Forest management, ecosystem, resilience

Finland has a lot of peatland and other areas with soft terrain. The challenge is that the soft terrain does not enable harvesting in the summertime.

The stability of the harvester comes from its eight wheels and active stabilization system. The patented stabilization system is based on detecting the crane direction and position, on the basis of which the rear frame is pressed in the working direction. Pressing the rear wheels against the ground and the weight of the rear frame improve the machine’s stability significantly when working on the side of the machine – also when the machine is moving.

The Cabin leveling, balances the cabin, also in difficult terrain. The frame of the machine consists of three parts linked by rotating joints. The cabin is located in the middle frame, which is kept hydraulically balanced, while the front and rear frames tilt according to the terrain.

Scorpion King is a three-frame harvester equipped with a fork boom. Its balancing keeps the cabin horizontal in all conditions. In addition, visibility from the cabin is perfect thanks to large glass surfaces and as the crane does not block the view in any direction. Its double-circuit hydraulics ensure that power does not run out even in difficult conditions. The balanced machine is at its best in demanding conditions and uneven terrain.

Metsä Group photographed in 2018 with drone about 3 500 hectares of forest in southern and western Finland and utilized the data as basis for forest plans for forest owners. According to experience, the method has been developed and now the drone forest plans are being sold as an alternative to traditional forest plans. The forest plan based on information described by Drone or copter with camera challenges the traditional forest planning. The method is used in particular to get more accurate tree information.

The drone plan will be of interest to the forest owners who want to be in the front and develop new developments with forest industry. For example, in a virtual forest, the data measured in the drone will create a precise tree map, where the trees are in the right places and the tree species are correct. In virtual reality, it will better reflect the fluctuations of the wood inside the forest compartment than the traditional forest plan information. The drone design and virtual forests form an interesting pair in the future by producing new experiences for forest owners.

The measurements will provide both the amount of trees in cubic meters and the value of the wood in euros more accurately than before. With drone surveys we also get information about the amount of dead wood – it helps to preserve the important structure of forest for diversity.
The method is capable of identifying tree three species: pine, spruce and birch. The remaining deciduous tree species are logged into the category of other deciduous trees. Based on the measurement data, treatment recommendations are calculated. This drone-made plan differs from the traditional, where human being makes the treatment recommendations.
The forest plan produced by drone is particularly suitable for updating the forest plan that is about to expire.  It is also suitable for
forest owners, who are particularly interested in the amount and value of the timber.
The forest plan of the drone also benefits from a faster delivery of traditional forest plan. Delivery time is few months, which is only half of the delivery times of traditional forest plan.

CFharvest (WoodForce) is planning- and steering system for harvesting and silviculture to optimize and strengthen the supply chains of forestry. Forestry company delivers all the contracts the WoodForce-system according to the need of raw material. The contractor selects the contracts and the locations he will perform. Forest companies have decreased harvesting and average costs in Silviculture or Regeneration job types. There has been increasing productivity in the supply chain of stem wood and energy wood. Also increasing productivity in field operations in Forestry like Silviculture Harvesting Forest Services. Contractors have the ability to manage their own forestry services and receive the full benefit of all resources. Possibility to operate for multiple forest companies is important. In addition, there is less manual reporting and worksite navigation is easier. CFharvest supports a changing trend where progressive companies now contract for several forest companies and do the planning with one system. Since the contractor understands local conditions best, forest harvesting operations become more efficient: the contractor has direct control over work plans and scheduling his own fleet of harvesters and trucks.

MOTTI is a stand-level analysis tool and decision support software by Luke. It contains the key results of the growth and yield research carried out by Luke, which can be used to predict the growth of forests managed using different techniques. The software also enables making comparisons between different silvicultural methods. MOTTI can also be used to investigate the effects of forest management or non-management, selection of tree species, regeneration chains or individual silvicultural measures, for example, on forest growth, harvesting volumes, profitability of forestry or the amount of carbon sequestered by forests.

MOTTI is widely used among professional foresters, forest owners, teachers, researchers, authorities and companies in Finland. It has been updated regularly with the newest growth models. It has also been tailored for special purposes, e.g. for teaching and for calculating economic effects of forest protection. It has been published in several languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, Russian) and it has also been piloted in other countries and tree species.

The core of MOTTI is a stand-level simulator, which includes growth and yield models for e.g. natural regeneration, growth and mortality. It is designed to simulate stand development under alternative management regimes and growth conditions in Finland.
MOTTI predicts the development of the user-defined initial stand until the end of the rotation. The user can define various management schedules including management practices, such as precommercial and commercial thinnings, fertilization, and ditch network maintenance in peatland forests. The user can adjust parameters such as timing and intensity of thinning and proportions of tree species, and define the timing of final cut. Timber assortments include logs, pulpwood and energy wood compartments. If the user do not define management practices, MOTTI simulates a default management program for the stand based on the current recommendations for forestry practice in Finland.
For the economic analysis (net present value and bare land value), the user can enter stumpage prices by tree species and timber assortments, costs (e.g. costs of first commercial thinnings, fertilisation and ditch network maintenance) and interest rate. The results will be presented in the form tables, graphs and files exportable to Excel.

Mobile applications offered by different forest companies offer the possibility to observe your forest estate and forest assets on the mobile phone. The forest data is in mobile phone for private forest owners and it´s easy to log in with the bank's online banking ID.

The change of the business environment aims at better competitiveness and cost-efficiency in forest management. Mobile applications are an excellent way to encourage forest owners to take care of their forests.

Forest owners can download mobile applications to their smartphones from the internet. The application includes information about the forest assets, maps, and other key information that may be needed in the field. The application also works without a network connection.
For example, Metsä Group’s members are able to update their growing stock information by taking photos with their mobile phones. The photos are transferred for analysis in a cloud service, and they are used to calculate the growing stock information. This way when walking around in their forest estates, forest owner can update their growing stock information and request a quote to sell wood or buy forest management services right there on the spot.

With the application you can:

• view forest farm maps and aerial photos
• browse pattern information
• review the proposed measures
• acknowledge the actions taken, in which case the tree data in the pattern will be updated
• send a message to the forest expert
• take action on the request for quotation that you send from Metsäverkko.fi
• update pattern tree information with Trestima (Android only)
• navigate from one pattern to another, for example, to see urgent work
• add a note or photo to a specific location

Metsään.fi provides eServices for forest owners and forestry service providers. The online application shows the maps, forest information and, silvicultural and cutting possibilities of each forest estate and their compartments:

1. Soil and forest site type
2. Growing stock
3. Treatment proposals for a five-year period
4. Natural values (habitats of special importance)
5. Latest maps and aerial photographs with compartment borders
6. Annual growth. 

Metsään.fi also allows forest owners to apply for subsidies for improvement of young stands and declare notifications of forest use (e.eg. cuttings) by filling e-forms instead of paper ones. In addition, forest owners can contact forest service producers via the system. Metsään.fi is quite easy to use and it provides the forest owner many new flexible services, e.g. e-forms for applying subsidies. It’s a safe system, although being a public one.  A strong identification of the user is needed, use of Suomi.fi e-Identification is safe and provided by the state. Suomi.fi e-Identification contains a list of the identification tokens for example using online banking codes, mobile certificate or certificate cards

The Finnish Forest Centre collects and maintains remote sensing based data of forest resources covering the private forests. Metsään.fi is a free portal using that forest data for serving forest owners and forestry service providers. It has been found to encourage forest owners to carry out silvicultural works and generally for developing forest businesses. 

Metsään.fi in numbers in early 2020: 13,5 million hectares of forest data in the service, 108 765 forest owners have visited the service, 942 service providers have joined the service, 2461 operators use the service, 8,4 million hectares available to operators, 537 706 consents available to operators.

Third party digital service Kuutio brings together forest owners, wood buyers and other service providers in a digital environment. Kuutio.fi enables asking bids from wood procurement companies, when a private forest owner wants to sell wood. The service is developed by Suomen Puukauppa Oy, which was founded by all the major actors in the forest sector. Involved are Stora Enso, UPM and Metsä Group among almost all of the smaller saw mills. Kuutio is fully functional in any role of forestry professionals either through a browser interface or the company’s own forest system as long as it has been set up with a Kuutio connection.

Actual sales are made outside the service, Kuutio only acts as a go-between wood buyers and sellers. In most cases it is still required to do some field work and validate the information provided by system by visiting the stand marked for harvesting. All parties of wood trade benefit from Kuutio because sellers and buyers are able find each other more easily than before. The service utilizes public forest details from the Metsäkeskus database Metsään .fi and improves the functionality of wood trade. Kuutio paves the way to wood trade especially for those who are not the most at ease when it comes to taking care of their forestry property. Kuutio is targeted to all Finnish forest owners and they can use the service for free.

The purpose of the act on the financing of sustainable forestry (Kemera-law) is to advance economically, ecologically and socially sustainable silviculture and use of the forests. A private forest owner may receive financial support from the State for forest management, forest improvement work and for nature management. Public funding for forestry is based on the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry. The general objectives of forestry financing are stated in the Act: increase the growth of forests, maintain road networks for forestry purposes, secure the biodiversity of forests and promote the adaptation of forests to climate change.

Government subsidies are essential for safeguarding sustainable wood production, maintenance of forest biodiversity and improvement of the health of forests. The most common reason not to participate in the cost sharing program is the challenge in applying the support. The receipt of Kemera subsidies requires a implementation plan or an application for support and declaration of completion. The amount of Kemera support varies by type of work and by financial zone. Support is a taxable income and the funding is provided by the Finnish Forest Center. Forest management and improvement work which may be eligible for support include the tending of seedling stands, tending of young stands, ditch cleaning and supplementary ditching and construction of forest roads. Support may also be granted for remedial fertilisation.

Demand for forestry-service products is increasing. This means the service providers must be easy to reach and be able to offer all services needed by forest owner. Providers have to take into account the diverse forest owners groups and their needs regarding the management and use of forests.
So far, the challenge have been scattered services for forest owners.
Now many companies and entrepreneurs have started to offer full forest management services from one place.

Full service from one company/association is attracting forest owners to take care of their forests.
The change of the business environment aims at better competitiveness and cost-efficiency in forest management.

Network of associations offering full service of forest management for forest owners: guidance, planning, call for bids, comparing offers, harvesting, forest regeneration, digital services and forest estate
brokerage.

Biomass Atlas is an open service which collects the location data of biomasses under one, single user interphase. Developed by Luke together with Finnish organizations SYKE, TAPIO, UEF and UVA, and by the funding of the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the service enables calculations of the amount of biomass in a given geographical area, as well as examining the opportunities and restrictions to utilise the biomass.
The map user interface is easy to use and allows user to watch, analyse and report biomasses from forestry, agriculture and biodegradable wastes from communities and industry. You will find approximately 300 map layers of different biomass types or land use categories in map user interface.

Based on Biomass Atlas, assessments of regional availability of biomass, procurement and logistical costs of biomass, procurement technology and optimization in Luke and other organizations have been successfully accomplished. Analyses of content of biomasses, their nutrients, energy potential, and the nutrient recycling have been optimized regionally using Biomass Atlas.
The potential to utilize biomass regionally can be assessed with focus in employment, regional economy or environmental impact. It is also possible to make scenarios, how these things will develop in the future.

The biomass data is planned to support investment decisions and sustainable use of natural resources, for example, and to help decision-makers to do sustainable energy politics. At the moment Biomass Atlas is available in Finnish. International version of Biomass Atlas will be built in cooperation with Baltic Forbio project, which starts at autumn 2017 and exports the Biomass Atlas concept to Sweden and Baltic sea countries. In Biomass Atlas you will find GIS data and maps of different biomass and land use types:

• multisource national forest inventory data describes biomass that is growing in forests
• forest chip potential
• field and crop areas
• crops and crop side streams
• manure of production animals
• biowaste from communities
• biodegradable waste from companies in scale that requires environmental authorization (VAHTI-database).

Field area, crops and waste data is updated yearly. Manure data is updated when needed, and forest data approximately in every five years. All the data in Biomass Atlas is described also in Finnish metadataportal for geodata, Paikkatietohakemisto.