Browsing by discipline "Forest Resource Science and Technology (Forest planning)"
Now showing items 1-8 of 8
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(2008)Nykymuotoisen metsäsuunnittelun ongelmaksi on koettu heikko asiakaslähtöisyys. Sitä voidaan kuitenkin kehittää tuntemalla metsänomistajien tarpeet paremmin. Sen vuoksi tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää tapaustutkimuksen keinoin teemahaastattelulla metsänomistajien aitoja tarpeita, jotka liittyvät metsäsuunnitelman hankkimiseen. Tutkimuksen kohteena olivat erillismetsäsuunnitelman tilanneet metsänomistajat, koska he olivat tilanneet suunnitelman omasta aloitteestaan joko metsäkeskukselta tai metsänhoitoyhdistykseltä. Haastatellut 12 henkilöä ovat aktiivisia metsänomistajia, jotka arvostavat hyvää ja tuottavaa metsää. Metsänomistajien aitoja tarpeita ovat metsänhoidolliset syyt. Metsäsuunnitelma on puukaupan apu, metsänhoitotöiden järjestyksen ja kiireellisyyden määrittäjä, metsän kokonaistilanteen selventäjä, metsän arvon ilmentäjä ja etämetsänomistajalle mielenrauhaa tuova asiakirja. Aloite suunnitelman hankkimiseen oli tullut metsänomistajalta itseltään, joten metsäammattilaisten myötävaikutus tilauspäätökseen oli vähäinen. Pääsääntöisesti metsänomistajat olivat vahvassa vuorovaikutuksessa metsäsuunnittelijan kanssa, mutta osalla yhteydenpito oli vähäistä suunnitteluprosessin aikana. Viisi metsänomistajaa 12:sta oli ollut suunnittelijan mukana maastossa. Metsänomistajat olivat pääpiirteissään tyytyväisiä suunnitteluprosessiin ja kokivat suunnitelman vastanneen tarvetta. Tutkittujen metsänomistajien toimeliaisuudesta kertoo se, että lähes kaikki olivat tehneet uuden suunnitelmansa avulla puukauppoja, taimikonhoitoa tai molempia. Monet metsänomistajat kertoivat tekevänsä metsänhoitotöitä itse, mutta useat tukeutuvat osittain ja jotkut jopa kokonaan ammattilaisen apuun. Erillismetsäsuunnittelussa itsessään on asiakaslähtöisyyden piirteitä, mutta erillismetsäsuunnitelmia tilanneita tutkimalla on hankala vastata nykymetsäsuunnittelun pahimpaan ongelmaan, asiakaslähtöisyyden puutteeseen. Uusi suunnittelujärjestelmä antanee mahdollisuuden lisätä neuvonnan määrää ja tehdä erilaisia metsäsuunnitelmia metsänomistajille. Vaikka metsänomistajat kaipaavat yhä enenevässä määrin kokonaispalvelua, tänäkin päivänä metsänomistajat ovat omatoimisia. Asiakaslähtöisyyden parantamista voidaan auttaa edelleen tutkimuksen keinoin. Järkevintä olisi tutkia mm. niitä metsänomistajia, jotka ovat tilanneet aikaisemmin suunnitelman, mutta uudella aluesuunnittelukierroksella ovat jättäneet sen tilaamatta. Olisi hyvä tietää, mikä heidän mielestään on ollut suunnitelmassa vikana ja miksi metsänomistaja on jättänyt suunnitelman tilaamatta.
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(2014)To achieve the appointed goals set in the national climate and energy strategy it is important to launch biomass into markets more effectively. In addition to biomass from clearing sites energy wood needs to be procured from young stands. First thinnings have been neglected to great extent in Finland mainly because of low profitability. The targets have been achieved only once during last decade. Expanding energy wood procurement to young stands increases the need for resources. Therefore more effective operating machines should be developed. The challenge is in launching these prototypes into testing and commercial markets. Fixteri Ltd. has developed a whole-tree bundler in order to enhance harvesting of small-diameter energy wood from young stands. This method is meant to reduce transportation costs through load compaction. The aim of this research was to study the productivity of cutting and bundling of whole-trees using Fixteri FX15a bundling unit and to clarify the competitiveness of the whole production chain compared to rival methods. The harvesting was studied trough video analyze in order to detect factors limiting the productivity. 35 whole-tree bundles were produced in young Scots pine stand. An average weight and volume of the bundle were 502.5 kg and 463 dm³. It took 3.38 min to produce one bundle. FX15a bundling unit was fitted to Logman 811FC base machine. Accumulating Nisula 280E+ felling head was used. An average performance per effective working hour of 9.74 m3 was recorded when average volume of removal was 37.3 dm3. The operator used multi-tree cutting effectively in average 3.1 whole-trees per work load. The share of multi-tree cutting was 96 percent. The performance of prototype FX15 was significantly lower than the performance of FX15a. The performance of 5.07 and 5.86 m³/h0 were recorded when average volumes of removed trees were 28.4 and 41.1 dm³. It was observed that the productivity of FX15a was higher compared to the harvesting of undelimbed trees when average volume of removed trees was less than 70 dm3. Harvesting and off-road transportation of whole tree bundles was more profitable when average volume of removal was under 95 dm3. Total costs of wood chip supply chain were lower compared to harvesting of undelimbed trees when average volume of removal was less than 85 dm3. Total costs of wood chip supply chain were higher compared to harvesting of undelimbed trees regardless of average volume of removed trees when FX15 bundling unit was used. When includung the possible energy subsidies (max 30 %) for whole-tree bundling and pre-clearance-related additional costs for harvesting of undelimbed trees into account the potential number of harvesting sites increases significantly. Drying the bundles plays an important role since high moisture content in the bundles after road side storing may endanger the competitiveness of the whole supply chain when bundles are burned to produce energy. Although bundling whole-trees seems to be a competitive alternative in harvesting small-diameter energy wood there are still several questions unanswered. The method should be studied in greater depth by varying harvesting conditions and machine operators. Also the potential of on-road transport and bundle features needs further study.
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(2012)Reliable forest inventory data creates the foundation for quality forest planning. The quality of forest inventory data is emphasized when the planning is tried to make as optimal as possible compared to the aims. It is important for the choice of measures and timing that the forest variables used in the decision making are as accurate as possible. Unreliable information at the starting point and the wrong conclusions as a result may lead to inoptimality losses. Additional forest surveys also bring unnecessary expenses. Forest inventory is a financial investment for forest owners. One should not be content with information that is too incorrect and inexpensive, for the inoptimality losses can rise up to be higher than the investment expenses. The meaning of quality in forest inventory information was studied in this thesis. The aim was to find out how the various precision levels of markings in forest inventory information have an effect on both the choice of cuttings and timing in forests with various structures. This thesis aimed to find limits of quality requirements for forest inventory information which enable forest planning that is compatible with the aims. The quality aims of the planning were set according to the decision maker and the employer of the research, UPMKymmene plc. The research material consisted of a set of 337 stands provided by UPM Forest. The development of the stands was simulated by SIMO software. The simulation was made by assuming that the forest inventory data was flawless and by adding error into it. The forest variables that had error added into them were the basal area, average diameter, average height and site index. The simulations were made with a single error and combination error. In the case of single error one variable was added error systematically per cent by per cent up to -30–30 %. In the case of combination the error in one variable was added systematically and in the others randomly. The assumption was that the errors in different variables will not correlate. Measures and measure timings planned for each stand with reference data were compared to plans received by inaccurate starting point information. The planning period was ten years and the planned actions were thinning, clearcutting and no action. The error in the initial data clearly lessened the quality of planning. Over or underestimations of over 10% simulated to the basal area or average diameter alone led to the average accuracy of cutting measures going below the target level of 90 %. While the error grew the result of the planning weakened even more. The average height’s relevance of error in the quality of planning was minor but, instead, the relevance of error of the site index was significant. The site index error was clearly more damaging in pine forests than in spruce forests. The reason for this is likely to be that in pine forests there are three various thinning models and renewal limitations (ct, vt, mt), while in spruce forests there are only two (mt, omt). On grounds of the results of the research relatively small errors in basal area, average diameter and site index can cause a several years’ deviation in cutting planning. The relevance of error varied a great deal in forests of different structure. In the case of measure planning the forest inventory data gathered from well managed young forests does not need to be especially accurate, for the next measure is usually further in the future than the next investment. The accuracy demand of information is also not great in overly thick forests or in forests which have clearly surpassed the renewal limit. In these cases there is no obscurity about the next measure. In the accuracy of inventory one should pay the most attention on stands with young and grown forest cover which have had their last forestry measure done at least ten years ago. The research problem was approached from the point of view of measure accuracy. However, in the future it would be useful to research the effect of error in forest inventory information from the point of view of gain. As a result, one could have more factors in the research, such as timber logistic and planning of forests to be cut, in which the more accurate forest inventory data would be useful.
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(2009)The aim of the thesis was to evaluate the effect of the data size and estimation method on the yield estimates of Pinus patula in Sao Hill forest plantation in Tanzania. The data consisted of even aged and nonthinned forest stands. The yield was estimated with a simultaneous system of equations (Eerikäinen 2002) that was originally developed for Pinus kesiya plantations in Zambia and Zimbabwe. The system of equations included non linear models for the stand dominant height, the number of stems per hectare, the basal area median diameter, the stand basal area and the total stand volume. Using the previously developed models could be useful in the case there is lack of time and the inventory/modelling budget is low. The system of equations was estimated from different sizes of samples of the original data in order to research the effect of the data size on the yield estimates. The models were estimated with a Two Stage Least Squares method (2SLS). In addition, two different kinds of model estimation methods were tested. Firstly, all the model parameters were estimated from the samples and, secondly, only the levels of the models were estimated from the samples and the parameter values for the model forms were derived from Eerikäinen´s (2002) research. This method was expected to be particularly efficient in the case that the amount of the estimation data would be small. The system of equations fitted quite well to the data of Sao Hill plantation as all the assumption related to the estimation were met quite well. On the other hand, the RMSE values were quite high compared to ones in Eerikäinen´s (2002) research. This could refer to quite a considerable variation in the data that the models could not explain very well. The yield estimates were more precise and accurate as the amount of data was increased in estimation. In general the 95 % confidence intervals, the ranges, the medians and means of the RMSE values and biases decreased as the amount of data increased. The estimation method where all the parameters were estimated from the data seemed in general better than the method where only the levels of the models were estimated from the data and the form parameters were given the values from Eerikäinen´s (2002) research. The differences between the estimation methods were, however, quite small in small sample sizes.
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(2013)Due to urbanization the importance of forests surrounding cities and municipal centers has grown significantly among residents. Increased use of recreational forests has led to the state where decisionmakers have started to pay more and more attention to forest management goals and participatory methods. In many cases municipalities and cities have started to incorporate resident’s perspectives to management plans and planning processes have developed towards strategic planning. The aim of this study was to determine, how well the participation was incorporated to planning process and, were the planners able to include stakeholder’s perspectives into the Puijo’s management plan. The data for this study was collected with internet based survey from stakeholder and steering group members that participated to the planning. The data was analyzed with Q-method. Qualitative analysis based on Tuler and Webler’s (1999) normative principles of participation was also carried out to assess the planning process. According to Q-analysis respondents formed four different perspective groups that described the planning process and its outcomes The groups were as follows: group disappointed to possibilities to affect planning, cooperation skeptics, supporters of systematic planning and the plan of the silent majority. All the groups felt that the planning process did not improve cooperation between stakeholders. Also, the availability of information was generally considered as a weak part of the process. The practical arrangements and the opportunity to participate to planning were considered successful areas by all the perspective groups. The group’s perspectives varied the most with issues concerning the ability to affect planning and its outcomes. Puijo’s planning process was a good example of, how a number of different participation methods can be incorporated seamlessly into the planning process. Simple formula for successful planning process could not be determined because participatory methods and their scope must be arranged according to the planning problem and the influence of the parties involved. However, the results provided valuable information for planners developing and carrying out participatory planning. In future participation processes stakeholders should be made clear, what are their abilities to affect the outcomes because over optimistic expectations can easily lead to disappointment. Also, the objectives of the planning process should be paid more attention. Objectives should be shaped to more concrete form. This way intersecting objectives could be easily addressed before conflicts develop. The use of decision support methods should also be increased because they offer more transparent way to justify decisions to stakeholders.
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(2010)In this study, a quality assessment method based on sampling of primary laser inventory units (microsegments) was analysed. The accuracy of a laser inventory carried out in Kuhmo was analysed as a case study. Field sample plots were measured on the sampled microsegments in the Kuhmo inventory area. Two main questions were considered. Did the ALS based inventory meet the accuracy requirements set for the provider and how should a reliable, cost-efficient and independent quality assessment be undertaken. The agreement between control measurement and ALS based inventory was analysed in four ways: 1) The root mean squared errors (RMSEs) and bias were calculated. 2) Scatter plots with 95% confidence intervals were plotted and the placing of identity lines was checked. 3) Bland-Altman plots were drawn so that the mean difference of attributes between the control method and ALS-method was calculated and plotted against average value of attributes. 4) The tolerance limits were defined and combined with Bland-Altman plots. The RMSE values were compared to a reference study from which the accuracy requirements had been set to the service provider. The accuracy requirements in Kuhmo were achieved, however comparison of RMSE values proved to be difficult. Field control measurements are costly and time-consuming, but they are considered to be robust. However, control measurements might include errors, which are difficult to take into account. Using the Bland-Altman plots none of the compared methods are considered to be completely exact, so this offers a fair way to interpret results of assessment. The tolerance limits to be set on order combined with Bland-Altman plots were suggested to be taken in practise. In addition, bias should be calculated for total area. Some other approaches for quality control were briefly examined. No method was found to fulfil all the required demands of statistical reliability, cost-efficiency, time efficiency, simplicity and speed of implementation. Some benefits and shortcomings of the studied methods were discussed.
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(2013)Bioenergy has taken over a significant role in Finnish society in the past decade. European Union’s joint climate targets, extreme natural phenomena, as well as the depletion of non-renewable resources and the rise in the non-renewable resources prices have increased the use of bioenergy almost a necessity. One of the best bioenergy sources is wood energy, which can be obtained from stumps, logging residues and from small tree harvesting in form of wood chips. Energy wood has become one of the timber assortments in the forest sector, but it must be remembered that the acquisition is strongly associated with the conventional industrial wood harvesting. There is lots of potential in the use and procurement of forest energy. Production of local energy from the nearby forests in the local energy plant provides employment for local people and brings tax revenue to municipalities. At the same time the forest industry gets timber and private forest owners’ receive income from managed forests. The forest energy’s future importance for the society cannot be understated. Objective of this study was to explore the Stora Enso Forest’s gold and silver star clients’ willingness to supply wood-based biomass for bioenergy and look for factors that affect the decision. In addition, it was explored if there would be new ways of marketing forest energy to the landowners. Stratified sample of Stora Enso’s client record was done for the study. From the record, 1000 landowners were picked and interviewed by telephone in the spring 2012. The questionnaire was answered by 609 forest owners and percentage response rate was 63. The respondents differed from the general forest owners' in such a way that they were older, owned major forest areas as well as the men were over-represented. The results indicate that the willingness to sell forest energy (68%) is clearly lower than the willingness to sell raw wood (94%) in the future, but the numbers of unaware (15%) is quite high. Forest owners' clear favorite of forest energy harvesting methods is energy wood harvesting, which was chosen as the best choice for 70 percent of the respondents. Equally clear is the harvesting method which was the most disliked, stump lifting. It was chosen as the best alternative by just over four percent. Forest owners' price expectations about energy wood are quite high. Only one-third of the forest owners are satisfied with the current price level, which is effected by state subsidies. Approximately 13 percent of respondents are out of the forest energy market completely because of unrealistically high price expectations. The rise of the forest energy price was also the biggest single factor to increase the willingness to supply wood-based biomass for bioenergy. In this study, forest owners are concerned about of climate change and they are hoping to increase the use of forest biomass for the energy production in Finland. Particularly the local use of wood chips was valued high. The majority of forest owners consider the sale of forest energy as a climate conservation act. There are a lots of information requirements, in particular related to energy wood harvesting. Many landowners are concerned about nutrient losses, harvesting marks and the forest energy pricing.
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The use of small units in forest planning calculations and its effects on the forest management plan (2008)This study investigates the effect of the data input on the forest management plan. The objective was to determine the differences between a forest plan where simulation units were either traditional stand compartments, or alternatively subcompartments delineated around measured sample plots. The simulations were compared with respect to the growth of the compartments as well as timing, income and yield from the first harvet operation suggested. The data was collected from a forest area of 72 hectares in Juuka, Eastern Finland. It consisted of 682 sample plots placed in a 30 m x 30 m grid. Independently of the sample plots, the area was divided into compartments as in normal compartmentwise planning, with the exception that no stand data was collected. Instead, the compartmentwise data was calculated from the systematic sample plot inventory. Three simulations were carried out with a planning package SIMO for a period of ten years and using one-year time step. Sim(I) presented the traditional compartmentwise planning, where the variables on compartment level were aggregated from sample plot data in the beginning of the simulation, and then used as simulation units. The other two simulations used a mosaic of sample-plot-based subcompartments as the simulation unit, and aggregate compartmentwise values were only used to determine the harvest decisions and for the comparison of the simulations. Of these mosaic setups, sim(II) was used to evaluate differences in growth rate and harvest yield to sim(I). In this simulation, the operations were adopted from sim(I) and applied simultaneously for each subcompartment of the respective compartment. The third simulation, mosaic setup sim(III) used the same simulation data as sim(II), but harvested the compartments according to the subcompartmentwise values, although using the compartments as harvest units to enable direct comparison in operation timing. Only compartments where harvests were expected during the simulation period were studied further, resulting in 14 compartments in the study. The simulations resulted in a greater growth rate estimate for sim(I). The difference between sim(I) and sim(II) varied among the compartments from 0.1 m3ha-1a-1 up to 2.0 m3ha-1a-1. The timing differences of harvest operations were 0-3 years. Income estimates were 5-10 % greater in the mosaic simulations, as well as especially the yield estimate of logwood. The differences in pulpwood estimations were more moderate, except on final cuts where mosaic simulations expected a better yield in minor species pulpwood than sim(I) which neglected these almost totally. The most effective single factor behind the differences in the simulations seemed to be the variation of site class within the compartment. The amount of compartments in the study was, however, too small and the variation between the compartment results too large to allow the application of the results elsewhere. Based on this study, the choice of data unit has an effect on the forest plan. Especially the effects of variation in site class are likely to be taken better into account if the spatial information of stand characteristics is maintained in the planning calculations. Still, small units are not necessarily better in describing the forest development, as they may result in biased estimations in the growth models.
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