FRAS PhDs visiting Växjö Stift

In the morning they explained how Växjö Stift is organised, the locations they operates in, and their main priorities for land management. Växjö Stift is built up by several parishes in different sizes with varying property sizes. They revenue from land activities goes back to each parish according to their size. Their management aims to maintain a good revenue as well as maintaining the ecological values and social values that are required both legally and from certain certification schemes they are enrolled in. We also discussed how management goals might be translated into different silvicultural practices and that they aim to keep a flexible management regime throughout the rotations. The forest holding is mainly constituted of Scots pine (Pinus silvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies). Their forest management focusses on optimizing the output from forestry, and we were all keen to hear about how they use forestry planning and GIS information for maintaining biodiversity and productivity.

In the afternoon, Klas (middle on picture) and Mattias (left on picture) also took the time to show us several forest sites ranging from recent clearfell to nearly mature stands. This not only illustrated the range of management activities and decisions, but helped with understanding the stand conditions which are required before different treatments are applied. Mikolaj and Per were keen to see the comparison of naturally regenerated stands, and we saw a great example of where it has worked well: a sufficiently stocked area with a mixture of pine, spruce and broadleaved trees. From all of the students involved, we really appreciated the time taken to show us around and introduce the company's operations. It is great seeing how FRAS participants are presently managing their forest land.

By Per Nordin