Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021
Cost Analysis of a Novel Method for Ecological Compensation-A Study of the Translocation of Dead Wood
Lindroos, Ola; Soderlind, Malin; Jensen, Joel; Hjalten, JoakimAbstract
Translocation of dead wood is a novel method for ecological compensation and restoration that could, potentially, provide a new important tool for biodiversity conservation. With this method, substrates that normally have long delivery times are instantly created in a compensation area, and ideally many of the associated dead wood dwelling organisms are translocated together with the substrates. However, to a large extent, there is a lack of knowledge about the cost efficiency of different methods of ecological compensation. Therefore, the costs for different parts of a translocation process and its dependency on some influencing factors were studied. The observed cost was 465 SEK per translocated log for the actual compensation measure, with an additional 349 SEK/log for work to enable evaluation of the translocation's ecological results. Based on time studies, models were developed to predict required work time and costs for different transportation distances and load sizes. Those models indicated that short extraction and insertion distances for logs should be prioritized over road transportation distances to minimize costs. They also highlighted a trade-off between costs and time until a given ecological value is reached in the compensation area. The methodology used can contribute to more cost-efficient operations and, by doing so, increase the use of ecological compensation and the benefits from a given input.Keywords
restoration; no-net-loss; biodiversity conservation; wood living species; mining; forwarder; forest operations; cost-efficiency; boreal forest; SwedenPublished in
Sustainability2021, volume: 13, number: 11, article number: 6075
Publisher: MDPI
Authors' information
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology
Söderlind, Malin
Norra Skog
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG15 Life on land
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Forest Science
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116075
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/112611