Kullervo Kuusela

Forest balance on the national level.

Kuusela K. (1979). Forest balance on the national level. Silva Fennica vol. 13 no. 3 article id 5044. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14901

Abstract

Forest balance is a comparison between the growing stock volume at the beginning and end of a balance period and the gross increment and drain during that period. The forest balance of Finland during that period 1967-1973 and the increment and drain balance during the period 1953-1977 are used as examples in the paper. Forest balance is a check of the accuracy of basic estimates. If the discrepancy between the calculated growing stock at the end of the balance period and the growing stock estimated by an inventory is great, it calls for improvements in forest inventory methods and timber utilization statistics.

Balance may reveal possibilities for improving the utilization of forest resources. If natural losses are great, increased thinnings and regeneration cuttings of mature and over-mature tree stands increase the supply of timber. If logging losses are great, the efficiency of harvesting should be improved. An overcutting situation calls forth efforts to increase timber production or to decrease the uses of timber in order to avoid overexploitation. If gross increment is greater than the drain there are possibilities to increase harvesting, forest industrial expansion etc.

Forest balance is a way to check and improve the basic estimates of forestry production, to increase the effective use of timber grown in the forest, to commerce policies and measures concerning increment and to control timber utilization on the basis of sustained yield.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

Keywords
forestry; forest management planning; forest balance; utilization of forests

Published in 1979

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14901 | Download PDF