Towards the Last Rotation? Evaluating Alternative Management Strategies for Increased Climate and Biodiversity Benefits in Boreal Forests (BESTFOREST)

Boreal forests are a key resource for Sweden’s bio-based economy while providing other important ecosystem services related to climate mitigation and biodiversity.

Sustaining these various goals under the climatic changes projected for the boreal region requires adaptive management strategies.

For this purpose, a transformation from traditional Rotation Forestry (RF) towards Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) strategies is debated as a way forward to increase environmental benefits and climate resilience.

This debate is however hampered by the lack of comprehensive empirical data which further limits the development of well-constrained management strategies.

To fill this gap, we will utilize the worldwide unique SITES and ICOS-Svartberget infrastructures co-located in a 68km2 boreal catchment in combination with a series of CCF trial stands.

The main objectives are to i) assemble a comprehensive dataset for key ecosystem services including biomass and timber production, climate interactions, and biodiversity values under RF and CCF in a boreal forest landscape, and ii) to integrate this information into a decision-making matrix to support the development of optimized management strategies for boreal forests under current and future climate conditions.

This multi-disciplinary project will deliver an evidence-based knowledge and planning framework as decision-support for forest stakeholders and policy makers.