Earticle

Growth and yield prediction methods, ranging from whole-stand models to individual-tree models, have been developed for forest types managed for wood production. The resultant models are used for a host of purposes including inventory updating, management planning, evaluation of silvicultural alternatives, and harvest scheduling. Because of the large investment in developing growth and yield models for improved genotypes and silvicultural practices for loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) in the Southern United States, this region serves to illustrate approaches for modelling intensively managed forests. Analytical methods and computing power generally do not restrict development of reliable growth and yield models. However, long-term empirical observations on stand development, which are time consuming and expensive to obtain, often limit modelling efforts. Given that growth and yield models are used to project present volumes and to evaluate alternative treatment effects, data of both the inventory type and the experimental type are needed. Data for developing stand simulators for loblolly pine plantations have been obtained from a combination of permanent plots in operational forest stands and silvicultural experiments; these data collection efforts are described and summarized. Modelling is essential for integrating and synthesizing diverse information, identifying knowledge gaps, and making informed decisions. The questions being posed today are more complex than in the past, thus further accentuating the need for comprehensive models for stand development.

The mission of the Forest Inventory and Analyis (FIA) program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to conduct the national forest inventory of the United States of America for purposes of estimating the area of forest land; the volume, growth, and removal of forest resources; and the health of the forest. Users of FIA data, estimates, and related products include land managers, policy and decision-makers, forest industry, environmental organizations, and university researchers. To accomplish its mission, the FIA program has established a sampling design with an intensity of approximately one permanent plot per 2,400 ha across the entire country. Depending on the region of the country, each plot is remeasured at intervals of five or 10 years. The program releases data annually and reports estimates at the county level for each state every five years. Due to budgetary constraints and natural variability among plot observations, sufficient numbers of plots cannot be measured to satisfy precision guidelines for the estimates of many variables unless the estimation process is enhanced using ancillary data. Classified satellite imagery has been demonstrated to be a source of ancillary data that can be used with stratified estimation techniques to increase the precision of estimates with little corresponding increase in costs. A crucial factor restricting the utility of FIA data is that the exact locations of inventory plots cannot be released to the public. Thus, users are generally not able to obtain estimates for small areas or for their own areas of interest if exact plot locations are required. To compensate, satellite imagery, inventory plot data, and the k-Nearest Neighbors technique are being used to construct Internet-based maps of forest attributes from which estimates for arbitrary user-defined areas of interest may be obtained.

In this paper, we apply a logistic regression model to the data of snow damage on sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) occurred in Toyama prefecture (in Japan) in 2004 for estimating the risk probability. In order to specify the factors effecting snow damage, we apply a model selection procedure determining optimal subset of explanatory variables. In this process we consider the following 3 information criteria, 1) Akaike’'s information criterion, 2) Baysian information criterion, 3) Bias-corrected Akaike’'s information criterion. For the selected variables, we give a proper interpretation from the viewpoint of natural disaster.

We conduct economic analysis of the snow damage on sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) forest stands in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. We utilize a single tree and distant independent growth simulator called “"Silv-Forest.”" With this growth simulator, we developed an optimization model by dynamic programming, called DP-Silv (Dynamic Programming Silv-Forest). The MSPATH (multiple stage projection alternative technique) algorithm was embedded as a searching algorithm of dynamic programming. The height / DBH ratio was used to constrain the thinning regime for snow damage protection. The optimal rotation age turned out to be 65 years for the non-restricted case, while it was 50 years for the restricted case. The difference in NPV of these two cases as the induced costs ranged from 179,867 to 1,910,713yen/ha over the rotation age of 20 to 75 years. Under the optimal rotation of 65 years, the cost became 914,226 yen/ha. The estimated annual payment based on the difference in NPV, was from 9,869 yen/ha/yr to 85,900 yen/ha/yr. All in all, 10,000 yen/ha/yr to 20,000 yen/ha/yr seems to cover the payment from the rotation age of 35 to 75 years.

Dramatic price increases of fossil fuels and the economic development of emerging nations accelerates the transformation of forest lands into monocultures, e.g. for biofuel production. On this account, cost efficient methods to enable the monitoring of land resources has become a vital ambition. The application of remote sensing techniques has become an integral part of forest attribute estimation and mapping. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potentials of the kNN method by combining terrestrial with remotely sensed data for the development of a pixel-based monitoring system for the small scaled mosaic of different land use types of the off-reserve forests of the Goaso forest district in Ghana, West Africa. For this reason, occurrence and distribution of land use types like cocoa and non-timber forest resources, such as bamboo and raphia palms, were estimated, applying the kNN method to ASTER satellite data. Averaged overall accuracies, ranging from 79% for plantain, to 83% for oil palms, were found for single-attribute classifications, whereas a multi-attribute approach showed overall accuracies of up to 70%. Values of k between 3 and 6 seem appropriate for mapping bamboo. Optimisation of spectral bands improves results considerably.

Site index is the essential tool for forest management to estimate the productivity of forest land Generally, site index equation is developed and used by relationship between stand age and dominant tree heights. However, there is a limit to use the site index equation in the application of variable ages, environmental influence, and estimation of site index for unstocked land. Therefore, it was attempted to develop a new site index equations based on various environmental factors including site and topographical variables. This study was conducted to develop regional site index equations based on the relationship between site index and soil factors for Pinus densiflora. Environmental factors that obtained from GIS application, were selected by stepwiseregression. Site index Equation was estimated by multiple regression from selected factors. Four environmental factors were selected in the final site index equations by stepwise regression. It was observed that coefficients of determination for site index equations were ranged from 0.34 which seem to be relatively low but good enough for estimation of forest stand productivity. The site index equations developed in this study were also verified to be useful by three evaluation statistics such as model’'s estimation bias, model’'s precision and mean square error type of measure.

Forest inventory is a commercial term meaning the preparation of detailed descriptive list of articles with number, quantity and value of each item included. Forest inventory deals with the measurement of trees and stands, the estimation of their volume, growth prediction, biomass, carbon stocks and the description tree characteristics, as well as the land upon which they are growing. National Forest Inventory Center (NFIC) in Korea conducts national forest inventory every 5 years to obtain accurate baseline data for national forest policy. The permanent sample plot data used in were collected by NFI. The objective of this study was to develop methods for quantifying forest resources at national scale based on 5th National Forest Inventory (NFI) data in Korea. Forest land area decreased from 6.44 to 6.38 million ha between 1997 and 2007, continuing a slight downward trend in area beginning in the late 1990s. However forest resources of the Korea have continued improving in general condition and quality, as measured by increased average size and volume of trees. Growing-stock volume of the Korea increased from 17 to 123.79 cubic meter per ha between 1976 and 2007. The biomass in Korea was estimated to be 153.81 tons per hectare and carbon stocks in Korea was estimated to be 84.36 tons per hectare by NFI data. This information is important for government officials, public administration, the private business sector, and the researcher. Forest Inventory should be implemented in a way to be able to monitor and assess the forests continuously.

This study attempts to analyze the relationship between forest volume and age based on 5th NFI data and spectral characteristics of satellite imagery using ASTER sensor in Korea. Forest stand volume and age had the negative correlation with the spectral reflectance in all of the band (Blue, Green, Red, SWIR). With increasing of stand volume and age, spectral reflectance decrease. The spectral reflectance of band1 showed the highest correlation between stand volume and spectral reflectance among the VNIR wavelength. The spectral reflectance band 1, 2 (visible wavelength) and stand age have high correlation compared to other bands. The correlation coefficients between forest volume and vegetation indices have low relationship. This result indicates that the reflectance of blue band may be important factor to improve the potential of optical remote sensing data to estimate forest volume and age.

The increasing price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has forced many households to shift to firewood/charcoal in the Philippines, causing tremendous pressure on the dwindling forest. This transition is more obvious in the rural area where firewood price is almost half of that in the cities. Both problems on big demand for firewood and the pressure on our forest can be partly solved by going into firewood plantation. After all, the country has vast track of idle lands, both private and government lands, waiting to be developed. What the government can do are: a) aggressive promotion of firewood plantation, b) simplify further the old technology on establishing firewood plantation to encourage more farmers, c) improve charcoal processing and d) promote the use of efficient stoves. This write up discusses the need for firewood plantation, areas available for planting, where to plant in farms, what species to plant in a particular soil type/location for optimum growth, planting methods, harvesting, marketing, and the side lights on the ecological benefits derived from plantation aside from wood.

Forestry education in vocational high schools is one of the fundamental keys for achieving sustainable forest management. However, support systems for forestry education have not been well developed in Japan. Forest research institutes, which have accumulated relevant information, should have sufficient ability to develop new educational programs in this field. This study examined the possibility of support systems for forestry technical education by a research institute. Educational programs for vocational high schools were developed, and the programs were examined for their practical applications through a workshop for these teachers. We set the following five requirements for the programs: They should 1) incorporate new contents related to sustainable forest management, 2) be based on forestry education textbooks, 3) meet recent demands of the schools and society, 4) allow participants to learn through actual practice and experience, and 5) utilize readily available teaching materials. With these criteria, we developed the following two educational programs: (a) Forest management program to teach advanced techniques, (b) A timber-program to teach about biomass resources. The workshop was held on July 28th, 2007 with ten teachers attending. The programs were very interesting, who gave them high average evaluation of 4.6 on a scale of 1 to 5. Only a few issues need to be resolved before classroom instruction can begin, such as making wood structure easier to understanding for some teachers, and obtaining base maps of school forests. In conclusion, forest research institutes can effectively support forestry education by providing and implementing programs based on scientific information.