Multifunctional comparison of different management strategies in boreal forests

In sustainable forestry, forests should produce multiple ecosystem services for society, such as timber, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Therefore, in the evaluation of forest management strategies, we have to consider the impacts of management on several ecosystem services. In this study, we compared the effects of five different forest management strategies on timber drain, carbon stocks, carbon balance and biodiversity indicators, while maximizing economic revenues from timber production. The assessment was carried out in a boreal landscape of 43 000 ha over a 100-year calculation period. The five management strategies were rotation forest management (with thinning from below or above), continuous cover forestry, a combination of rotation forest management and continuous cover forestry and any-aged forestry. Rotation forest management with thinning from below was less profitable than the other strategies, which were close to each other in economic profitability. Rotation forest management with thinning from below was also the poorest in terms of carbon stocks, carbon balance and biodiversity indicators. Any-aged and continuous cover forestry were the best in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity indicators. In general, management strategies that used thinning from above and that were not restricted to rotation forest management as the only option provided more ecosystem services and were also economically profitable. Such management strategies may help to satisfy the increasing demand for diverse uses of forests.