Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management

Riparian zones are important for many ecological functions such as for providing shade to streams and leaf litter to instream organisms, as well as acting as filters for sediments and excess nutrients that are released during forestry operations. Riparian areas are also important for preservation of...

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Main Author: Åström, Jessica
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:English
Swedish
Published: SLU/Dept. of Forest Ecology and Management 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15531/
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spelling ftsluppsalast:oai:stud.epsilon.slu.se:15531 2023-05-15T17:45:13+02:00 Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management Utvärdering av lövträdsabundans i produktionsskog längs med små bäckar : kan Sverige nå rådande skogsbrukspolitiska mål utan ett intensifierat skogsbruk? Åström, Jessica 2020 https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15531/ eng swe eng swe SLU/Dept. of Forest Ecology and Management https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15531/ Riparian forests small stream strategic management objectives deciduous forest policy change H2 2020 ftsluppsalast 2022-09-10T18:12:36Z Riparian zones are important for many ecological functions such as for providing shade to streams and leaf litter to instream organisms, as well as acting as filters for sediments and excess nutrients that are released during forestry operations. Riparian areas are also important for preservation of biodiversity. Over time, forestry policies in Sweden have changed and this has had effects on the management of forests. For example, in 2013 the Strategic Management Objectives (SMO) were introduced, aiming to act as a guideline for an expected level of environmental consideration. Within the SMOs, there is a goal to preserve and manage functional riparian buffer zones adjacent to streams. One way of reaching this goal is to encourage deciduous tree species in the riparian zones at all stages of forestry operations. The aim with this thesis was to investigate how forestry policy actions have changed management of riparian zones and if historic forest management has impacted how we can meet the SMOs today. The main focus was to understand if deciduous tree species already exist within the riparian zones of small streams or if there is a need for changed or intensified management to encourage deciduous trees. My study was performed in Vindeln, Västerbotten County, northern Sweden. I measured stand characteristics of 16 riparian buffer zones of four different age classes, i.e., <1975, <1993, <2013 and <2019. Each of the age classes has been subject to different forest policies and thus different management within buffers. I found that the 1993 Forestry Act has had a positive effect on deciduous cover in riparian buffers of small streams. On the contrary, the introduction of SMOs in 2013 has not yet improved the buffer management, at least with regard to deciduous tree species and some riparian functions, i.e. dead wood provision and shading. A reoccurring pattern in my results was that there is a time lag from the time the buffer is created until the riparian buffer is functioning as intended. It seems that ... Other/Unknown Material Northern Sweden Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
institution Open Polar
collection Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
op_collection_id ftsluppsalast
language English
Swedish
topic Riparian forests
small stream
strategic management objectives
deciduous
forest policy change
spellingShingle Riparian forests
small stream
strategic management objectives
deciduous
forest policy change
Åström, Jessica
Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
topic_facet Riparian forests
small stream
strategic management objectives
deciduous
forest policy change
description Riparian zones are important for many ecological functions such as for providing shade to streams and leaf litter to instream organisms, as well as acting as filters for sediments and excess nutrients that are released during forestry operations. Riparian areas are also important for preservation of biodiversity. Over time, forestry policies in Sweden have changed and this has had effects on the management of forests. For example, in 2013 the Strategic Management Objectives (SMO) were introduced, aiming to act as a guideline for an expected level of environmental consideration. Within the SMOs, there is a goal to preserve and manage functional riparian buffer zones adjacent to streams. One way of reaching this goal is to encourage deciduous tree species in the riparian zones at all stages of forestry operations. The aim with this thesis was to investigate how forestry policy actions have changed management of riparian zones and if historic forest management has impacted how we can meet the SMOs today. The main focus was to understand if deciduous tree species already exist within the riparian zones of small streams or if there is a need for changed or intensified management to encourage deciduous trees. My study was performed in Vindeln, Västerbotten County, northern Sweden. I measured stand characteristics of 16 riparian buffer zones of four different age classes, i.e., <1975, <1993, <2013 and <2019. Each of the age classes has been subject to different forest policies and thus different management within buffers. I found that the 1993 Forestry Act has had a positive effect on deciduous cover in riparian buffers of small streams. On the contrary, the introduction of SMOs in 2013 has not yet improved the buffer management, at least with regard to deciduous tree species and some riparian functions, i.e. dead wood provision and shading. A reoccurring pattern in my results was that there is a time lag from the time the buffer is created until the riparian buffer is functioning as intended. It seems that ...
format Other/Unknown Material
author Åström, Jessica
author_facet Åström, Jessica
author_sort Åström, Jessica
title Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
title_short Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
title_full Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
title_fullStr Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
title_sort evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small stream : can sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management
publisher SLU/Dept. of Forest Ecology and Management
publishDate 2020
url https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15531/
genre Northern Sweden
genre_facet Northern Sweden
op_relation https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15531/
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