Understanding Forest Management

Abstract

Silviculture alters the pattern of development in a stand so that the characteristics of a mature stand can be reached in less time than through natural development. Forest management is the control, or regulation, of the pattern of stages of stand development, across the area of the forest, and across time. On-the-ground management control is exercised by temporal and spatial regulation of harvesting, product recovery, silviculture, and protection. Good management is anticipation and correction of emerging structural problems in a specific forest so that the desired quantity and quality of benefits are available continuously. Goodness of management can only be judged in specific cases by comparing what is done on-the-ground against what is needed in a particular forest to achieve the desired goals.