Timber production of Nothofagus pumilio forest by a shelterwood system in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

MARTINEZ PASTUR G.; CELLINI J.M.; PERI P.L.; VUKASOVIC R.; FERNANDEZ C.

FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2000 vol. 134 p. 153 - 162

0378-1127

Lenga is the most important timber native species from south Patagonia of Argentina and Chile. The total volume stocks and timber production change according to site quality, stocking, growth phase and previous land management. The aim of this work was to evaluate the existence and the productive potential of wood for the sawmill industry in a shelterwood seed cut of Nothofagus pumilio forests along the range of site classes. The sample plots were done in 3.0 hectares of an old-growth virgin forest without regeneration patches (SDI 95.4-131.4%) along the five classes of site (I to V). Total stand volumes varied between 397.6 and 1098.7 m3/ha and “volume density index” (ratio of total volume over basal area) varied between 6.1 and 14.3 m3/m². The yield volume present significant differences along site qualities with log volumes between 40 and 400 m3/ha. The number of produced logs diminishes from the better sites towards the worst (800 to 200), as well as their volume average (0.5 m3/log to 0.2 m3/log). Several studies of the bibliography in timber production were compared and discussed with the obtained results. Considering new alternatives in the Lenga timber management allow to get higher harvesting indexes, increasing the benefits for the forest company and diminishing the annual wood areas necessary to cover the requirements of the sawmills in Tierra del Fuego.