The planning and implementation of the harvesting of climate-resilient continuous cover forests (CCF) by means of digitalisation in North Karelia (KESTO)

Continuous cover forestry (CCF) is a form of forest management which don’t implement clear-cutting. CCF results in an uneven structured stand where trees of different sizes and ages grow together. In October 2021 Luke surveyed the views, wishes and needs of North Karelian actual forestry and forest owners about CCF. The majority of respondents believe that if CCF is properly targeted and implemented it would be a useful forest management to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as for water protection and biodiversity. However, the survey raised the challenges of CCF which are at the same time development needs: lack of criteria for classifying forests best suited for CCF, many stands are unsuitable for CCF, poor pre-planning of cutting areas, lack of working models, no CCF work models for harvester operator, lack of training material for operators and no payment bases for CCF harvester work.

The KESTO-project processes CCF research material and produces tools for classification and allocation of CCF stands, for planning and implementation of harvesting (cutting + forwarding) and the planning and monitoring of harvesting resources. The results of KESTO are the result of a cooperation between research, actual forest professionals and teaching. Through the cooperation, the project will refine the network model of data transfer, which will ensure the transfer of new CCF research data to practical forestry and educational organizations. The tools, methods and training products developed in the project will increase the knowledge of actual forestry about CCF. Furthermore, the project improve the quality of operating conditions of North Karelian forestry companies. The project promotes following: CCF will be targeted at the best sites, the developed CCF tools and methods will improve the pre-planning of CCF operations and the quality and profitability of harvesting. As a result, the profitability of timber production improves and CCF harvesting volumes will increase significantly which increase both environmental and economic benefits for both companies and forest owners.

‘The planning and implementation of the harvesting of climate-resilient continuous cover forests (CCF) by means of digitalisation in North Karelia (KESTO)’ -project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is a collaboration between the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the Finnish Foresty Center and the International Riveria Vocational education. The KESTO-project follows a gender mainstreaming strategy (http://standard.gendercop.com/). The results of the project are public and can be utilized nationwide.