Sustainable management of Mediterranean forests in Spain

Abstract

Direct production from the forests (wood, pinecones or cork) has grown with the application of forest management. In no instance has any impoverishment of the soil been observed; production levels per hectare are the same or higher than when forestry operations first began, and the forests have more trees and are distributed more uniformly. A clear relationship has been observed between the results obtained in each forest and the intensity of the management practices applied, and intensive forestry must always be practised where there are no irreversible ecological limitations on its use. Such intensification can be very successful when combined with a high degree of artificialization of the stand or by treating the forest with extreme care in order to maximize the production of wood without detriment to other aspects of the resource. Nevertheless, in the face of a growing and varied demand for the indirect benefits of forests, the enormous advantages offered by extensive forestry in terms of sustainable exploitation should not be underestimated (Montero and Canellas, 1998).