Non-Timber Forest Products and Bioeconomy 28–30 November 2017, Rovaniemi, Finland

1. Natural products in forest planning: a pilot study in privately
owned forests in Northern Finland
Marjut Turtiainen (UEF)
Teija Kanniainen (UEF)
Jukka Tikkanen (UEF)
Jari Miina (Luke)
Mikko Kurttila (Luke)

2. What is forest planning?
• In Finland, the practical forest planning is dominantly single-objective aiming at high timber
production
• Forest planning is typically tactical planning:
- the planning horizon ranges from 5 to 20 years
- the planning object is a holding; the primary calculation unit is a forest stand
• Forest management plan:
1) presents the current state of the forest holding
2) presents a recommendation for an action plan
3) predicts the probable consequences of implementing the plan
• The present-day forest owner has various goals with respect to the management of his/her
forests
 there is a need to integrate NTFPs (such as natural products) in forest planning

3. New products from forests (UUTU) –project
• The project will promote the sustainable and diversified use of forests
• One of the objectives is to develop, pilot and instruct forest planning that considers the
production of natural products in private forests
• For the study, six private forest holdings were selected in northern Finland
- the size varied from 21 to 86 ha
- in Rovaniemi and Keminmaa
• For these pilot forests, forest plans considering the production of natural products were
compiled using the multi-objective and interactive planning process

4. The phases of the planning process
1) Interview of the forest owner
2) Field inventory of 21 different natural products
3) Construction of two different forest plans
- Plan A according to the objectives of the owner
- Plan B: traditional timber production oriented forest plan
4) Decision-making session
5) The final plan was compiled and delivered to the owner
Photo: Jere Jääskeläinen

5. Phase 1: Interview of the forest owner
- What are forest owner’s forest management goals?
- both goals related to the production of natural products and wood production were
inquired
- What is the relative importance of each goal?
Goals related to natural
products
Goals related to wood
production
Wood production
vs. natural products
One of the
forest owners
pine resin (100), spruce resin (80),
birch sap (70), pakuri (60),
bilberry shoots (50)
income from timber sales (100),
productivity of the forest (100)
100 : 90

6. Phase 2: Field inventory
• In the field, suitability of forest stands for the production and
collection of natural products was assessed
• 21 natural products:
- products included in everyman’s right (e.g. bilberry,
cowberry, cloudberry)
- products not included in everyman’s right (e.g. pakuri, pine
and spruce resin, spruce shoots, birch leaves)
• On each stand, production potential of five natural products at
maximum was assessed
• Depending on natural product, the assessments were made on a
scale of 0/1 or 0 to 10
Photo: Kauko Salo
Photo: Eija Vuorela

7. • The site and stand characteristics of stands were obtained from a national forest resource
database (Metsään.fi)
• The forest owner was given an opportunity to participate in a field trip in his/her forest holding
Photo: Maisa Hirvilammi and Jere Jääskeläinen Pakuri, a sterile conk of Inonotus obliquus.
Photo: Pyry Veteli

8. Phase 3: Construction of two different forest plans
• Plan A: according to the objectives of the owner
• Plan B: traditional timber production oriented forest plan
-> the same objectives for each owner (i.e. net income during the first and second period,
and net present value at 3 % interest rate)
• Monsu forest planning program
(Prof. Timo Pukkala, UEF)

9. • Production functions for natural products were integrated in Monsu
Type of production function Examples
A production is predicted as a function of
site, stand and/or tree characteristics
- bilberry and cowberry yield models
- bilberry shoots yield model
- pine and spruceresin yield models
- spruceshoots yield model
- biomass function for birch leaves
B constantproduction per ha on
potential sites
- cloudberries
- cloudberry leaves
- marsh tea (Ledumpalustre) shoots
C constantproduction per inoculated birch - pakuri

10. Phase 4: Decision-making session
• Two different forest plans were presented to
the forest owner
 the owner chose another of them
 if Plan A was chosen, a few changes could
be made to it
• Example: one of the owners reconsidered his
goals related to natural products
- interview: 5 goals
- decision-making session: only pakuri
 this fact was taken into account when the
final plan was compiled
Photo: Anniina Kietäväinen

11. Phase 5: The final plan was compiled and delivered

12. • The action plan provides also stand-specific
proposals for producing those natural products
the owner is interested in
______________________________________________________________________________________
Holding 1 Stand 3 3.2 ha Mesic Timber in 2017 129 m3/ha 408 m3/stand
Pakuri is cultivated in birches during the first planning period (2018-2022). In the
thinning of the second period (2023-2027), inoculated birches are removed and sterile
conks are collected.
Period Treatments MäTu KuTu KoTu MäPi KuPi MäKu Kuku LeKu Total
2023-2027 Thinning 6 0 0 6 17 17 15 136 197 m3/stand
2 0 0 2 5 6 5 43 62 m3/ha
______________________________________________________________________________________

13. Collaborative and design-based research
• Several institutions and stakeholders participated in the planning process (UEF, Luke,
Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Rovaniemi Forestry Society)
 close cooperation with forest owners
• In different phases of the process, feedback was collected from the owners and
planners
• An approach of design-based research was applied
 3 evaluation meetings
 materials and instructions used in the planning were refined after each meeting

14. Conclusions
• A number of different natural products can be taken into account in forest planning
-> most part of the functions are rough and tentative
-> development of functions is needed
• Similar approach is possible also in other parts of Finland
-> new pilot studies
• Forest planners…
- wide knowledge of natural products
- familiar with the principles of multi-objective forest planning
 training is needed

15. Thank you!
marjut.turtiainen@uef.fi
teija.kanniainen@uef.fi
jukka.tikkanen@uef.fi
jari.miina@luke.fi
mikko.kurttila@luke.fi