Timber, carbon and wind risk: towards an integrated model of optimal rotation length
David Edwards, Gregory Valatin
Lead Author: Vadim Saraev
We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use forestresearch.gov.uk, remember your settings and improve our services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
Preparing to search
David Edwards, Gregory Valatin
Lead Author: Vadim Saraev
Modern forest management practice increasingly adopts an ecosystem services approach to account for the multiple benefits and objectives of forestry. It is also increasingly linked to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. In view of the priority given to these policy agendas, it is important that new models take an integrated approach to accounting for these issues.
This Research Report focuses on the development of a prototype integrated optimal rotation length model. The model is integrated in the sense that it accounts for timber production, climate change mitigation in terms of carbon sequestration and substitution benefits, and climate change adaptation in relation to windthrow risks. Extending traditional models (which focus upon timber production only), to cover the wider benefits of woodlands in the presence of climate change risks, will contribute to more comprehensive comparisons between management alternatives in terms of net present values, rotation lengths and production volumes.
The research illustrates how several models developed by Forest Research (ForestGALES – wind risk evaluation tool, and CSORT – carbon accounting in forestry) can be linked together to produce answers to complex queries. In this case: what is the economically optimal harvesting time when timber and carbon benefits are included in the presence of wind risk?
Currently the model has been tested using Sitka spruce yield class 14. A key result of this test shows that in some cases, optimality involves leaving stands unfelled for the carbon sequestration benefits, while at some windier sites windthrow risk can be the main factor determining optimum rotation length.
Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.
We use cookies to store information about how you use the dwi.gov.uk website, such as the pages you visit.
Find out more about cookies on forestresearch.gov.uk
We use 3 types of cookie. You can choose which cookies you're happy for us to use.
These essential cookies do things like remember your progress through a form. They always need to be on.
We use Google Analytics to measure how you use the website so we can improve it based on user needs. Google Analytics sets cookies that store anonymised information about: how you got to the site the pages you visit on forestresearch.gov.uk and how long you spend on each page what you click on while you're visiting the site
Some forestresearch.gov.uk pages may contain content from other sites, like YouTube or Flickr, which may set their own cookies. These sites are sometimes called ‘third party’ services. This tells us how many people are seeing the content and whether it’s useful.