Planning sustainable timber harvesting in the temperate zones of Durango/ Mexico

The uneven-aged and multispecies forests have received increasing scientific attention driven by the hypothesis that forests with a high number of species and classes of ages have an increased productivity and capacity to adapt to climate change impacts. Nonetheless, this heterogeneity hinders the development of models that may describe the dynamic of the forest. Therefore, our objective is to develop silvicultural tools that may support foresters to make management decisions for temperate uneven-aged and multispecies forests in the west of Mexico.

We aim to analyze the growth patterns in temperate forests of the Mexican western mountain system with the purpose of prescribing a sustainable harvest for temperate uneven-aged and multispecies forests. Hence, our project shall be dividing into two sub-objectives:

i) develop an alternative index of site productivity that does not require stand age to estimate volume increment in uneven-aged multispecies stands

ii) aggregate tree species to develop diameter increment equations in temperate uneven-aged multispecies forests.

Our study is carried out using the information derived from 423 permanent plots (50 x 50m) established by the Juarez University of Durango. These plots cover a great variety of stands, with different levels of density and productivity in Durango's temperate forests where the predominant stand condition is uneven-aged pine-oak communities. Within these plots, all trees with a diameter at breast height equal to or larger than 7.5 cm were measured.

Person in charge:

PadillaM., J. R.; Paul, C..; Corral R., J. J.

Funded by:

The Mexican National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR)

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Project partner:

University of Juarez del Estado Durango/ Mexico.