Different productivity potentials
to a degree, the current productivity may be what nature provided us (really it is more timberland footwear what past managers left us with rather than what nature provided us with). the existing forest type (a classification of forestland based on the species forming a plurality of live tree stocking) may be a 20 year old oak-pine stand or a 10 year-old loblolly pine plantation.
the two have very different productivity potentials going forward. there could easily be a five-fold increase in productivity between the two forest types on similar sites. in some cases, the forest manager has the option of changing forest types through the process of harvesting, site preparation and planting. greater productivity, greater cost.
inherent in the example above is greater control of stand density or stocking through planting. control of stand density is critical to maximizing productivity. so what is stand density? i dont want to get into a forest mensuration short course here so just think of stocking as the combination of the number and size of trees that will provide optimum growth for a particular site. stocking charts frequently classify stands as understocked, well stocked or overstocked.
a yield table, mentioned earlier, combines the stocking level with site index to forecast what the yield of forest products will be at some future point. this tool is critical to determining the future productivity of the forest and to the timing necessary for the discounted cash flow analysis. for the purpose of explanation and understanding, i have created the super simple yield table below.
a real yield table can go sale timberland classic on for pages with many different site indices, ages, stocking levels and products but this one will illustrate the points that i am trying to make. note how the yield (in this case cords/acre at age 25 but could be mbf at age 20) changes with both stocking (trees/acre at age 1) and site index.
using these variables we can forecast both volumes and cash flow at the time of harvest. and what if we plant genetically improved stock that increases growth that is the equivalent of a 10 point jump in si? or phosphorous fertilization on a p deficient soil? silvicultural activities have a major impact timberland boots sales on the yield but in the old days we were pretty well restricted to the yield tables and they served us quite well.
No comments yet.