Search Search. Menu Sections. A t present Of this, 36, hectares of forestry are in private ownership, with the remaining 19, hectares in public ownership. Our forestry and timber sector is emerging as an economic success story. The total estimated economic output of the industry to the Irish economy was 2. The forestry and timber sector includes growing the forest, harvesting and haulage and processing the various wood products. There is also an environmental benefit as forests absorb and fix carbon, enhances biodiversity and is Ireland's largest outdoor area for recreational activities.
Wood fuel use in recent years has increased considerably. A suitable site for a forestry plantation must be capable of producing a commercial crop of wood and my company undertakes the proper assessment of site, soil and species suitability to establish this. Plantations must be fully fenced from time of planting and ground cultivation is usually carried out by mounding.
We always use grade 1 Washington provenance, and whilst these may be more expensive, they give faster growth rates and are frost hardy on most sites. The top stories from the Kingdom in news and sport, direct to your inbox every week. Enter email address This field is required Sign Up.
While size volume and grade quality describe tree conditions, they do not necessarily set market prices. Ultimately, the value of hardwood trees is set by market demand.
Local and global demand for these high-quality hardwoods has raised stumpage prices the price paid for the standing timber on the stump, before harvest in real terms i.
This trend is clearly evident in timber market reports see the Timber Market Report. For example, stumpage prices for the more valuable Pennsylvania hardwoods, such as maples and cherry, increased in the past decade between 4 and 8 percent annually Figure 2. There are years when the economy is soft and timber prices drop.
At these times, shifting consumer demands, changing markets, and even weather can affect prices. In and , such a downturn occurred for northern red oak see Table 1.
Fortunately, astute forest owners can withstand downturns in the market by holding their timber until stumpage prices rebound. Factors influencing stumpage prices received for individual forest stands include forest type, species composition, site quality, volume available, accessibility e. There are fixed costs associated with logging, such as equipment-moving and site-setup costs; therefore, the more volume a landowner can offer spreads these fixed setup costs over more trees and should yield higher per-unit stumpage prices.
The silvicultural system used and type of harvest e. In most cases, a forest contains both high- and low-value species. It is likely that some trees are growing faster than others. Factors affecting individual tree growth are competition among trees, sunlight, tree age, and soil conditions.
Young trees generally grow faster in height than older trees, and they add relatively little stem diameter. Depending on competition, as trees get older and larger, annual height growth decreases, but diameter growth continues, albeit, at a slower rate.
Eventually, average annual volume growth decreases. Biological growth is not constant over the life of a tree and follows an S-shaped curve Figure 2. Looking at a tree's cross-section, it is apparent that the width of annual rings decreases; however, the volume increment represented by smaller rings may remain the same. That is, the same volume of wood is spread around an increasingly larger circumference of the tree stem.
Trees in a closed-canopy forest may grow slowly. It is not uncommon to see growth of an inch in diameter per decade. When appropriate tree species for the site are grown on good soils in a managed forest, they may increase their diameter 3 to 4 inches in 10 years.
While difficult to generalize, a tree in Pennsylvania's hardwood forests reaches biological maximum when diameter growth of dominant and codominant trees slows dramatically. Biological maximum refers to the age when a tree begins to decline in vigor and health in a forest. Site conditions and species strongly influence this biological maximum. For example, red maples approach this maximum before years, while sugar maples can thrive beyond years of age.
Black cherry, a high-value early successional species common in Pennsylvania, may begin to reach physical maturity at years and decline rapidly and die, affecting economic returns. At maturity, a typical stand may have 80 to trees per acre and the volume of sawtimber can range from 5, to 15, board feet BF per acre. Poorer-quality sites may only have a few large trees. USDA Forest Service data shows the net growth in board feet per acre per year for different age classes and different site productivity classes averaged across all timberland in Pennsylvania Table 2.
Net growth generally increases with age and as site productivity class increases, but at more than years, growth clearly begins to decline. Based on this, many of Pennsylvania's forests may be close to their biological maximum. Foresters express biological growth in terms of volume produced per acre per year averaged across the stand or forested property and over the life of the stand.
This is known as mean annual increment MAI and is the average annual timber volume growth, which is found by dividing the total volume of a stand by the age of the stand. The rotation at which MAI is maximized is often called the biological rotation as opposed to the economic rotation financial maturity. See Figure 2a. Biological rotations do not take into account costs and benefits.
Financial maturity is different from its biological counterpart and generally occurs earlier in the life of a stand due to the concept of earning "interest" from the forest investment.
Think of the value of the tree or stand as equating to the principal in a bank account and the value increase from volume growth being the interest earned on that principal. This value increase can be expressed as an annual compound interest and compared with alternative investments or a desired rate of return. Usually, a tree or a stand of trees is considered financially mature when its rate of value increase falls below an acceptable or minimum rate of return that can be earned from alternative investments comparable in duration, risk, liquidity, and other factors.
Value growth may continue to increase but at a slower rate. Eventually, the rate of value increase is too slow to justify keeping it as an investment. Figure 2b schematically shows the financial maximum return when the timber-value growth percent equals the alternative rate of return. Under most conditions, financially optimal harvest ages are often considerably shorter than the MSY rotation.
Thinking of this from an individual tree perspective, if the tree's expected rate of value increase exceeds the desired rate, the tree is not financially mature and should be allowed to grow for the specified time period.
If the tree's expected rate of value increase is less than the desired rate, the tree is financially mature and, based on that criterion alone, should be cut. These include sustainability issues, such as ensuring adequate desirable regeneration, and financial and legal considerations, such as timber prices, taxes, boundaries, logging contracts, and liability.
It is important to time the harvest to obtain the most favorable financial gain. Fortunately, timber is not a crop that has to be harvested as annual crops do, such as corn or soybeans--it is often advisable to delay harvests to meet your management objectives. However, all tree species do eventually reach a biological maximum.
If selling timber today, values can be estimated using timber market reports and site inventories for timber volumes. You simply need to multiply the timber volume by today's timber market price for each species present in the sale. However, to calculate the expected future financial return from a harvest in today's dollars, you must include a discount rate and growing-period length in the calculation.
This process, known as "discounting," takes an expected future return in a given time period and discounts it using a given interest rate back to the present today's value. This process is essential for comparing forestry investments to other investments, especially given the long-term nature of growing timber.
If the time value of money and interest rates are not considered in calculating timber values, you would cut timber when the volume growth over time produces the maximum MAI. However, because of the ability to receive interest on investments, the optimal time to cut timber from a financial view is earlier than when the MAI is maximized as shown in Figure 2. How much earlier depends on the timber-value growth rate and the acceptable or alternative rate of return that is set.
When these two rates are economically equal, it is time to cut. Postponing a harvest may come at a cost because timber is a long-term asset and has changing market value. By harvesting timber today, money received can be used elsewhere. Logically, if a harvest is postponed, the money remains invested in the trees.
If you decide to delay a harvest, you will need to determine whether the rate of return from continuing the investment in the trees is worth more than the rate of return received from investing that money in other opportunities also known as alternative rate of return or minimum acceptable rate of return. Stated another way: Will the increased value of the trees not cut outweigh the alternative return if the money was invested elsewhere?
Use the following rule to decide whether to cut today or wait and compare the expected financial rate of return received from delaying harvest to the rate of return received from an alternative investment i. For example, to calculate the expected rate of return from postponing a harvest, compare the ratio of future value to the present value as shown in the hypothetical example Worksheet 1 on the next page.
Instructions for filling out the worksheet and assumptions are given below; a blank worksheet is provided at the end of the publication.
In the scenario, the stand of mixed hardwoods has 6, board feet 6 MBF per acre. I am assuming that if you are going to plant an acre of trees, you likely go for saplings. At least I would. It does not make any sense to plant a whole acre of 6 ft long trees. That would be the most cost-efficient way, but it also takes the longest to grow a forest.
So if you are planting with 6 feet of space between saplings, it would take roughly two and a half days to get them all down. In short, the trees would cost to dollars and the labor cost would be your time or an average daily salary in your area multiplied by tree. This figure will depend on the type of forest you are considering.
Evergreen forests in the tropics are very dense. The reason for this is the presence of very high levels of nutrients and ample sunlight. Coniferous trees which are another type of evergreens are also pretty dense. On the other hand, forests in drier regions will be much more spacious. In these regions, there are anywhere from 30 to 50 trees per acre.
In tropical rainforests, it is a different story altogether. You can expect anywhere from to trees per acre. This is not taking into account the shrubs and small plants. If you are unsure about the number of trees you will need to order, there is a formula you can use.
The previous calculation will be helpful when you have to determine the number of trees you can plant in an area. What about if you already have trees growing and you would like to know how many trees you have in your forest?
You can roughly find out how many trees are already there. Now, it will be extremely difficult to accurately measure the number of trees growing in an area. But you can find out a rough estimate. To do this, calculate the number of trees in a smaller area. Once you do this, multiply that number by the total land area.
This will give you a rough idea. For example, make a circle with a radius of about 37 feet. Calculate the number of trees present in that circle. Once you have a number all you need to do is multiply that with The number you end up with will be the number of trees in an acre.
You can, but you should only go for it if you are going for a natural forest look. This is because of the different needs of different plants. One plant may grow faster and take away all the nutrients from the slow-growing one. The answer is similar to the previous one. Fast-growing trees tend to take up more nutrients from the soil.
This leaves very little for the slow-growing trees. And over time, the slow-growing trees will wither away and die. Of course, you can!
Remember that trees need sunlight, water, and nutrients.
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