The purpose of this investigation was to study the felling volume and its structure in the State forests of Finland. Special attention was paid on the proportion of waste wood within the felling volume. This information was in demand for the general plan of the State forests that was being prepared at the same time. The survey was performed using a sampling method, and it represented the districts in the northernmost Finland, Ostrobothnia, Eastern Finland and Western Finland of the Forest Services.
The proportion of merchantable timber of the total felling volume was lowest in the northernmost Finland, less than 2/3 of the total cut. In Ostrobothnia the share was ¾, Eastern Finland 4/5 and in Western Finland 5/6. When the tree species were compared, the proportion of waste wood was largest in broadleaved trees, especially in the Northern Finland, while for Scots pine it was lowest. For Norway spruce the share of merchantable timber is markedly lower in the northernmost part of the country, where, for instance, decay increases the proportion of waste wood. For birch, demand of wood influences most the proportion of waste wood.
In general, the proportion of waste wood and merchantable timber in the felling volume was influenced by changes in the demand of timber, structure of the stands, and the felling method. The demand of the timber assortment affects most in the amount of waste wood. The more valuable the timber assortment is, the less waste wood is left in the cutting area.
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The data used to control the developed methods are presented in chapter two. The third chapter presents the statistical analysis conducted. The factor analysis shows that tree stand characteristics must be divided into three factors to able the information needed for site indexing to distinguish different site classes. The phases of model development are presented and the results of calculations with control data are shown.
The results indicate that for calculations of nature-normal forests the suitable amount of tree stand characters for creating the site indexing function, is three. These are: number of trees (N), basal area of the stand (G) and mean height (H).
The PDF contains a summary in Finnish.
The article is the first part of a wider project aiming to study the measurement practices of stand’s height-over-age based classifications and to develop new methods for actually measuring the side index.
The first part of the article presents the concepts of site indexing and discusses it with a mathematical model. The second part of the article examines the structure of site indexing system regarding the reliability of the method. Third part presents the factors affecting the method development and the fourth part discusses the possible site index classes and their characteristics.
The PDF contains a summary in Finnish.
With developing possibilities to analyse data automatically there is a need to develop the mathematical and statistical practices for calculations. The article presents the basis about the growth of trees and the existing models of growth, the basics on growth functions, and the construction of a regression model to analysis the growth. The theoretical model development has been tested with three existing data sets.
The analysis of growth should be considered with dynamic models. The model need to take into account various aspects and growth factors. The model should have practical implications.
The PDF contains a summary in German.