Perceptions of forest management

The

perceptions

^{of local}

people

^arebiased

against

^the

forestry

program and the activities in the

study

^area. This is because all the

respondents

^areherders/farmers who

depend

^on

88

cattlefortheirlivelihood, ^{andrecentforest}

plantations

have affectedtheir cattle

herding

in oneway ^oranother.

Although

^their

perceptions

may^seem

biased, they strongly

^reflect

thefact that local

people

^{werenotinvolvedorconsulted}

during

^the

preparation

of the for¬

estryprogram.^As

such,

^{the local}

population

^{doesnotseemtobe}

receptive

^{of the}

forestry

programs, ^as their needs and

aspirations

^arenotincluded intheprogram, and the program

objectives

^oftenconflict with the needs of local

people.

^For

example,

^local

people

^consid¬

er

forage

and fuelwoodasthemost

important commodities,

^{but the}

forestry

program^con¬

siders this tobe timber

production.

^Local

people

claim that the

forestry plantations

^have

limited theiraccess to

grazing grounds,

^{and blame the}

forestry

program for

degradation

of forestresources.

5.1 The current status of forest

planning

5.1.1

Planning system

^{and the} main contents of Forest

Management

Plans

Current forest

planning

^isaone-level

^planning system by

^{the Forest}

Management

^Unit

(FMU), whereby management plans

^are

prepared

with little interaction outside the forest¬

ry domain

during

^the

planning

process

(Figure 5.1).

^The size of the FMU varies from 1000 hato

30,000

^ha

(Riehen

^{and Määttä}

1992)

^and

currently, management plans

^for

about

289,923

^haof forests have been

prepared, corresponding

^to about 32% of the oper¬

able forests. The

plans

^{for anFMU are}

prepared

^fora

period

of 10 years. Until

recently,

thedetailsof the

planning

^{levelwithinFMUsdifferedfromoneforestunitto}another de¬

pending

^onwhich

agencies/projects prepared

^the

plans.

The Swiss- andAustrian-assisted

projects prepared

^the

plans

^{atstand level,} whereas the

plans

^{ofthe Forest}Resource De¬

velopment

^Section

(FRDS)

^{ofthe Forest} Services Division

(FSD)

^with

support

^from FAO/UNDP,

prepared

^the

plans

^{atthe forest} level, followed

by operational plans.

Forest Services Division

Areaidentification of FMU

Forestinventory

Dataanalysis

Plandrafting

Planre\iew

±

Planapproval

Operational planpreparation

Plan implementation

Divisional ForestOfficer recommendation

Meeting mainly

consists of forest

policy

makers,planners^and practitioners

Ministry ^of Agriculture

Figure^{5.1 The}present^forestplanning process.

TheForest

Inventory

^and

Management Workshop

in 1992 resolved that FMU

planning

shouldbecarried out at thestratum

level1,

^followed

by

^the

preparation

^of

operational

90

plans

^{thatwill be valid for 1-2years.}

Management plans

^{are of the}conventional

forestry

type, ^inwhich

silviculture,

the allowable annual cuts

(AAC)

^and

harvesting

schedules of the

production

^{forestform the maincontents}

^(as

^{summarizedinTable}

^5.1).

1CURRENT SITUATION

• Location of the unit and physical^features

• Climate

• Socio-economics

• Infrastructure, transport^and equipment

• Historical background

• Forestresourceassessment

• Land use, vegetation, ^foresttypes, growing stock,^{annual increment.}

II FUTURE MANAGEMENT

1, Objective: ^{The main}

objective

^{ofthe forest}management plan ^{is to} producewood for local

people^{and industries and at the sametime conserve and} improve^{forest resources.}

2. Management priorities: Management priorities^{differfromone unit to another}depending

ongeophysical ^and socio-economicenvironments of the FMU. In general, ^thepriorities^of management^aretoensureregeneration^ofharvestedareas, to undertake soundharvesting practices, ^to improvedegraded ^{forestareas and toconserveand} protectwatersheds, wild¬

life and nature.

3. Management strategy: ^Production forest, protection^{forest, watershed} management, ^na¬

tureconservation, wildlife,community forest and social forestry.

4. Planned interventions:

Yield

regulation

ⁱⁿ production^forest

• Annual allowablecut determination

•

Working

groups Silviculture

• Silviculturalsystems^fordifferent

working

groups

• Afforestation Harvesting

• Annual harvestingsystem

• Annual operationcoupes

• Tree marking ^rules

Infrastructure

• Road construction

•

Building

construction and maintenance 5. Staffand labor

6. Financial aspects

7. Implementation and control

• Operation plan

• Responsibility

Table5.1 A summary of the main^contentof thecurrentforestmanagementplan, adaptedfrom Dhital and Pushparajah (1992)^and Slavicky

(1992).

1. Corresponds^toforest typesdepending^{ondominanttrees}e.g. in conifer FMU^--fir,spruce, bluepine,^mixed conifer.Oak(Q. semecarpifolia)^{arethe stratum.}

5.1.2 Status of forest

inventory

In

principle,

forest inventories in Bhutan arecarriedout onthree levels:

•

National/regional

^levelto

generate

informationonforestresources.This

guides

^{the de¬}

cision-makers in the

strategic planning

^{oflanduses, andwhen}

deciding

^{on new invest¬}

ments. Itisa

periodical

exercise undertaken

mainly through donor-supported projects.

An

inventory

of all forests in Bhutanwas undertaken in the 1970s

by

^{thePre-Invest}

Survey

of Forest Resources

(PIS),

^assisted

by

^{the Indian}

government.

^{The forestareas} of Bhutanwere assessed with the aid of satellite

images by Negi (1983)

^and

Gupta (1991),

and covered the forests of all the

Dzongkhags.

•

Management

^{Unit levelto}collect information of theforestunitsforthe forest

planners.

This allows themtomake decisionson land_use, allowable annual cutandvarious op¬

erations in theunit for forestmanagement

plans.

^{The forest}

inventory

^{is carriedout}

by

theForestServices Division

(FSD)

^{and is a}

regular

^meansof

collecting

^{forestresource}

information formanagement

planning

in the FMU. Datacollection is orientatedto¬

wards conventional

forestry

^and

places

^most

emphasis

^{on the}information of

growing

stock and timber

production (Table 5.2)

•

Operational

^{leveltocollect}informationfor foresters

(DFO),

^to

plan

^and

implement

^in¬

dividual

operations

within the unit.

1. Areasofthe inventory ^unitsdivided into land use andforesttypes.

2. Environmental dataon soil, slopes, flora and fauna.

3. Volume of thegrowingstock broken down into foresttype classes; speciesand diameter classes and timber assortments.

4. Annual increment of the growing stock divided into foresttype, speciesand diameter classes.

5. Aforestmapshowing ^{differentforest}types ^basedon

geographical

location andecological

classes.

Table 5.2 Basicoutputs ^{fromtheforest}

inventory

^{in FMU} (Rinchen ^{and Määttä} 1992).

5.2 Goals of broadleaf forest

management

Broadleaf forests arevital resourcesthat

provide long-term

^basic

needs,

^{such as}

wood, food,

shelter and

fuel,

^{as well as}

protection

^of

watersheds,

soil and fields.

Therefore,

^the

goal

of broadleaf forestmanagement^isto

provide

these diversefunctionsand

products

ⁱⁿ

perpetuity by

^carefulutilization within thelimitsof

sustainability.

^The

goals

^{of theforest¬}

ry^sectorasstated in the "Forest

Policy

of Bhutan 1991" are

far-reaching,

^andencompass both economical and social interests. Basedon the

goals

^{of the}

forestry

sector, the

long-

term

goals

^{for thebroadleafforests can be summarized as} follows:

• Goal 1: Conservation of

biodiversity,

water resources, soil, land and

degraded

^forests

through

propermanagement

practices

^{based on the}

principles

^of

sustainability

^and

biodiversity

maintenance.

• Goal2:Production oftimberfor domestic andindustrialuses

through

sustainableman¬

agementof broadleaf forests.

• Goal 3: Sustainable

production

^of

fodder,

^fuelwood andnon-woodforest

products by

pursuing

^multi-use concepts ^{in the}

management

of broadleaf forests.

92

• Goal 4: Contributionto the

production

^{offood, water,} energy and other

products by

co-ordinating

interactionbetween broadleafforests and

farming

systems.

No documento Cattle grazing - an integral part of broadleaf forest management planning in Bhutan (páginas 88-93)