Production losses during the transition from even-aged management to gap cutting in Norway spruce and Scots Pine stands in Southern Sweden

Abstract

Knowledge on continuous cover forestry (CCF) in Sweden is limited, as even-aged silviculture has dominated in the Swedish forestry since the mid-twentieth century. This study examines production losses during the transition from even-aged management to gap cutting at the stand level. Simulations were conducted using the forest simulator LandSim for Norway spruce and Scots pine across various productivity levels in southern Sweden. Up to 36 conversion schedules were modeled per species and productivity class. Production losses, compared to the mean annual increment (MAI) under even-aged management, ranged from 16 to 320 m(3) ha-1 or 2.7 to 32.7 MAI equivalents. Trade-offs between several aspects of the target stand structure after transition and the transition period production were found. Late conversions, starting at the reference final felling age, generally, decreased production more than the early transition options. A sensitivity analysis of reduced growth in the gaps suggests that production losses due to suboptimal timing of harvests are likely to be the main component of the total production losses during the transition period, even for longer conversion schedules.

Keywords

Gap cutting; CCF; conversion; transition period; simulation

Published in

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
2025, volume: 40, number: 2, pages: 75-84
Publisher: TAYLOR AND FRANCIS LTD

SLU Authors

• Trubins, Renats

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2025.2487029

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/141724