44
3. Case study of FLR in the ECTF
The ECTF is situated in the Chinese tropical montane region Figure 2. It is a state-owned forest management unit founded in 1979; it began
with afforestation as the main management activity on an area of 1.92 ha. Initially the ECTF was managed for timber only, and the dominant
tree species were Pinus massoniana and Cunninghamia lanceolata which occupied 81 percent of the total area. Some fast-growing species like
Eucalyptus and Acacia were also part of the experiment before 2000. As the stand grew into middle age, it came under attack from pine moths
which caused significant damage to the trees; severe soil degradation also occurred.
Thus a need for change was deemed necessary. The first approach was a mixed afforestation experiment in the late 1990s. The second was to
emulate CNFM with cultivation of high-value hardwood native species, thereby transforming most of the conifer plantations. Revised steps,
beginning in 2010, addressed developing a multifunctional management plan for the whole management unit, characterized by function zoning
and the setting up of long-term goals for every stand FDT design to realize sustainable management at the landscape level. All these steps
transpired within 15 years to make the ECTF an exemplary case of FLR in China. These activities and initial results have been reported in the Chinese
media and journals Stone 2009.
3.1 Function zoning and CNFM model of the ECTF
The goal of the ECTF’s MFFM is to maintain the health and vitality of forests and develop their economic and ecological service functions at the same temporal and spatial scales.
In the ECTF’s function zoning, all management areas are divided into the following four types:
1. Ecological protection forest zone – forests that have special ecological and natural conservation values, and need
to be protected; harvesting is forbidden.
2. Ecological forest zone – some tending optimization and low intensity harvest activities allowed. 3. Commercial forest zone – restricted felling, low intensity felling for timber production; clear-cutting forbidden.
4. Commercial forest zone – timber production with no restriction on operation intensity.
Based on the results of function zoning for ECTF forest areas, the four function zones can be regarded as the premise and precondition for arranging the different silvicultural models to ensure the necessary ecological functions for maintaining
natural ecosystem integrity, and then to realize MFFM at the landscape level.
3.2 Species consideration for the MFFM plan
Tree species or species groups are the basic elements for MFFM. The most important aspect is to understand the species characteristics and identify optimal combinations of species in mixed stand situations or for forest transformation. Species
features such as the growth environment altitude, soil type and bedrock, economic value, growth cycle, nutrient preserving capability, water and soil conservation, drought tolerance, fire resistance, landscape aesthetics and so forth have to be
considered in the design of silvicultural models.
As a new development towards productivity and biodiversity promotion at the landscape level, the silvicultural tree species in the ECTF have been enriched from four dominants Pinus massoniana, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Eucalyptus spp.,
Mytilaria laoensis to 20 species as shown in Table 2. This table was derived from the ECTF’s long years of management experience and provides an important guide for the ECTF; it also serves as a reference for other tropical montane regions.
Figure 2. Location of the ECTF in the Chinese tropical montane region
45
3.2 Design of the FDT and operation models
The FDT is the basic presentation of species relationship based on tree growth and stand development characteristics, and it can be taken as a standardized tool for the design of species combination and target stand structure; therefore it is an
oriented silvicultural model in the plan. Further description for design of the FDT is given by Lu et al. 2012; the 12 FDTs that have been worked out and their representative species are given in Table 3. Next, the suitable ecological scale and
function zone, together with the seven operational models in the ECTF Table 1 and the various silvicultural models for the given FDT Table 4 consist of the main contents of the ECTF’s management plan.
Table 3. Main FDT species for matching with different function zones in the ECTF
Note: Succession process and shade-tolerance: 1. pioneer tree species; 2. long-life pioneer tree species; 3. opportunistic tree species; 4. subclimax tree species; 5. climax tree species.
Altitude m: 1. 350 2. 350-750 3. 750-1 050 4. 1 050.
Pinus massoniana Cunninghamia lanceolata
E. grandis + E. urophylla Eucalyptus arophylla
Tectona grandis Mytilaria laoensis
Castanopsis issa Acacia confusa
Betula alnoides Pinus elliotii
Pinus caribaea Michelia macclurei
Erythrophloeum fordii Castanopsis hystrix
Illicium verum Keteleeria davidiana
Zenia insignis Schima superba
Parashorea chinensis Dalbergia odorifera
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
11 12
13 14
15 16
17 18
19 20
PiMa CuLa
EuGr EuAr
TeGr MyLa
CaFi AcCo
BeAl PiEl
PiCa MiMa
ErFo CaHy
LlVe KeTe
ZeIn ScSu
PaCh DaOd
Table 2. The ecological characteristics, site type and function groups of tree species planned in silvicultural models of the ECTF’s management plan
Ecological characteristics
high-value timber
46 A silvicultural regime is a planned programme of treatments during the life cycle of a forest stand designated to achieve
specific stand structural objectives. According to the species feature shade-tolerance and growth speed, operation and utilization characteristics function zones and FDT, seven silvicultural models have been designed along a series of felling
intensities, as shown in Table 1.
The next step is to decide a suitable silvicultural model to realize the designed FDT for a certain forest type or forest land. Table 4 shows the match between different FDTs and silvicultural models.
Table 4. Different silvicultural models for the given FDTs FDT
Dominant species
Associated species
Silvicultural models 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
FDT 1 EuRo
BeAl FDT 2
EuRo DaOd
FDT 3 TeGr
— FDT 4
PiMa MyLa
FDT 5 PiMa
CaFi FDT 6
PiMa CaHy
FDT 7 CuLa
MyLa FDT 8
CuLa CaFi
FDT 9 CuLa
CaHy FDT 10
MyLa CaFi, BeAl
FDT 11 ErFo
BL species FDT 12
ErFo CaFi, CaHy
Note: 1: Clear-cutting, 2: Mosaic clear-cutting in a small area 5 ha, 3: Strip intermediate cutting, 4: Shelter cutting, 5: Group selection cutting, 6: Single tree target tree selection cutting, 7: Enclosure.
indicates suitable FDTs.
An important task in the management plan is to recognize the appropriate management option for a subcompartment, and to select a suitable FDT, match a suitable silvicultural model for this site, and bring about its designed functions. This
is made possible with a technical tool which works with optimal algorithms in a computer program to support selection decision.
3.4 Brief cases of FLR in other regions
The first example of FLR in China, besides the ECTF, is CNFM of a single-structured Casuarina equisetifolia plantation on Hainan Island. As shown in Figure 3, the plantation area is situated in the Northeast of the island. As the overall
main development goal has shifted to international tourism in the island, there was a move to convert the Casuarina equisetifolia plantation with its typical pioneer species and short rotationsimple ecosystem service function, to one with
natural regeneration under the canopy to form a sustainable integrative coastal forest ecosystem.
Figure 3. Case study area on Hainan Island and the Casuarina equisetifolia stand dynamics with enriched fast growing broadleaf species of Melia azedarach second picture from right and high-value hard wood species
of Dalbergia odorifera first picture from right
47 The CNFM hypothesis here can be expressed as “the present canopy of Casuarina equisetifolia will serve as protecting
layer for establishment of seedlings of other new introduced broadleaf species which do not thrive in open areas such as the tropical coastal site. A series with typical pioneer-opportunity-climax species planted under the canopy will speed the
development of the stand towards a stable coastal forest ecosystem.” Melia azedarach, Beischimiedia glauca and Mytilartia laosensis as the fast-growing group, and Homalium hainanense, Dalbergia odorifera and Calophyllum inophyllum as the
hardwood climax group were used for enrichment planting under the canopy. The first two years of observations showed very positive results by 2013, and on this basis the transformation of the coastal protection plantation can now be expanded.
The second example is the large-scale restoration of forests damaged by the extreme ice-storm in Hunan Province. Hunan Province is a subtropical climate-controlled montane region in South Central China; its natural conditions of humid sunny
climate and abundant tree species on hill and low montane areas are highly favourable for forestry. The province has a long history of conifer plantation management with Cunninghamia lanceolata and Pinus massoniana. The extreme ice-storm
of early 2008 affected about 35.28 percent of the total forest area, with loss of growing stock reaching 43.19 percent of the total growing volume in the province. This represented a direct loss to forestry of about 16.5 billion yuan US1.00 =
6.119 yuan, October 2014, further affecting the economy of the province. Notably, damage from the ice-storm was more severe and devastating in single species coniferous forest plantations and bamboo stands than in natural, mature forests
or mixed species plantations.
A few years after the event, it was clear that most of the damaged forests, in particular the plantations, would not be able to recover naturally. Therefore an FLR scheme, the Hunan Forest Restoration and Development Project, was proposed
and supported by the government to prevent further degradation and restore the ecological balance in the storm-affected landscapes of 22 counties. The project started in January 2013 and will last for six years. Its objective is to develop forest
restoration and management models that will both strengthen resilience and enhance carbon sequestration in forest areas severely damaged by the ice-storm.
3.5 Tentative results
Ten years ago conifer plantations were the main forest type in the ECTF and occupied 71 percent of the total forest area. Masson pine Pinus massoniana, 63 percent and Chinese fir Cunninghamia lanceolata, 7 percent were the two largest
tree species there. Compared with single species rotation management models of these two conifer species, CNFM has at least three advantages: 1 forming a multilayer stand structure to increase spatial availability, 2 enhancing positive
interspecies synergy between conifer and broadleaf species to increase vitality and resilience of stands, and 3 thinning to allow the target trees to be released from competition. Based on our analysis of the data from 80 plots for the two forest
types over five years 2008-2013, the yearly growth of standing volume increased to 19.3 m
3
ha for Pinus massoniana and 15.9 m
3
ha for Cunninghamia lanceolata, compared to the reference stand with 4 m
3
ha and 3.9 m
3
ha, respectively Figure 4.
Figure 4. Volume per annual increment before and post-CNFM
The observations also show that species composition had improved after eight years’ transformation from pure Pinus massoniana forest to mixed forest Figure 5, and likewise with the Cunninghamia lanceolata forest Figure 6. The species
numbers in both types of forests are clearly higher through enrichment planting and identifyingprotecting natural regeneration through the transformation process.
5 10
15 20
25
Masson pine pre-operation Masson pine post-operation
Chinese fir pre-operation Chinese fir post-operation
Periodic annual increment of standing volume m
3
ha
