Old-growth Conservation within British Upland Conifer Plantations
- 1 June 1992
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research
- Vol. 65 (2) , 127-144
- https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/65.2.127
Abstract
Efforts to improve Britain's upland conifer plantations as wildlife habitats have largely concentrated on retaining and creating habitats on unplanted land. Here we argue that, in addition, it would be beneficial to assign 15–25 per cent of the plantations to long rotations containing small permanently uncut cores, while shortening the rotations of the plantations not assigned to long rotations. This should allow significant ‘old-growth’ habitats to be created, and increase the extent of temporary open space, apparently without a disproportionate sacrifice of wood production. We consider the ideal distribution and treatment of long-rotation stands, and illustrate how these ideals must be modified in practice when they are implemented in three representative forests.Keywords
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