Overview

In this module fundamental forestry and woodland management issues issues will be explored, such as, why manage forests in the first place? The module also explores a range of issues of relevance to Sustainable Forest Management, including introductions to forest valuation techniques, timber markets, forest landscapes and forest economics. The module will enable students to combine their knowledge of core silvicultural approaches and concepts, as well as their practical skills in remote and ground-based methods of forest inventory, to devise silvicultural interventions and make management recommendations. The timetable for this module includes a variety of activities, including lectures, seminars, workshops, field visits, guest lectures and more. Students are expected to devote their private study between the lecture and the following seminar to reading and critiquing a wide range of resources.

Sustainable forest management - history, modern concepts and definitions; criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management; sustainable forest management in the UK - the UK Forestry Standard.
Forest certification - history and principles of certification; certification schemes operating in Europe; forest certification in the UK - the UK Woodland Assurance Standard and UK Forestry Standard.
Forest resource assessment - desk-based, remote sensing and ground-based methods; inventory planning and forest sampling.
Productive functions of forests: estimation of standing timber resources and growing stock.
Key influences of forest and woodland management - societal expectations; international agreements; historical and cultural factors; environmental concerns; site-specific issues; economics, markets and legislation. Students taking this module are required to use various specialist software packages, for which appropriate support and guidance will be made available.

Assessment Strategy

Threshold (Grade D- to D+) Students will show some understanding of the meaning and some understanding of the practices of sustainable forest management. They will be able to define sustainable forest management and identify some of the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management, and be able to describe the main schemes of forest certification. They can prescribe an appropriate silvicultural intervention to achieve a desired management outcome, but their descriptions of interventions may be incomplete or inaccurate in places. They have passing familiarity with forest operations in temperate plantations and understand that these operations may cause environmental damage. They will be able to demonstrate how certain environmental, economic and / or societal constraints influence and / or determine forest management decisions. They can demonstrate some limited understanding of how maps, tools, techniques and other types of evidence can be used to inform decisions relating to the management of forests and woodlands.

Good (Grade C- to B+) Students will be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the meaning and practice of sustainable forest management. They will be able to explain the meaning of sustainable forest management, and identify most of the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management. They will be able to describe and compare the main schemes of forest certification. They can prescribe an appropriate silvicultural intervention to achieve a desired management outcome. They have an understanding of forest operations in temperate plantations and the ways in which these can cause environmental damage. They will be able to demonstrate, through the use of appropriate text and maps, how a number of environmental, economic and / or societal constraints influence and / or determine forest management decisions.

Excellent (Grade A- and above) Students will have a comprehensive understanding of the meaning and practice of sustainable forest management. They will demonstrate excellent knowledge of the literature, creative application of the material and a capacity for synthesis. They will be able to explain the meaning of sustainable forest management and evaluate the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management. They will be able to describe in detail, compare and evaluate the main schemes of forest certification. They will be able to explain in detail the ways in which economic methods are used to make forest management decisions, describe how the methods are applied in different situations, and evaluate their effectiveness. They can prescribe appropriate silvicultural interventions to achieve a range of desired management outcomes using a wide range of relevant tools, techniques and evidence. They will demonstrate expert command of the use of maps and other types of evidence required for decision-making relating to the management of forests and woodlands. They will have a full understanding of forest operations, the ways in which these can cause environmental damage and the ways in which these effects can be minimised. They will be able to demonstrate, through the use of appropriate maps, text, diagrams and figures, how relevant environmental, economic and / or societal constraints influence and / or determine forest management decisions. They will be able to refer to relevant legislation, standards, guidelines and certification schemes, and demonstrate full appreciation of how these determine forest management decisions. Documents and reports will be fully referenced and formatted using standard academic protocols.

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to use a wide range of tools (including GIS and remote sensing, ESC and Forest Yield), techniques (including forest inventory) and evidence to prescribe a silvicultural intervention and / or proposal, which fully complies with relevant standards, guidelines and legislation, to achieve (a) desired management objective(s).

• Describe (i) the operational practices used in the management of temperate forests and (ii) how their environmental effects can be minimised.

• Describe the different forest certification schemes operating in Europe, evaluate their merits and disadvantages and discuss how they influence the management of forests and woodlands.

• Explain the meaning of sustainable forest management and be able to debate and discuss the ways in which it can be defined, achieved, assessed and monitored.