marc writes: >in the 'montane' zone (about >500 - 1000m a. sea level) dominated by silver fir (Abies alba), Norway >spruce (Picea abies) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) nobody would think of >clearfelling as the best way to manage these almost purely coniferous >forest types. There is a long tradition in single tree selection >forestry in these forests which has proven to be in the same time >ecologically and economically successful in private and public forests. I have travelled extensively through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and I have never seen single tree selection in coniferous forests. In the mountains (Alps), the most common method of harvest is by skyline carriage. This is a form of small group selection or mini-clearcuts along the path of the skyline. It could also be called a form of shelterwood harvest. The point is, these forest types regenerate best when full sunlight is allowed to reach the seedlings. Single tree selection cannot provide this requirement. In Switzerland, where they say clearcutting is not allowed, they get around it by leaving some trees, say 20% of the stand, and calling it shelterwood, when the new trees have greened up the site the remaining mature trees are removed. This is essentially clearcutting. >In the South West of Germany the allowed area for clearcuts has been >reduced to 1 ha (2.5acres). If you want to exceed this you have to apply >for a permission. 1 ha is still a clearcut. The reason for the small size is mainly aesthetic and subjective and has nothing to do with silviculture. All over the world, foresters are being required to adopt harvesting and silvicultural systems that are not optimal for regeneration due to public opinion that is based on aesthetic and conjectural opinion. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against single tree selection where it makes sense silviculturally, but this is in a minority of forests. Cheers Patrick Moore, Greenspirit http://www.greenspirit.com May the Forest be With You Snail Mail: 4068 West 32nd Avenue Vancouver, B.C. V6S 1Z6 Canada -----Original Message----- From: Marc <hanewink@uni-freiburg.de> To: Patrick Moore <pmoore@MAIL.BC.ROGERS.WAVE.CA>; FOREST@listserv.funet.fi <FOREST@listserv.funet.fi> Date: Thursday, June 04, 1998 1:05 AM Subject: Re: Environmental Call to Arms > > >Patrick Moore schrieb: > >> ... >> "All European countries, and all other countries harvesting coniferous >> species, employ some form of clearfelling (clearcutting) as the best >> way to both harvest and regenerate most of these forest types. Single >> tree selection is seldom suitable for conifers, while it is often >> suitable for broadleaf species".... > >This is definitely not true for large parts of South Germany, >Switzerland, Austria and France. At least > >
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