Tree stability and climate

 

Foresty Commission programme manager:	Helen McKay
Research contact and location:	Forest Management Division Forest Research

 

Wind damage to upland forests in Britain is a major abiotic threat with important economic consequences.  Silvicultural options such as thinning are severely restricted in the most vulnerable areas and production forecasts are calculated on the basis of assumed losses due to the wind.  Current research is focused on the ForestGales decision support systems for predicting the risk of wind damage.  The system operates at the stand level and a spatial version is being produced to integrate forest geographic information systems (GIS).  ForestGales enables users to account for the changing risk of wind damage through the life of the crop when making investment appraisals, considering silvicultural options or designing the forest landscape.  New work is linked to Timber properties research programme and will also develop model to be applicable to managing crops managed in systems other than large scale clear felling.  The model will provide a significant support to policy studies of the potential impact of climate change and the research is also proving to be of interest to other sectors such as wind farms and insurance.

Progress reports

Annual summary of research

Commissioned reports

No reports available at this time