Could continuous cover forestry be an economically and environmentally feasible management option on drained boreal peatlands?

Abstract

Environmental and economic performance of forestry on drained peatlands was reviewed to consider whether continuous cover forestry (CCF) could be a feasible alternative to even-aged management (EM). CCF was regarded feasible particularly because continuously maintaining a tree stand with significant transpiration and interception capacity would decrease the need for ditch network maintenance. Managing CCF forests in such a way that the ground water levels are lower than in clear-cut EM forests but higher than in mature EM forests could decrease greenhouse gas emissions and negative water quality impacts caused both by anoxic redox reactions and oxidation and mineralization of deep peat layers. Regeneration studies indicated potential for satisfactory natural regeneration under CCF on drained peatlands. An economic advantage in CCF over EM is that fewer investments are needed to establish the forest stand and sustain its growth. Thus, even if the growth of trees in CCF forests were lower than in EM forests, CCF could at least 2 in some peatland sites turn out to be a more profitable forest management regime. An advantage of CCF from the viewpoint of socially optimal forest management is that it plausibly reduces the negative externalities of management compared to EM. We propose that future research in drained peatland forests should focus on assessing the economic and environmental feasibility of CCF.

Shifting from even-aged management to less intensive forestry in varying proportions of forest land in Finland: impacts on carbon storage, harvest removals, and harvesting costs

“…Similar scenario analyses, as carried out in this study, could be run to compare different management systems on specific sites, such as poorly productive, drained peatlands in Finland (cf. Nieminen et al 2018), and this could be carried out with respect to a wider selection of ecosystem services and choices related to management regimes than considered in our study.…”

“…These choices may convert stands towards uneven-aged forest structures, although converging to a steady-state structure of any kind is not required (Pukkala 2016a). Continuous cover forestry is expected to become more common, because of its potential to supply multiple ecosystem services (Pukkala 2016b; Peura et al 2018) and reduce the financial costs related to regeneration and other silvicultural operations (Pukkala 2016a) compared to even-aged management (see also Knoke 2012;Kuuluvainen et al 2012;Puettmann et al 2015;Nieminen et al 2018).…”

Potential impacts of a future Nordic bioeconomy on surface water quality

“…Recent studies indicate considerably longer-term leaching impact from peatland-based forestry to water courses (Nieminen et al 2017(Nieminen et al , 2018a. The effects of forest-based bioeconomy management strategies to increase biomass production and its effect on water quality at landscape scale are inadequately understood (Laudon et al 2011).…”

Economics of carbon storage in heterogeneous forests

“…in Miettinen (2020). On the other hand, Nieminen et al (2018) show that compared to even-aged management, continuous cover management may decrease greenhouse gas emissions and negative water quality impacts on drained peatlands used for forestry. Hence the inclusion of both climate and water quality impacts of forestry in an optimization framework that incorporates thinnings and the option of continuous cover management would be an important extension especially relating to peatlands.…”