Forestry

Forestry is the art, science, and practice of studying and managing forests and plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests. Modern forestry generally concerns itself with assisting forests to provide timber as raw material for wood products; wildlife habitat; natural water quality regulation; recreation; landscape and community protection; employment; aesthetically appealing landscapes; and a 'sink' for atmospheric carbon dioxide. A practitioner of forestry is known as a forester.

What foresters do

Foresters may be employed by industry, government agencies, conservation groups, urban parks boards, citizens' associations, or private landowners. Historically, foresters have been predominantly involved in planning the harvest of timber and the regeneration of new trees.

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Typically, professional foresters develop "forest management plans". These plans rely on tree inventories showing an area's topographical features as well as its distribution of trees (by species) and other plant cover. They also include roads, culverts, proximity to human habitation, hydrological conditions, and soil reports. Finally, forest management plans include the projected use of the land and a timetable for that use.

Related Topics:
Topographical - Species - Hydrological

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Plans for harvest and subsequent site treatment are influenced by the objectives of the land's owner or leaseholder (for instance, a timber company that holds cutting rights to a given tract of land, or the government in the case of state-owned forests). There is an increasing trend to consider the needs of other stakeholders (e.g., nearby communities or neighborhoods, or rural residents living within or adjacent to the forest tract), through public consultation. Plans are developed with the prevailing forest harvest laws and regulations in mind. They ultimately result in a prescription for the harvest of trees, and indicate whether road building or other forest engineering operations are required.

Related Topics:
Harvest - Public consultation

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Traditional forest management plans are chiefly aimed at providing logs as raw material for timber, veneer, plywood, paper, or other industries. Hence, considerations of product quality and quantity, employment, and profit have been of central, though not always exclusive, importance.

Related Topics:
Timber - Veneer - Plywood - Paper

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Foresters also frequently develop post-harvest site plans. These may call for reforestation (tree planting by species), fertilization, or the spacing of young trees (thinning of trees that are crowding one another).

Related Topics:
Reforestation - Species - Fertilization

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Other duties of foresters include preventing and combatting insect infestation, disease, forest and grassland fires. Foresters are specialists in measuring and modelling the growth of forests (forest mensuration). Increasingly, foresters may be involved in wildlife conservation planning.

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