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Forestry 1999 72(3):191-205; doi:10.1093/forestry/72.3.191
© 1999 by Institute of Chartered Foresters
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The use of silvicultural systems to enhance the biological diversity of plantation forests in Britain

G Kerr

Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH, UK

This review considers possible changes in the silvicultural systems applied to plantation forests in Britain, in response to demands for enhanced biodiversity. The options considered are: (1) extension of rotation length of selected forest stands; (2) improvement in vertical structure through variations in stand treatments such as thinning, pruning, respacing, and new ones such as snag creation and green tree retention; (3) increased use of species mixtures; (4) introduction of alternative silvicultural systems to harvest at a range of scales to improve spatial heterogeneity. The first three can be achieved while maintaining clear-cutting, as the predominant silvicultural system and, importantly, offer a way forward in the short term. The introduction of a range of alternative silvicultural systems poses the greatest challenge to current plantation silviculture. This is a longer term option; what is required now is to test the systems on a range of site and forest types, and to develop the skills base of forest managers. However, obstacles to these changes exist and it is concluded that unless benefits to biodiversity can be clearly demonstrated, which outweigh increased costs, any large-scale modifications to existing silvicultural systems will be limited.


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