Simple coppice management options for the sal (&lt;i&gt;Shorea robusta&lt;/i&gt; Gaertn. f.) forests in the Terai of Nepal

Ojha, Santosh K.; Acharya, Krishna Prasad; Acharya, Bhoj Kumar; Regmi, Rishikeshab Raj

doi:10.3126/banko.v18i1.2164

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…In the most extreme of approaches, the forest administration replaced vast swathes of natural state-managed lowland forests with timber plantations, often featuring exotic species [71,72]. Nonetheless, the government also tested multipurpose approaches in some community forests and state-managed lands (i) to demonstrate the use of natural regeneration-based timber harvests to convert pine plantations to broad-leaf forests [73], (ii) to study the establishment and growth of seedlings in natural forests following natural regeneration harvests [74] and (iii) to explore the potential to develop different silvicultural systems to produce fuelwood, fodder and timber [75][76][77][78]. Eventually, in 1996, with foreign-aid support, the government devised the 'Operational Forest Management Plan' program to produce timber in several lowland Sal forests using natural regeneration.…”

Section: Efforts For Active Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Managing for the Extremes: A Case for Decentralized, Adaptive, Multipurpose Forest Management within an Ecological Framework

Timsina

Sharma

Ashton

et al. 2022

Forests

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Multipurpose and ecological forest management frameworks are being increasingly applied across the Global North on public lands. However, the discourse and practice of public forest management in much of the developing world are captured by extreme approaches of single-crop (usually timber) production and strict canopy-cover protection, as exemplified by the case of Nepal. We combine insights from field research with published documents and trace the consequences of prevalent management regimes on the ecology and silviculture of Nepal’s public forests. We find that managing for either extreme of timber production or forest protection can degrade forest ecosystems and affect their capacity to address the increasing number of demands placed on them. A history of narrow management outlooks has erased indigenous silvicultural practices and discouraged the development of novel silvicultural solutions to address today’s environmental concerns. Government initiatives advancing singular objectives, such as Nepal’s Scientific Forest Management program, often crumble under political resistance. Forest users in Nepal are widely interested in generating diverse benefits from their forests, including non-commercial products and services, suggesting a mandate for multipurpose management. We present a decentralized adaptive modality of multipurpose management featuring a silviculture that more closely matches the ecology of forests.

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Section: Efforts For Active Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Managing for the Extremes: A Case for Decentralized, Adaptive, Multipurpose Forest Management within an Ecological Framework

Timsina

Sharma

Ashton

et al. 2022

Forests

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“…Surprisingly, the research has limited influences on policy prescriptions. A review of preliminary findings on the different silviculture treatments from the long-term permanent research plots in the different physiographic region and forest types of Nepal, revealed that current silviculture treatments differ from the prescriptions of the plan (see Acharya and Acharya 2004;Ojha et al 2008).…”

Section: Underlying Reasons For Failurementioning

confidence: 99%

Pitfalls of Scientific Forestry Practices in the Community Forestry of Nepal

Basnyat¹

2021

Forestry: J. Inst. Fores. Nep.

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The government of Nepal abolished scientific forest management in 2021, however, the underlying reason remained unexplored. Hence, this study explores reasons that pushed on abolishment of this practice in the community forestry. The study followed the qualitative methods and reviewed the policy documents, published and unpublished literature followed by semi-structured interviews with forest officials and community forestry leaders. Though scientific forest management was promoted to maximize timber production and employment generation, stakeholders often raised concern over the exploitation of forests, including the appropriateness of the proposed silviculture system along with the governance issues related to it. On the contrary, forest bureaucracy promoted this as an “one size fit approach” irrespective of management objectives while poorly integrating locality factors, and research-generated knowledge. Apparently, scientific forest management is highly contested on technical and managerial grounds, while it is utterly uneconomical to forest user groups. Diverse views, interests and disbelief of the stakeholders, along with inadequate scientific evidence is primary reasons for a failure. Hence, the study argues for promoting “research in use approach” in strengthening forest management practices with the wider engagement of the stakeholders from knowledge generation, use, and dissemination in the community forestry.

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“…Mean total annual precipitation is 2452 mm of which more than 80% falls from June to September. Monthly mean minimum and maximum temperature are 17.8°C and 31.4°C, respectively with an absolute minimum of 4.3°C (Jackson, 1994 (Ojha et al, 2008).…”

Section: Saljhandi Rupandehi Districtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling taper and volume of Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) trees in the western Terai region of Nepal

Silwal¹,

Baral

Chhetri

2018

Banko

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Volume and taper equations are used for estimating timber volume and biomass of a tree. Despite their usefulness, precise and site specific equations are still lacking for commercially important tree species in Nepal. The study was carried out at Chandak Chatiya Mahila Community Forest in Bardia district and Lumbini Collaborative Forest of Saljhandi in Rupandehi district in western Terai of Nepal. A destructive sampling method was used and selected fifteen Sal trees (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) from Saljhandi (site 1) and eighteen trees from Bagnaha (site 2) randomly to calibrate an individual tree volume and a stem taper function. At first, a non-linear stem taper function was calibrated using stem diameters outside bark at different heights above ground as response variable and D (diameter at breast height), H (total height), h (height of interest) as predictors. Then, effect of crown characteristics on stem taper was evaluated. As stem HCB (height to crown base) was found to affect stem taper, its usefulness in existing stem volume equation was tested. Empirical relationships between V (stem volume) as a response variable and D, H, HCB and sites in Bardia and Rupandehi districts as predictors were established using a linear mixed modeling approach. Our result showed that, instead of H, use of HCB in stem volume equation increased model prediction accuracy and reduced prediction bias. Applicability of the suggested models for predicting individual S. robusta tree volume and stem taper is discussed.

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Simple coppice management options for the sal (<i>Shorea robusta</i> Gaertn. f.) forests in the Terai of Nepal

Cited by 6 publications

References 1 publication

Lessons from Managing for the Extremes: A Case for Decentralized, Adaptive, Multipurpose Forest Management within an Ecological Framework

Lessons from Managing for the Extremes: A Case for Decentralized, Adaptive, Multipurpose Forest Management within an Ecological Framework

Pitfalls of Scientific Forestry Practices in the Community Forestry of Nepal

Modeling taper and volume of Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) trees in the western Terai region of Nepal

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