The BROADEN Project: Finding alternative paths to a mixed-broadleaf CCF future

Mixed-temperate broadleaf production forests were once widespread in southern Sweden.

Now, with the risks and uncertainties of climate change, and the need to both secure habitat for biodiversity, and balance the provision of forest ecosystem services, it is a reigniting interest in this promising forest management alternative.

However, doing so requires us to bridge a sticky implementation gap, which demands answers to concerns connected to stand establishment, and management uncertainties.

To fill these knowledge gaps and propel Sweden over these obstacles, the “BROADEN project” will determine: 1) The optimal approach to their successful regeneration, and how to perform selective cutting to promote structural diversity; 2) How mature forest proximity, ungulate browsing, and forest owner preferences interact to dictate where in landscapes successful stand establishment is most likely; and 3) How stand management alternatives impact timber production, carbon, and biodiversity, and how to minimize trade-offs between ecosystem services.

To do so we have designed a novel experimental, modelling and synthesis approach ideal to finding cost-efficient solutions, which builds upon a new innovative regeneration experiment coupled with a unique long-term experiment on selective cutting.

Together with our extensive outreach program and expert advisory group, our project will thereby empower forest owners to take southern Sweden to a more broadleaf-diverse and promising forest future.