METLA Project 3194

Sustainable forest management in the coastal areas of Ostrobothnia

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Duration: 1997-2001   Keywords: afforestation, carbon, coastal forest, ecological gradient, forest management, growth and yield, land uplift, mineralisation, nitrogen, regeneration, site productivity, succession, vegetation
Research Program: Alternatives of silvicultural practices in forest management and their effects on forest production

Objectives

The main objective is to improve our knowledge of the special features of coastal area forests in western Finland and to describe their implications on forest treatment, regeneration and utilization.

Research subjects

This research is a collection of several subjects, the main ones being:

  • the influence of the nutritional state on tree health in areas of recent land-uplift
  • site productivity in coastal areas
  • forest growth prediction and treatment in coastal areas
  • regeneration of low land sites and areas of recent land-uplift
  • case studies concerning forest management planning techniques at the coast

An additional goal is to increase research activities in the institute-owned research forests along the coast by creating a broad range of new experiments and observation sites.

Results

A short overview 12/2000
Our main research topics and some preliminary results were presented for the public at Vasa university 12.11.1998. Representatives from the forestry center, environmental center and the forest government also presented their views on coastal area forests. All presentations were compiled in to a research paper (MT 723), which can be regarded as an intermediate report for the project. Results have been presented in various media and the project's own webpages have gain a lot of interest and visitors especially from abroad.

Some of the research originally planned has not been realized. Therefore, the main concern is at the moment clearly one of forest management: producing information of forest development and how to treat coastal area forests. Consequently, the project was made a part of the new research program (MOT) dealing with current problems in forest management and developing growth models and simulation tools.

From our project the MOT program will gain additional information of the regional variation in site productivity, growth and yield. The MOT program will, on the other hand, provide modeling techniques, growth models and simulation tools to be used comparing the development of coastal area forests under different treatments.

Project leader: Karlsson, Kristian
The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Kannus Research Station, PL 44, 69101 Kannus
Phone: +358 10 211 3413 Telefax: +358 10 211 3401
E-mail: Kristian.Karlsson@metla.fi

Other researchers: Gustavsen, Hans, JO (1997-99), Hytönen, Jyrki, KA (1998), Kubin, Eero, MU (1998), Kukko-oja, Kari, MU (1998-99), Merilä, Päivi, PA (1997-2001)

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Updated 31.12.2004
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