The present study proposes to calculate the economic sequence of two of Finland’s three main tree species, Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) and silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) when planted on Oxalias-Myrtillus type sites where both species are equally suitable, on biological grounds. In addition, the accuracy and applicability of the present Finnish yield tables to an economic comparison is tested. Benefit/cost ratio was selected as criterion of profitableness. All future net incomes and costs were discounted into the planting time and added together. The ratio between the discounted net revenues and the discounted investment costs (later called profit ratio) was the criterion. There is no reliable method to forecast the future wood prices, therefore two price ratios, birch veneer timber to spruce pulpwood and birch cordwood to spruce pulpwood, were chosen as free variables. The economic sequence of the tree species was determined as the function of these variables.
The main conclusions are, first, that under the present price ratios spruce appears to be the better choice for the forest owner, and the most promising policy for changing the situation seems to decrease the production costs of plants in birch nurseries. Second, the present Finnish yield tables are not consistent or accurate enough to enable any sufficiently reliable economic comparisons of tree species in artificial regeneration. The possible error of difference between two rather uncertain estimates is big. More work is needed to construct a uniform system of yield tables covering all main tree species, all site types, all macro climate conditions and all types of regeneration.
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This study is concerned with silvicultural selection from above. The material consists of 18 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sample plots in the southern half of Finland in experimental forests. The method is motivated by the great difference between the stumpage prices of saw timber and pulpwood. The method suggested includes the removal of individuals belonging to the predominating canopy, to achieve high levels of income from the stand at an early stage. The method is applied at when the growing stock is attaining saw-timber size. Before that the stand is treated with thinnings from below. It is supposed that the volume of growing stock is maintained at a level as high as that in below-thinned stands, and that rotation is of normal length.
On the average, the increment in basal area, as well as volume increment, is greater in stands selectively cut from above than in those treated with low thinnings of the same degree. Initially, selection from above seems to exert a negative effect upon the development of dominant height; later, the dominant height reassumes the same rate of increment as in the below-thinned stands. Selection from above also means an increase in saw-timber production, although it involves a reduction in the mean size of saw timber. The investigation includes growth and yield tables for pine stands treated with silvicultural selection from above.
The results of the investigation prove that silvicultural selection from above is at least as profitable as low thinning. This provides freedom for stand treatment, and contributes to the application of a method most suitable for the owner in each individual case. It is further stressed that the maintenance of a high wood capital in the stand is far more important than the method of thinning applied.
The PDF includes a summary in English.