Forest

The Finnish forest road network (150 000 km) gives value not only to forestry but enhances recreational utilization of forests and serves for preventing forest fires and for rescue services. It contributes also to putting out fires if needed. Half of the private roads in Finland are forest roads. Forest roads allow access to forest assets allover Finland.
The forest road networks enable efficient wood procurement from forests. Access to forests are easier and the long-distance transportation is simple. Distances to forests are shorter and in the countryside, forest roads are used for other transportation as well and as links between villages. The recreational users (berry picking, hunting) benefit from roads also.

It is important to keep the road clear of bushes and prevent water from resting on the road. Heavy vehicles are not allowed to utilize the roads during frost heave. Constant maintenance of forest road network and the connected road networks and bridges would be essential, since roads have been built lightly and cost-efficiently.
In the forest road maintenance, utilization of side steams from forest industry, heat plants and mines, for example, would advance actions or circular economy and contribute to preventing emissions and waste.
Heavier vehicles require constant maintenance of forest roads. New method for maintenance need to be applied as well. Mild winters and rainy summers add to the need for maintenance.

The fragmented ownership structure is one of the main challenges of wood mobilization in Europe. In Finland, 4 million hectares of forest area are in need of forest arrangements. Small-sized, dispersed forest property with difficult access to forests results in high costs for timber harvesting per hectare. Forest management and harvesting are more difficult in small estates since boundaries and forest vehicle paths take up most of the estate.

 
Through the process of forest estate arrangements, it is possible to form bigger forest estates for cost efficiency.  Arrangements can be made by changing estates among forest owners to shape the size and form of the forest estate. The arrangements might need trading forest estates.  A new forest consolidation and forest conservation are possible also. Forest road network and drainage need to be adapted for the new situation. The process takes usually 3-6 years depending on the area.

Forest estate arrangements lead to bigger forest estates units, which contribute to better forest management and harvesting. Forest owners become more active in taking care of their forests and forestry companies are more interested in mobilizing wood from better harvesting conditions and easier access to forest.  
To gain the benefits, more discussion and communication are needed around forest estates. Forest owners need to be activated in taking action concerning the arrangements of their forests. 

Bigger forest estates with easier access to forest property.
Better conditions for harvesting.
Cost-efficiency in harvesting and forest regeneration.
Active management of forests.
Easier management of forests.
Increased forest growth.
Tax relief and financial support for forest owners.

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.

The ashes can be used in a road building among gravel. The use of ash from neighboring heat plants reduces the use of natural aggregates. The use of ash in the construction of the road has been limited, as it is currently subject to environmental permits.
In the forest and energy industries, burning wood produces a lot of ash, which is placed in landfills. The forest industry alone generates more than 300 000 tonnes of exploeable ash every year. The increase in wood energy increases the amount of ash even further. Current measures to benefit from the use of ash do not correspond to the principles of sustainable consumption and production. It would be essential to influence the legislation in order to ease the utilization of ash. It is important to perform carrying capacity measurements and research and test different mixtures of gravel and ash. The environmental issues need to be surveyed.

In Finland there are 135 000 km of forest roads where maintenance is necessary for wood procurement. According to the National Forest Programme 2015, forest car roads should be upgraded to 4 000 km annually. In the construction of roads, cost-effectiveness is most essential. The biggest challenge in most cases is the availability of affordable gravel or crushing near the forest road project. Utilization of ash as material for road construction and maintenance has produced excellent results in terms of both the technical suitability and the environmental impact.

Strengthen the regional wood value chain incl. sales promotion thereby enhancing the regionally potential added value. Initiation and expansion of networks between industry and science along the value chain Forest-Wood-Paper. Initiation of expert rounds on particular topics, regional projects and cooperation’s. Enhancement of the political framework. Process optimization between different actors and within these. Monitoring of cluster activities Every player of the wood value chain from the forest owner to the end consumer is an important factor in the work flow and plays a crucial role for overall success and positive development. Actors in the wood value chain need to know as much as possible from the upstream and downstream actors (ex. stock, products, delivery times, facility possibilities). Close cooperation between partners is needed to facilitate interaction and enhance the efficiency of internal processes and the whole process chain Closer collaboration between the different actors in the wood value chain. Better knowledge of the mutual strenght, the products and the services provided by each other. Regional connection of the wood value chain and sales promotion thereby enhancing the regionally potential added value. Limit the increasing wood import. Competitiveness enhancement of all actors of the wood value chain. Positive effects on labor situations in the wood value chain in the region. Strengthening the wood sector as an important economic factor. Enhancement of sustainability through the exploitation of the potential annual wood increment. Fostering the climate change adaptation potential of forests by reducing rotation period

Comparison of operating results of forestry operation in Switzerland. The network undertakes regular monitoring of many forest enterprises (ca. 30%) and elevates their market situation and a big set of economic data on a yearly basis. With these data, best practices guidance on competitive forest enterprises are elaborated and benchmarking approaches are outlined

The structural conditions are the main cause for the economic success. Unclear strategic positioning and operational deficiency are key factors for the resulting negative operating results in average, besides the high labor costs and small structured forestry operation

The TBN describes many economic, financial and structural indicators for 28% of the forest surface in Switzerland as a reference for benchmarks. Data and evaluations are available for the years 2008 – 2010, 2011 - 2013 and 2014 – 2018 of the participating forestry operation. Important factors and their influence on the operation results can be determined. Appropriate solutions for different situations and context can be found more easily

IT-based simulation (SorSim) for revenue estimation for single trees or tree stands. Modelling of the stem form, height, diameter at breast height (DBH) from tree species.  Supports decision makers in production- and utilization processes

SorSim is an IT based tool which allows to predict values on single tree-level and tree stands

SorSim allows an adequate calculation of the revenues of single trees and tree stands with the information’s of quality, quantity and the assortment. The information basis includes: tree species, tree age (height), stem-form

SiWaWa 2.0 is a simple developed new forest growth simulation model for practitioner (Android-App). SiWaWa needs only the number of the stems [N], the basal area per hectare [G] of a certain stand to generate separated the stem distribution curve according to the DBH-classes. SiWaWa 2.0 supports the decision makers in two aspects: Silvicultural and forest planning. It supports the foresters in a better understanding of the state point and forest development

Free available Android-App, which could be used in the following fields:
1. Strategy: Goal dimension of the trees, cutting time
2. Care concept: Coordination of harvesting time, optimization of productivity
3. Measurements: Urgency and priority
4. Analysis: Starting point and forest development without interventions. Definition of intervention measures and simulation

A practical tool intended to guarantee the survival of a sustainable and effective protective forest at a minimum cost. Based on the assumption that the state of the forest is crucial to its ability to provide effective protection against natural hazards, silvicultural requirement profiles are described for different forest locations and natural hazards This method gives an overview for every protection forest type, helps to clarify the management goal and shows the achieved management results. It makes them verifiable and simplify the discussion in the field of protective forest management for practitioners, authorities and academic staff Standard method to characterize protection forest’s needs and to manage them according to identical objective criteria. The management results are verifiable for the protection forest authorities. This method is used to improve the quality in protection forest management

Forest stand inventory with the aid of the Smartphones capabilities (App). Easy, cheap and reliable tool for determining the most important dendrometer indicators (key figures of tree stands). Suitable for single tree measurement or stand inventories

Smartphones can be used as a good referencing tool for forest inventories and forest operation planning. Many further application developments and integrations thinkable

Easy and fast implementation of forest inventories and single tree measurement.
Possible determination of the base area (m2/ha) with or without the distinction of different tree species. Trunk rate (#/ha), stand height (m/ha), reserve of rough wood (m3/ha)