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Europe's forests provide vital habitat for biodiversity and essential ecosystem services whose provision must be sustained or enhanced over the coming century. However, the potential to secure or increase forest ecosystem services, while securing the habitat requirements of taxa remains unclear, especially within the context of uncertain climate and socio-economic developments. To tease out the associated trade-offs and synergies, we used 10 case study landscapes within nine countries throughout Europe. Starting with the current status of the forests in the case study landscapes, we simulated forest development 100 years into the future. Simulations were embedded in three combined climate and socio-economic frame scenarios based on global and European policies which varied in their climate change mitigation efficiency. Scenarios were translated into country specific projections of climate variables, and resultant demands for wood products. Forest management regimes were projected to vary in response to these scenarios at local scales. The specific combinations of alternative forest management practices were based on parallel research and input from local forest stakeholders. For each case study, a specific forest growth simulator was used. In general, the climate scenarios applied did not cause fundamentally different ecosystem service outputs at the case study level. Our results revealed almost no reduction in outcomes for biodiversity indicators with an increase in wood production, and in some cases synergistic results occurred when diversity was actively promoted as part of the management concept. Net carbon uptake was not strongly correlated with biodiversity, indicating that biodiversity-friendly forest management doesn't need to curtail carbon sequestration. Notably, we obtained heterogeneous results for the relation between sustainable wood production and net carbon uptake. Most scenarios resulted in a more or less reduced net carbon uptake over the long term, often due to stand age class distribution shifts. Levels of sustainable wood production varied widely during the simulation period, from significant increases (Sweden, Lithuania) to minor changes (Slovakia, Turkey) and slight decreases (Ireland, Netherlands). We place our results within the larger context of European forest policy and the challenges of simulating and contrasting forest biodiversity and the ecosystem services that societies depend on.

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) has become an important pillar of modern forest management, and one way to evaluate the sustainability of forestry is to assess long-term supply of ecosystem services (ESs) indicators. The concept of sustainability also has come to include adapting to climate change and the associated dynamic timber markets. This study aims to: (1) incorporate several ESs indicators in a Forest Management Decision Support System (FMDSS) that can deal with climate change and dynamic timber markets; and (2) analyse the impact that intensified forest management, resulting from global change scenarios that represent different levels of climate change mitigation efforts, will have on forest ES indicators in the west of Ireland. A linear programming model that optimized Net Present Value (NPV) from mill-gate sales was previously developed in Remsoft Woodstock, a DSS framework used for strategic forest planning around the world. This Woodstock model was modified to include the effects of global scenarios that include climate change and dynamic timber prices. This model was further developed to include indicators for five ESs (carbon storage in the forest as well as in harvested wood products and carbon substitution, windthrow risk, biodiversity, water quality, and cultural values), to assess the impacts of these global scenarios on the forest landscape and the sustainability of forest management. The ES indicator values were mainly linked to forest age, forest type, and yield tables, and their inclusion in the FMDSS had almost no impact on total model run times. Intensified forest clearfelling, as a result of increasing timber prices associated with most global scenarios, led to increased phosphor emissions to waterbodies, and reductions in windthrow risk and carbon storage. The global scenarios only resulted in minor differences in the indicator values for biodiversity and cultural values. Besides the global scenarios, recent forest policy development and the poor soil conditions in the study area impacted on the results. The developed system, with its innovative method to incorporate climate change and associated market dynamics, could be applied to other forest landscapes in Ireland and Europe, or indeed by any forest company or organization that uses Remsoft Woodstock.

The research reported in this article, carried out in the period 1995–1997, was part of a large‐scale project investigating the impact of soil cultivation/drainage practices upon water‐table depth, rooting depth, root architecture and biomass production of young Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) trees on surface water gley soils. On two sites in the mid‐west of Ireland, a total of 207 trees, 5 and 7 years old, were excavated over a 2‐year period, during which water‐table depths were monitored. Results showed that neither mound drains nor mole drains had as great an effect on tree rooting depth as the presence of a planting mound. In the cultivation treatments that included planting on mounds, tree roots were mainly confined within the mounds, with the exception of the tree root systems in the mole‐and‐mound treatment on one of the sites, where the mean root depth of both the 5‐year‐old and 7‐year‐old trees reached almost 20 cm below the original soil level. Continued evaluation of these experiments is required to assess the long‐term effectiveness of the different drainage and cultivation methods in increasing rooting depth and improving tree stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a study initiated to assess in detail the volume and value recovery losses associated with damage resulting from a 1998 catastrophic storm in Ireland. The results are based on a 0.39 ha representative site in Swanlinbar forest, County Cavan. Detailed analysis showed that the loss in recovery in the broken stems amounted to a volume loss of 27 per cent with an associated value loss of 29 per cent. On a stand basis this corresponded to 13.4 per cent of stems broken, resulting in a 2.6 per cent volume loss. The value loss of IR£0.87 per cubic metre recovered amounted to IR£310.94/ha or 2.8 per cent of the potential revenue. During the milling of the blown timber, no additional loss was incurred as a result of log defects resulting from storm damage. A significant relationship between diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) and the occurrence of breakage was established, with the smaller diameter trees more likely to snap than those with larger d.b.h. measurements. No significant relationship between the location of the breakage along the stem and the d.b.h. of the trees was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the research reported in this article was to identify factors influencing the economic impact of catastrophic storm damage in forestry. The study was based on data from stands which were wind thrown in the south of Ireland during the storm of 24 December 1997. The study area covered all forests in Counties Cork and Waterford, most in County Kerry and some in County Limerick. This, the second of two articles, focuses on the future revenue losses in the current and the subsequent rotation. The results of the analysis on short‐term impacts (presented in the first article) are combined with these long‐term impacts to produce a comprehensive estimate of the financial losses due to catastrophic wind damage. Two forests (Midleton and Skibbereen) were selected for detailed stand‐level analysis. This analysis showed average combined stumpage and growth losses per ha of IR£1778 for Midleton forest and IR£4141 per ha for Skibbereen forest. These losses were for the current wind‐thrown rotation only. As a consequence of the wind throw, the next rotations will commence earlier than planned, resulting in a reduction in these losses. Taking both the current and next rotation into account, the losses per ha were IR£1649 for Midleton forest and IR£3668 per ha for Skibbereen forest. The total wind‐throw loss in Midleton of IR£163 252 amounted to 28 per cent of the average annual stumpage value of IR£583 700. For Skibbereen forest, the total wind‐throw loss of IR£641 900 was 126 per cent of the average annual stumpage value of IR£511 110. The reasons for this much higher percentage loss in Skibbereen forest were: a higher proportion of blown stands; a lower average annual stumpage value in the years prior to the storm; and a greater difference between target rotation length and the age at which the stands were wind blown. These results show clearly that the financial impact of wind‐throw damage can vary greatly depending on the local stand and forest characteristics. Consequently, any accurate estimates of financial losses due to catastrophic wind throw have to be based on detailed stand‐level analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An occasional feature of the windy and oceanic Irish climate is the occurrence of storms, which cause damage to forests on a catastrophic scale. Such storms can result in substantial economic losses. The objective of the research presented in this paper was to identify factors influencing, and methods of quantifying, the economic impact of catastrophic storm damage in forestry. In this, the first of two articles, the results of the analysis of short‐term impacts on stumpage prices are presented. The study was based on data from stands which were wind thrown in the south of Ireland during a storm on 24 December 1997. Coillte's southern region, which covers all the forests in Counties Cork and Waterford, most in County Kerry and some in County Limerick, was used as the territorial and administrative basis for the study. Regional analysis of invoiced sales for 1998 showed that wind‐thrown material had stumpage prices on average 10.5 per cent or IR£2.68 per m3 less than those obtained for equivalent regular clearfell material. These losses were attributed to increased harvesting costs (1.84 per cent), more downgrade of sawlog and pallet material (4.47 per cent) and more uncertainty for the purchaser (4.19 per cent). As the volume of wind‐thrown material harvested in the region in 1998 was 171 537 m3, the overall short‐term loss in revenue was almost IR£460 000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]