Multifunctional Inventory

Forschungs-
projekt

The forest inventory as a base for a multifunctional management of forests in Greece (S. Galatsidas/D. R. Pelz)

The aim of the project is to develop an inventory system for all timber and non-timber functions of forest, useful for multipurpose management planning.

Inventories at the level of forest (Forstbetriebsinventur) are at present timber oriented. They are realized mainly through installation of temporal or permanent plots under a systematic sampling design to cover the entire forest area. Various parameters related to tree and stand characteristics are measured or estimated and recorded for further analyses. The basic objective of these inventories is to calculate the wood stocking, growth and yield of the forest stands. Their results are used for timber management planning.

On the other hand, non-timber forest functions are gaining more and more importance. The recreational value of forest has been much appreciated by our urbanized communities; its role on water conservation and quality and on erosion control has long been established; its contribution to global cycles is also recognized together with its importance on conservation of biological diversity. Consequently, today's forests are to meet a variety of people's needs. Moreover, these needs should be met in a way to secure sustainable development. But planning a development can only be based on a fair knowledge of the resources available. Although foresters have long recognized the non-timber functions of forests, little has been done to inventory and assess these functions at a forest level.

The present project is an attempt to identify the major factors which determine a non-timber function and translate them into a series of variables that can be measured or estimated together with the timber variables of traditional forest inventories. In this way, all forest functions could be seen under the same planning framework.

Veröffentlichungen:
GALATSIDAS S. (2001): Analysis of Non-Timber Functions of Forests in the Frame of Management Inventories. Freiburg: Mitteilungen der Abteilung Forstliche Biometrie, 2001; 01-2

GATZOJANNIS S., STEFANIDIS P., KALABOKIDIS K. (2001): An Inventory and Evaluation Methodology for Non-Timber Functions of Forests. Freiburg: Mitteilungen der Abteilung Forstliche Biometrie, 2001; 01-1

GALATSIDAS, S. (2001): Development of an inventory system for non-timber functions of forests in the frame of management inventories: the case of Greece. Universität Freiburg, Dissertation.

KALABOKIDIS, K.; GATZOJANNIS, S.; GALATSIDAS, S. (2002): Introducing wildfire into forest management planning: towards a conceptual approach. Forest Ecology and Management 158 (2002): 41 - 50.