Current issue: 58(4)
Silva Fennica issue 42 includes presentations held in professional development courses, arranged for foresters working in public administration in 1936. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service
This presentation describes the productivity of forestry and administration in different districts of state forests in Finland, and how the efficiency of the administration could be improved.
Silva Fennica Issue 39 includes presentations held in professional development courses in 1935 that were arranged for foresters working in public administration. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.
This presentation describes forest management planning in the state forests.
The article is a report of the ways the state forests could be used to improve employment, requested by the State Unemployment Council. Production of the state forests of Finland has been insufficient, because the fellings have not taken account silvicultural needs, and forest management has not previously received proper funding. For instance, the production and wood resources in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) dominated forests in Southern Finland were 2/3 of what they could be if the forests were in natural state. More efficient forest management is necessary to ensure the sustainable wood production of the state forests, and that could consequently offer work opportunities. The tasks needed to improve productivity of the state forests, and the work opportunities they can give are listed. Silviculture, drainage of peatlands, wood harvesting and transport, marking timber for fellings, floating, building forest roads and administrative and planning work could increase the supply of work to 8.6 million man-days and 1.6 horse-days in the state forests, mainly in wood harvesting and transport.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
In 1926 the state of Finland payed taxes to the local municipalities from a half of the net returns the state forest and state owned wood manufacturing industry produced. The taxes payed by the forest administration to the municipalities totaled 4.75 million Finnish marks. The state forests are located mostly in Northern Finland, thus the relative amount of municipalities that get taxes from the state forestry were higher in the north. The municipalities that benefited most from the tax revenues from the state were Savukoski, Pudasjärvi, Suojärvi, Rovaniemi, Taivalkoski, Kuhmoniemi, Turtola, Pielisjärvi, Ilomantsi, Korpiselkä and Suistamo. About half of the municipalities (264) got tax revenues from state forestry. However, if this tax revenue was removed, it would raise local tax rate in relatively few municipalities. it has been proposed that state should pay taxes from the state forests on the same principles as the private forests. To move to area based taxation in the state forests would, however, increase the taxation of the state five-fold. The taxes from the state forests are not appropriate way to support the poorest municipalities. Better suited would be, for instance, state subsidies. Therefore, the taxes payed from the state forestry to municipalities should be abandoned.
The volume 34 of Acta Forestalia Fennica is a jubileum publication of professor Aimo Kaarlo Cajander. The PDF includes a summary in German.
Crown class is useful tool both in forest management and forest mensuration. The study presents a detailed crown classification for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). It was used to classify the sample trees prior detailed measurements of the crown and stem form. The stem form of a tree was dependent on which canopy layer it belonged. This relation was detected on both Vaccinium and Calluna site type forests. In addition, the stem tapers faster in poorer forest site types compared to better sites. The shorter the self-pruned part of the stem is, the faster the stem tapers. According to the study, the stems of stunted trees taper faster than trees of other crown classes. Also the age group affects stem form.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
The article includes the minutes of the Finnish Society of Forest Sciences in 1917-1920. In the meetings of the society were held 39 presentations which are included in the article.
The PDF includes a German summary.
The forest site classification system used in Finland is based on ground vegetation rather than the wood production capacity. A. K. Cajander has presented a detailed classification of different forest site classes in different parts of the country. This study focuses on the forest site types of Northern Finland, which are less well defined. The article presents detailed vegetation analysis and lists of plant species in different forest site types in Northern Finland. In contrast to southern parts of Finland, both the natural Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) stands are uneven-aged in the north. The forests are also relatively thin. There is a marked difference in height of trees between the richest and poorest sites, but the dominant trees of the same site type were of similar height both in the north and south part of the study area. The differences in the height of dominant trees seem to be smaller than in Southern Finland. Also, in windy areas prone to snow damage, climate conditions can affect tree growth more than the forest site type. In more sheltered areas forest site type determines forest growth.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
The article describes a method to prepare growth and yield tables for forests in Northern Finland, which differ markedly from forests in the southern part of the land. They are mostly uneven-aged, and there are little forests that belong to separate age-classes. The forests are predominantly old. The most common age-class in the old forest’s group is 150-160 years. Also, the lands are poorer than in Southern Finland. Because the variation of the poorer sites is larger than in better sites, the number of sample plots needed to prepare the growth and yield tables has to be larger than in Southern Finland, where the lands are better. The yield tables cannot be prepared for all the numerous forest site types of Northern Finland. The number of age-classes has to be relatively low. In consequence, the growth and yield tables will not be as accurate as those made for the better forest site types in Southern Finland.
The data has been collected from northern Finland between about 64th and 68th north latitudes, excluding the polar tree line areas. The sample plots have been selected to represents greatest variation of the habitats in altitude, rainfall and other site factors. The selected trees were cut, their age, height, and diameter at various heights examined and possible signs of forest fires noticed. The age of the trees was examined also with microscope. The age class distribution of the sample plots was studied. The determination of historical seed years was based on age class distribution of the sample plots.
Grouping of the trees into different age classes was too weak a method to make any conclusions about the periodicity or even less about the frequency of the seed years. There were also noticeable differences in determining the age of the trees between macroscopic and microscopic age examination. There are also differences in the amount of seedlings between different forest types.
The growth of pines in northern Finland is very slow particularly in the young ages but the growth increases after they reach 1,3 meters, which may take up to 30 years. The development of the forest has been similar through last centuries