Salvage Condition Assessment of Timber Volume in Disturbed Areas

The starting point :for any planning process related to salvaging timber in disturbed areas is to estimate the volume at raw wood designated to be removed from such stands. This paper aimed to analyse the accuracy of methods used in salvage condition wood volume assessment in wind-affected pine stands. In the investigated stands the wood volume determined in the salvage condition assessment was by 21% higher than the one actually extracted. With regard to the areas, where only individual specimens or groups of trees had suffered from wind, the timber volume was overestimated by ca. 50%. The dependence between the salvage plan volume and the actually extracted one was logarithmic. The accuracy of timber volume assessment in the stands with larger wind-damaged areas was higher. The timber volume was overestimated by ca. 13% and the dependence between the salvage plan volume and the actually extracted one was linear. In respect to the widespread wind damaged areas, the assessment of timber volume to be salvaged may be accurate providing that the estimation was made using the data front the appraisal forest management plan and that the wind-damaged areas were precisely mapped by means of the GPS device. The standard method of salvage condition timber volume assessment in stands, where wind damage affected individual trees or groups of trees, based on the calculation of the average volume of a single wind-broken or wind-fallen tree multiplied by the estimated number of all wind-damaged trees, is burdened with a greater error. Hazardous work conditions, encountered particularly in stands. where groups of trees had suffered from wind, are responsible for greater error margin in establishing the exact number of damaged individuals.