forests. Specifically, transpiration of trees can change the greenhouse effect via small modifications of the vertical temperature profile. However, due to their convective parameterization (which postulates a certain critical temperature profile), global climate models do not properly capture this effect. This may lead to an underestimation of warming from the loss of forest evapotranspiration in both high and low latitudes. As a result, conclusions about deforestation-induced global cooling are not robust and could result in action that immediately worsened global warming. To avoid deepening the environmental crisis, these conclusions should not inform policies of vegetation cover management, especially as studies from multiple fields are accumulating that better quantify the stabilizing impact of natural ecosystems evolved to maintain environmental homeostasis. Given the critical state and our limited understanding of both climate and ecosystems, an optimal policy with immediate benefits would be a global moratorium on the exploitation of all natural forests.

Analysis of fish migration in correspondence with wood and rock-made instream structures

Anthropic exploitation of soil, forests, and water bodies contributes to the modification of river flow regimes and sediment transport dynamics, thus affecting fish habitats and water quality. In the last decades, the increasing awareness of the consequences of such modifications on natural contexts has stimulated researchers and practitioners to provide more innovative solutions aiming at enhancing river biodiversity. Recently developed eco-friendly approaches for river restoration evidenced the necessity of more careful planning and management of natural resources, including the maintenance and enhancement of fish species' habitats. The present study aims at assessing the interaction of different types of wood- and rock-made instream structures with river flow regimes and habitat requirements of many freshwater fish species, accounting for the influence of downstream scour potholes to facilitate fish species migration and spawning. Experimental tests showed that instream structures cause deep scour holes characterized by low flow velocity zones, thus decreasing the required fish swimming power and potentially providing suitable conditions for the migration of freshwater fish species. Using dimensional analysis, empirical relationships were derived to optimize the longitudinal distance between subsequent instream structures, accounting for the effects of various structure geometries and fish biological characteristics. Nevertheless, further investigation is needed to validate the proposed relationships at prototype scale. This study ultimately contributes at providing tools to design river instream structures favorable to fish migration.

Globalization of forest land use: Increasing threats on climate-vulnerable regions

Given the increasing influence of international trade on regional land use, this paper presents a comprehensive overview of forest land use across global supply chains by means of embodiment accounting based on EXIOBASE 3 database, with a specific focus on the climate vulnerability and adaptation readiness of supply chain agents. Globally, 2268.3 million hectares (Mha) of forest land was exploited for forestry in 2015, while 30% was associated with export production, mainly sourced from Russia, Canada, Africa, South America and tropical and subtropical Asia-Pacific and linked to the final consumption of developed (e.g. the EU, the USA and Japan) and emerging (e.g. China and India) economies. During 2000–2015, forest land exploited in climate-vulnerable regions rose to 689.4 Mha, contributing over 50% of the overall increase in global forest land exploitation. Forest land use displaced from China and India to these regions increased by 2.6 and 3.3 times, respectively, due to escalating imports from tropics and subtropics (especially Asia-Pacific), where the readiness to take adaptation actions was also low. For the EU and the USA, virtual forest land use sourced from these regions remained large in absolute magnitude despite decreasing import volume. Therefore, transnational mutual efforts are needed to secure local forestry of climate-vulnerable regions, improve the resilience of global supply chains and mitigate negative influence on other sustainable development goals supported by forest ecosystems.

Technological properties of wood from small diameter in an area of forest exploitation of reduced impact in the Tropical Forest

Technological properties of wood from small diameter in an area of forest exploitation of reduced impact in the Tropical Forest

Combining forest exploitation and heathland biodiversity: Edges structure drives microclimates quality and reptile abundance in a coniferous plantation

In Western Europe, natural habitats such as heathlands have been converted into many commercially managed forests, with severe impacts on biodiversity. In dense planted forests, forest edges are often the only suitable areas for ectothermic organisms highly dependent on open habitats for thermoregulation. Surprisingly, the influence of forest edges structure on the thermal quality of microhabitats and reptile species distribution remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined two reptile species and thermal quality of interior forest edges of a coniferous forest in Western France (Brittany). We focused on two hypotheses (i) the vegetation structure of the forest edges drives the thermal quality of the habitat and (ii) structural complexity of the forest edges influences the abundance of two heliothermic reptiles: the common adder (Vipera berus) and the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara). We first deployed temperature sensitive data loggers to quantify thermal conditions along 16 cross-sections of inner forest margins. For each section, 4 temperature loggers were placed at 1, 3, 5 and 7 m from the driveway and we examined the relation to vegetation structure and canopy cover. Second, we carried visual encounter surveys in 55 edges in order to measure the response of two reptiles to the structure of the forest margin along exploitation driveway. Our results show that high local canopy cover decreases microhabitat quality within interior forest edges. We also found that common lizard abundance was significantly influenced by the edge orientation and increased with global canopy openness and ground level vegetation. Adder abundance only increased significantly with the driveway width, suggesting the unmodelled effect of other biotic/abiotic variables. Our study shows that thermal quality of interior edges and driveway characteristics are relevant to support heathland reptile populations. We posit that maintain strips of favourable microhabitats should be an efficient land sharing strategy to combine forestry activities and biodiversity conservation.

Historical charcoal-burning mounds in the Engure area, Latvia, and their significance for the history of forest exploitation

The application of airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) has led to the discovery of numerous man-made mounds encircled by pits in the forests near Engure, north-western Latvia. Field survey revealed these to be historical features remaining from charcoal-burning in mound kilns. Archaeological excavation was undertaken at one of the features, along with analysis of recovered wood charcoal, dendrochronological and radiocarbon (14C) dating and archival research into documents relating to historical charcoal production in the area. All of the analysed charcoal samples are from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), the dominant tree species in this area. It is concluded that the large-scale charcoal production served the needs of the ironworks operating at Engure in the 17th–18th century. The study of the charcoal-burning mounds has permitted estimation of the source area and volume of the wood supplied for charcoal production, and the period during which it was undertaken. Wood harvesting on such a scale had a significant impact on the surrounding forests and also had some effect on subsequent forest growth in the area. These findings demonstrate that features of this kind deserve to be regarded as archaeological remains of considerable research potential. Keywords: Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, forest history, Scots pine, charcoal-burning mounds, charcoal kilns, wood charcoal

Climate-induced changes to provisioning ecosystem services in rural socioecosystems in Mexico

Extreme climatic events are changing the structure and functioning of forests worldwide, and often reducing abruptly their capacity to provide ecosystem services, especially to rural communities intimately connected to their environment. In this paper, we analyze climate-induced changes to provisioning ecosystem services, including forest resources available and used by rural communities, and local perceptions about how these services changed after recent extreme climatic events inside and outside a Biosphere Reserve in northwestern Mexico. Our approach integrates quantitative and qualitative techniques from traditional (50 local interviews) and scientific (forest surveys in 24 1-ha plots) ecological knowledge. Our integrated analysis suggests widespread tree mortality was the main ecological effect of recent extreme climatic events, especially in forests regrowing in the reserve former agricultural land, overturning decades of forest natural regeneration. Reserve inhabitants, strongly relying on their surrounding forests for self-consumption, identified climatic events as the main driver of forest change. In addition to climatic events, people outside the reserve recognized selective logging for charcoal production and in general forest exploitation as key drivers of forest change, consistent with the decline of hardwood species revealed by our field surveys. The persistence of an eroding environmental dimension (e.g., unsustainable use of forest resources) outside reserves could increase the long-term vulnerability of rural socioecosystems to extreme climatic events. The protecting role of biosphere reserves will be essential to preserve old-growth forests more resistant to temperature extremes and aid the process of forest natural regeneration after climate-induced disturbance. In order to protect native biodiversity and reduce climate vulnerability, coupled human-environment systems such as Biosphere Reserves should genuinely and rightfully engage local people in management decisions, prioritizing policies that build more sustainable livelihoods and enhance the adaptive capacity of socioecosystems to cope with climate variability.