The Re-establishment Research Programme aims to lead the southern African Forest Industry in terms of appropriate re-establishment practices for the pines and eucalypts grown in South Africa.
The main objective of this programme is to investigate and quantify the effect of environmental and physiographic factors, and different silvicultural practices, on tree performance, in terms of survival, growth and uniformity during the re-establishment phase. Any understanding gained will be used to develop cost-effective recommendations that minimise stress during re-establishment, while maximising survival, growth and uniformity for a range of sites, species and management objectives within commercial plantations. Knowledge and data gained from this research will be extended to model and compare longer term stand density and competition dynamics, not only as affected by survival, growth and uniformity during re-establishment, but also mortality due to mid-rotation catastrophic events.
The Re-establishment Programme consists of four main projects
- Vegetation Management
- Coppice Management
- Growth and Yield
- Pine and Eucalypt Regeneration research
The integration of these projects is key to the success of this programme,and aims not only to respond directly to our customer's needs, but also to lead the southern African Forest Industry in terms of appropriate re-establishment techniques for the pines and eucalypts grown in South Africa.
Managing vegetation in commercially grown timber species plantations can improve tree growth and yield. The use of ecologically acceptable and cost-effective vegetation management techniques, together with optimum timing of these operations, is critical during tree establishment, ensuring reduced mortality, increased stem and stand uniformity and reduced time to canopy closure.
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Previous coppice management research conducted in the 1980’s focussed primarily on E. grandis grown in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Although this research provided sound recommendations, many of which are still in use, additional issues were raised that could not be answered from previous coppice management trials. From the early 1990’s the Coppice Management Project was initiated to address these issues and includes aspects such as:
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Understanding the effects of initial stand density and stocking on growth is of fundamental importance to forest management, and affects decisions throughout the growth cycle, from initial spacing to optimum rotation length for a given final product. Modelling tree growth from such trials enables the prediction of future yields and standing volumes, and facilitates harvesting scheduling, yield optimisation and sustainable utilisation of wood resources in forest plantations.
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The Pine and Eucalypt Regeneration Programme was initiated in 2003 to investigate and quantify the effect of environmental and physiographic factors, as well as different silvicultural practices, on planting stock physiology, in terms of:
- Survival
- Growth and
- Uniformity
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