Current issue: 58(4)
Annual variations in wood utilization makes it complicated to estimate the balance between wood utilization and wood production of forests. According to the article, the balance is unsustainable especially in the private forests in the southern part of Finland. The annual wood utilization of the country was 37.3 million m3 in 1913, and the annual wood production 35.2 million m3, according to a report of a committee that was appointed to find methods to prevent overcutting. The committee suggested legislation to forbid forest devastation. Also the growth of the forests could be increased, if the forests are well managed, the article argues. To prove this, the potential wood production capacity is estimated for the municipalities of Viipuri, Mikkeli and Kuopio, and compared to the present wood production and wood utilization of the area.
The PDF includes a German summary.
The aim of the present study was to describe the forest types of Finnish mineral forest lands as a uniform whole in the light of stand development and wood production.
The study shows that it has been possible to work out uniform age-based development series for different stand characteristics for forest types on mineral forest lands in Finland. There is generally a clear difference in the development series of various stand characteristics and their average values between different forest types. The exceptions in a few places have been explained as depending on certain factors. The differences between adjacent forest types in order of their quality are of varying magnitude, thus differing from a schematic site quality classification obtained through calculation. Consequently, each forest type has its own development series with regard to the stand characteristics.
The number of forest types in the whole country is rather high. However, the different forest types are limited to different parts cf the country in such a way that there is no need for more than 5–6 forest types and 4 northerly sub-forms (-types) in each region, except in the border areas between the regions. In Finland the forest types have been the basis of forest site classification in forest research and practical forestry over a period of half a century. In pointing out the necessity of further study of forest types, Cajander has stressed the examination of differences in the compositions of vegetation between different classes of density of tree-stand and building up average descriptions of vegetation in such classes in young, middle-age and old stands. The same may be caused by some other factors which also are of essential influence to the composition of the vegetation.
The PDF includes a summary in English.