In total 4.7 million ha of peatlands (54 % of peatland area) have been drained to promote tree growth, and currently comprise 18% of the forest land. Widespread drainage has led to increased forest productivity (the desired effect) at a cost of dramatic increase of yearly annual CO2 equivalent emissions from soil and decreased water quality (the undesired effect). Limited alternatives exist to mitigate the large net GHG emissions from drained peatlands. Peat restoration will cause immediate CH4 emissions concurrently with a reduction in forest growth. One promising alternative for mitigating GHG emissions from drained peat forests, while still securing their timber and biomass production is to manage the ground water table (GWT). There is a careful balance required, as CO2 and CH4 emissions are high when the WT is elevated)and N2O emissions are high when WT is low or elevated. When managing the forest, the WT can be controlled through ditch maintenance or by selectively managing the forest to alter stand evapotranspiration. This study compares the range of GHG emissions under a selection of economic and societal constraints. Three drained peatland forests, located in different parts of Finland, were selected as test sites to demonstrate the variability in forest management prescriptions. For each case, we forecast forest development for 30 years using the SIMO statistical forest simulator under a variety of management alternatives. Using a process-based SpaFHyPEAT, we predict WT dynamics and resulting soil CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions as driven by simulated forest characteristics and environmental conditions. Finally, we compare the net GHG balances (CO2 equivalent) including soil emissions and change in tree biomass C stock. The preliminary results indicate the importance of maintaining a moderate forest cover on drained peatlands, suggesting prioritization of managing these drained peat forests by thinning and selective harvesting.

Pristine boreal peatlands are wet forest sites, where high ground water table limits tree growth. Over time, peatlands have been widely drained for forestry purposes in the boreal zone. Traditional forest management with clear-cuts and ditch network maintenance on drained boreal peatland forests causes nutrient and sediment runoff and carbon emissions from peat soils. There is a need to reduce both water quality and climate externalities this causes to society. In order to reduce the environmental impacts in drained peatland forestry, strip harvesting is studied as an alternative forest management method, because it avoids large clear-cuts, which require ditch network maintenance to maintain water table. Strip harvesting helps to maintain the ground water table deep enough, but not too deep, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water quality impacts relative to the traditional forest management in drained peatland forest management. The economics of strip harvesting in drained peatlands entails maximization of harvest revenue subject to a constraint of keeping the water table at a level which minimizes adverse environmental impacts. We characterize analytically the optimal harvesting cycle and determination of the strips harvested. A numerical model applied to Finnish forestry produces quantitative assessment on the size of the strips, harvesting cycles, timber yields and harvest revenue. A special focus is given to the impacts of different climatic regions on the harvest decisions and profitability of strip harvesting.

The European Union Water Framework Directive commits all member states to aim at good quality of all water bodies. Sediment and nutrient export resulting from forest management can cause significant damage to the downstream lake and river ecosystems.

Water protection methods such as overland flow fields, uncleaned ditch sections and peak runoff control structures are aiming at reduced flow velocity so that sediment and nutrients are filtered, absorbed and sedimented from the flowing water. All the above-mentioned methods in conjunction with forest operations such as soil preparation or ditch maintenance are cost-effective ways to reduce sediment and nutrient export from peatlands and erosion sensitive mineral soils to recipient waterways. However, the potential drawbacks on profitable forestry should be determined and minimized at planning stage, since the risk of soil wetting on the upstream forest land can decrease tree growth and restrict landowners’ motivation for water conservation.

We used open source spatial data and hydrological analysis tools to optimize locations for water protection structures within forested catchments. After a comprehensive review of several spatial data sets and hydrological indices, flow accumulation and multiresolution index of valley bottom flatness were selected as the most promising explanatory spatial layers to the analysis. Small-scale variation in terrain topography was considered by comparing every pixel of digital terrain model to its circular neighborhood and placing the water protection structures so that the harm for tree growth was minimized.

Overall, this optimization procedure offers cost-efficient method to support general acceptability of forest management on peatlands, if water purification could be improved by well-placed water protection solutions. In addition to protecting waterways, overland flow fields on peatlands serve as restored mire habitats.

During recent decades, the proportion of forest land in Southern Sweden that is regenerated with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) has largely decreased in favour of planting Norway spruce. Planting is the preferred method of regenerating Scots Pine, with direct seeding and natural regeneration being less common. Establishment of dense stands through direct seeding or natural regeneration is a prerequisite to produce high-quality timber. In addition, dense stands allow a sufficient number of young trees to escape browsing damage, hence developing stems of higher quality.

To study the effect of varied regeneration methods on the early establishment of Scots pine, an experiment was established in southern Sweden during the spring of 2017. The experiment compares; planting, direct seeding and natural regeneration across three shelter-wood densities (dense, sparse, and clear-cut). Additionally, the effects of site preparation and treating with herbicide were also examined. The experimental layout was organised in three-four blocks in each shelter-wood, which was replicated in 2020 in order to capture year to year fluctuations in weather.

After four years, planting following site preparation on the clear-cut resulted in the largest seedlings. The combination of dense shelter-wood and site preparation yielded the greatest density of naturally regenerated seedlings per hectare. High seed-fall, a reduced competition from ground vegetation, as well as reduced pine-weevil damage are identified as plausible explanations for the higher recruitment and survival of pine. However, regeneration under the shelter-woods resulted in reduced early growth compared to the clear-cut. Furthermore, direct seeding of improved seeds from the seed orchard positively affected both germination and survival.

Previous studies have examined the economic trade-offs of climate change mitigation in forestry, or the costs of adaptation. However, they have not necessarily taken into account the value of carbon sequestration when considering the higher costs of adaptive planting. Here we build on previous studies from north-western Canada, using the Woodstock optimization model to assess the economic trade-offs of the standard and two adaptive planting regimes under historic and severe climate change scenarios over 200 years. We considered planting and harvesting costs and revenue from timber and carbon sequestration. Our results showed there are potential negative climate change risks to: harvest volumes, net present value (NPV), growing stock, and ecosystem carbon sinks. We found some risk mitigation through adaptive planting, with the greatest benefits through diversification of the planting regime (higher NPV, growing stock and ecosystem carbon than historic climate with standard stocking). This was a result of planting more valuable species and higher growth rates in mixed stands. These results are expected to support forest managers in temperate coniferous forests who wish to adapt to climate change, particularly if they are working within a carbon-pricing context.

Meeting climate targets requires a rapid reduction in CO2 emissions but also CO2 removal from the atmosphere. Previous studies have indicated a large negative emissions potential in reforestation and afforestation while changes in forest management have received less attention. The management of boreal forests may have a large, but little investigated potential for enhancing natural carbon sequestration with less challenges than are associated with land-use change. However, it is not well known how other functions of forests, such as biodiversity, respond to forest management changes that aim to increase forest carbon stocks at different time horizons. We present an integrated, dynamic, modelling framework to quantify the possibilities to increase carbon stocks of forest biomass and soil with forest management changes, the consequent impacts of these changes on biodiversity indicators and associated economic costs in a typical forest landscape in southern Finland. The studied management options were adjustments in thinning intensity and rotation lengths, different continuous cover forestry options and forest protection. Costs of additional carbon sequestration compared to business as usual management ranged from 8 to 380 €/tonne of CO2 depending on the management option and interest rate. Management to increase carbon stocks was generally beneficial for selected biodiversity indicators, deadwood, large diameter trees, deciduous trees and habitat suitability indices of species with conservation and social values, but trade-offs were observed when different time horizons were studied. The findings of this study can be used in devising policy tools to produce negative emissions in boreal forests cost-efficiently. In addition, the results serve the development of guidelines, practices and criteria to ensure forest management practices that are both climate smart and biodiversity-wise.

Forest carbon storage can be increased by subsidizing it. Implementing a carbon rent policy means subsidizing the maintenance forest carbon stocks. The policy can be adjusted to account for the warming impact of forest albedo, so that albedo-induced forcing decreases the effective size of the subsidized carbon stock. We examine how an albedo-adjusted carbon rent policy affects the even-aged management of Norway spruce, Scots pine and silver birch stands. The rotation and the thinning schedule are optimized at four site types (OMT, MT, VT, CT) at three locations (Southern, Central and Northern Finland), and with carbon prices ranging from 0 to 60 € tCO2-1. The adjusted policy (almost always) lengthens rotations, but less than an unadjusted policy. Each species’ thinning schedule is affected differently. Pine stands are thinned fewer times than in timber-only management. Birch stands are thinned more often. The effects on spruce stands are mixed. Although thinning decreases albedo-induced forcing, the albedo-adjusted policy does not incentivize heavy thinnings, due to their adverse effect on carbon storage and timber income. The management of stands at low-productivity sites and in Northern Finland is most strongly affected by the albedo adjustment. Albedo-adjusted carbon rent policies based on carbon prices in the examined range do not increase the bare land value of birch strongly enough to incite a switch from coniferous species to birch when stands are regenerated. Thus, the policy is unlikely to increase the landscape share of birch forests.