Abstract. Damage to the remaining stand is an unavoidable consequence of thinning operations. The different machines used for timber extraction differ in the level of damage of trees they cause, mainly through wounds to the bark and cambium which can make a substantial impact on the remaining trees. Three different methods of timber harvesting with a chainsaw were analyzed: the short wood system (SWS), the long wood system (LWS) and the full tree system (FTS) in which an agricultural tractor is used for timber extracting. All systems were analyzed in stands containing three different age classes: 2 nd (21-40 years), 3 rd (41-60 years) and 4 th (61-80 years). The level of damage to the remaining stand was assessed considering the percentage of trees exhibiting wounds (scratched bark and/or damage to the cambium) to calculate an index of stand damage (WDI) which incorporated the volume of harvested timber per hectare. The SWS produced the lowest damage to trees in stands of all age classes: average 5%, with the less damage in the oldest stand. After using the LWS, 9% of trees were wounded; in this method there was no statistical difference in frequency of wounding across all the analyzed stands. The highest level of damage was incurred after the FTS, causing 11% of trees to be injured. In stands of the 2 nd age class, the method of timber harvesting had no statistically significant effect on the amount of wounding endured. The WDI was lowest in SWS: 0.08, higher in LWS: 0.15 and the highest, 0.23, when FTS was applied.
Mountains have been an important part of environmental sciences. Understanding and effectively addressing the complex challenges; faced by mountain population in an era of global change requires carefully designed and implemented research involving scientists from a range of disciplines. To address the mountain problems associated with inaccessibility, fragility, and marginality; we can suggest a number of measures such as: improvement of road net; sustainability of natural resources and regulation of their usage. Furthermore, we can adopt consumption activities in order to fulfil the environmental and decentralized needs of the residents in order to develop ecotourism to a semi mountainous area. The aim of this paper is: a) to record the current situation of Cassandra's road net in a semi mountainous area, b) to propose places that can be further developed and; c) to develop an estimating method of parametric system based on environmental impact assessment. The results of our research are based on; how until now this area has been managed and how we are going to reform it by our proposals; by the usage of road net and the rural development. We used a route; which passes through several forest stands and is preferred compared to the provincial highway which is used as a connecting axis between the cities of Cassandra and Fourka. Another ultimate aim is to propose structures that could improve these sections of forest land to Sustainable Development and Planning VI 149 upgrade the area; to increase the percentage of forest road crossing and the multiple-use by hikers and visitors. As a goal is the visit ability of this semimountainous area by pupils with low incomes or by more affluent groups. Finishing this task, we believe it contributed even slightly to the sustainable development of the area of Cassandra; while such projects should be provided and assistance is granted by the Prefecture and local governments to expand the horizons of development of non-urbanized areas.
Forest operations engineering deals with all the essential infrastructure operations aiming at the efficient management of forested areas, which constitutes a prerequisite for the development of mountainous economies. Thus, the need for addressing this objective in an effective way, in conjunction with other issues associated with the protection and preservation of forest wealth, is of utmost importance. There are a whole range of forest operations for which a decision-making web-tool can potentially be utilized. This paper introduces an online decision-making tool for managing forest roads, which uses information derived from rainfall-runoff simulation. The proposed tool can be used to provide information about forest works maintenance and damage prevention in a forest environment. Furthermore, the tool assists in visualizing forest operations and achieves the optimization of their management. The development of the decision-making tool is also described, and a real case study (the Koupa watershed) is presented in detail to demonstrate its application and resulting advantages. The rainfall-runoff simulation was conducted for ten sub-basins in order to evaluate the efficiency of the corresponding culverts in the Koupa watershed.
The contribution of the forest of Smixi's area to the quality of life is unlimited, as it corresponds quantitively or qualitively to the needs of the inhabitants and the visitors. It is well known that the public demand for quality recreation areas is increasing rapidly because of the fast-growing seasonal population and the improvement of its citizens' income levels. The accessibility, the improvement and the quality of the forest should be one of the first priorities of the office of forestry and the municipality of Grevena. It is also necessary to enhance the level of environmental education, especially of the young, in order for the recreation areas and especially the environment to be appreciated and respected. This research develops a method to evaluate the impacts of forest road and path construction on the natural environment. The method will be used to improve the layout of forest roads and paths at an early planning stage. The method which was applied has been practical, effective and easy to use before the road or path construction. The criteria to assess the environmental impact was identified and rated by interviewing Greek forest scientists using questionnaires. A threshold will be defined for the level of compatible impacts. Road or path segments exceeding this threshold will be identified for re-design purposes to minimize negative impact on the environment. The combination will be used as a decision-support tool together with the Environmental Impact Assessment parameters, cost, existing legislation and environmental policy. Only in this way can we effectively use the forest benefits. This can contribute to an improvement in public health (both mental and emotional); a service which nowadays is scarce and not adequately appreciated.
In recent years, a worldwide expansion in the frequency of large, uncontrolled, and catastrophic wildfire events has occurred, creating drastic social, economic, and environmental damage, especially in wildland–urban interface (WUI) zones. This damage includes losses of life, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. The impacts of wildfires at the WUI derive from the complicated and multidimensional interconnected relationships present in the Anthropocene. To enforce resilience of the environment and human communities against wildfires, it is critical to comprehend the local social-ecological systems holistically. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework approach, built on performance-based wildfire engineering, that is envisioned to be a stepping stone towards WUI resilience. To attain this objective, performance benchmarking and design is disaggregated into explicit components of a rigorous mathematical framework. They are linked to a causal inference chain, providing an integrated picture and enabling decision analysis to identify the optimal management strategies based on quantitative parameters. The proposed framework is developed from the total probability theorem and divides the risk assessment into single parts, in particular (1) hazard (wildfire) analysis, (2) social-ecological impact characterization, (3) social-ecological interaction analysis, (4) social-ecological impact analysis, (5) damage analysis, and (6) loss analysis. Therefore, the proposed framework can be applied by emergency agencies directly to assess the performance of society and ecosystem recovery after a wildfire, making emergency management and resilience policy-making more effective.
The recent worldwide increase of large, uncontrolled, and catastrophic wildfires events, caused important socio-economic issues and with considerable effects to the natural environment. Wildfires’ impacts on social-ecological systems derive from the complicated and multidimensional interconnected relationships between society and ecosystems. To enforce environmental and community resilience against wildfires, it is critical to holistically comprehend the local social-ecological systems. In this paper we present a holistic social-ecological systems resilience approach, built on performance-based wildfire engineering, that is envisioned to be a steppingstone towards the social-ecological resilience after a wildfire. To attain this objective, the performance assessment and design series of actions are disaggregated into explicit components of a rigorous mathematical framework. They are linked to a causal inference chain, providing an integrated picture, and enabling decision analysis to identify the optimal management strategies given a number of constraints. The proposed approach is proceeding from the total probability theorem and divides the risk assessment into single (underlying) parts, particularly: (1) hazard (wildfire) analysis, (2) damage analysis, (3) loss analysis, and social-ecological (4) impacts characterization, (5) interaction analysis, and (6) impacts analysis. A consistent probabilistic framework is proposed that explicitly considers and quantifies the inherent uncertainties for reliable wildfires performance resilient assessment. The suggested framework can be implemented by emergency agencies directly for performance assessment of society and ecosystems recovery after a wildfire, making more effective the emergency management and policy making.
The protection of soil from erosion is an essential element for projects where we have to deal with steep slopes terrains. Those could be construction of roads, quarry and open-pit mines. The soil stabilization occurs with the implementation of technical works such as the installation of synthetic and metallic textiles or with bioengineering methods. The mine closure and the rehabilitation of mine sites and waste dumps are popular projects under sustainable policies. A bioengineering stabilization method is hydroseeding which can be used for mine rehabilitation. Hydroseeding is considered one of the most appropriate methods for fast installation of vegetation. It is used for planting seeds of grass species, even shrubs and trees. This paper aims to highlight the advantages of hydroseeding as a sustainable bioengineering method for soil stabilization. The contributing factors for successful installation of hydroseeding were examined and analyzed. Those are time the: time and climatic conditions, different methods, selection and quality of the materials and the selection of the proper mix of species which are used. A review of applied projects in Greece is taking place with focusing in the growth of the plants and the results of this method compared with others.
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