Tree plantation

A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest,

timber plantation, or tree farm is a forest planted for high
volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a
monoculture forest. The term tree farm also is used to refer to
tree nurseries and Christmas tree farms. Plantation forestry can
produce a high volume of wood in a short period of time. Plantations
are grown by state forestry authorities (for example, the Forestry
Commission in Britain) and/or the paper and wood industries and
other private landowners (such as Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier, and
A pine plantation in the United States
Sierra Pacific Industries in the United States or Asia Pulp & Paper in
Indonesia). Christmas trees are often grown on plantations, and in
southern and southeastern Asia, teak plantations have replaced the natural forest.

Industrial plantations are actively managed for the commercial

production of forest products. Industrial plantations are usually
large-scale. Individual blocks are usually even-aged and often consist
of just one or two species. These species can be exotic or indigenous.
The plants used for the plantation are often genetically altered for
desired traits such as growth and resistance to pests and diseases in
general and specific traits, for example in the case of timber species,
volumic wood production and stem straightness. Forest genetic
resources are the basis for genetic alteration. Selected individuals A plantation of Douglas-fir in Washington,
grown in seed orchards are a good source for seeds to develop U.S.
adequate planting material.

Wood production on a tree plantation is generally higher than that of natural forests. While forests managed
for wood production commonly yield between 1 and 3 cubic meters per hectare per year, plantations of fast-
growing species commonly yield between 20 and 30 cubic meters or more per hectare annually; a Grand Fir
plantation in Scotland has a growth rate of 34 cubic meters per hectare per year,[1] and Monterey Pine
plantations in southern Australia can yield up to 40 cubic meters per hectare per year.[2] In 2000, while
plantations accounted for 5% of global forest, it is estimated that they supplied about 35% of the world's
roundwood.[3]

The highest share of plantation forest is in South America, where this forest type represents 99 percent of the
total planted-forest area and 2 percent of the total forest area. The lowest share of plantation forest is in
Europe, where it represents 6 percent of the planted forest estate and 0.4 percent of the total forest area.
Globally, 44 percent of plantation forests are composed mainly of introduced species. There are large
differences between regions: for example, plantation forests in North and Central America mostly comprise
native species and those in South America consist almost entirely of introduced species.[4]

Growth cycle
In the first year, the ground is prepared usually by the combination of burning, herbicide spraying, and/or
cultivation and then saplings are planted by human crew or by machine. The saplings are usually
obtained in bulk from industrial nurseries, which may specialize in selective breeding in order to produce
fast growing disease- and pest-resistant strains.
 In the first few years until the canopy closes, the saplings are looked after, and may be dusted or sprayed
with fertilizers or pesticides until established.
After the canopy closes, with the tree crowns touching each other, the plantation is becoming dense and
crowded, and tree growth is slowing due to competition. This stage is termed 'pole stage'. When
competition becomes too intense (for pine trees, when the live crown is less than a third of the tree's total
height), it is time to thin out the section. There are several methods for thinning, but where topography
permits, the most popular is 'row-thinning', where every third or fourth or fifth row of trees is removed,
usually with a harvester. Many trees are removed, leaving regular clear lanes through the section so that
the remaining trees have room to expand again. The removed trees are delimbed, forwarded to the forest
road, loaded onto trucks, and sent to a mill. A typical pole stage plantation tree is 7–30 cm in diameter at
breast height (dbh). Such trees are sometimes not suitable for timber, but are used as pulp for paper and
particleboard, and as chips for oriented strand board.
As the trees grow and become dense and crowded again, the thinning process is repeated. Depending
on growth rate and species, trees at this age may be large enough for timber milling; if not, they are again
used as pulp and chips.
Around year 10-60 the plantation is now mature and (in economic terms) is falling off the back side of its
growth curve. That is to say, it is passing the point of maximum wood growth per hectare per year, and so
is ready for the final harvest. All remaining trees are felled, delimbed, and taken to be processed.
The ground is cleared, and the cycle can be restarted.
Some plantation trees, such as pines and eucalyptus, can be at risk of fire damage because their leaf oils and
resins are highly flammable.[5][6] Conversely, an afflicted plantation can in some cases be cleared of pest
species cheaply through the use of a prescribed burn, which kills all lesser plants but does not significantly
harm the mature trees.

Types

Eucalyptus
In the 20th century, scientists around the world experimented with Eucalyptus species. They hoped to grow
them in the tropics, but most experimental results failed until breakthroughs in the 1960s-1980s in species
selection, silviculture, and breeding programs "unlocked" the potential of eucalypts in the tropics. Prior to
then, as Brett Bennett noted in a 2010 article, eucalypts were something of the "El Dorado" of forestry. Today,
Eucalyptus is the most widely planted type of tree in plantations around the world,[7] in South America
(mainly in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), South Africa, Australia, India, Galicia, Portugal and
many more.[8]

Teak
Plantation teak is a tropical hardwood tree from the genus Tectona,
endemic to Southeast Asia that is exclusively planted for the purpose
of forestry management, for either commercial timber plantations or
ecological restoration. Although the genus Tectona is native to the
tropical regions of Southeast Asia, primarily Indonesia, Myanmar,
India, Bangladesh and Thailand, the cultivation of plantation teak is
economically viable in other tropical regions such as Central America.

Christmas tree farms

Teak tree plantation
Christmas tree cultivation is an agricultural, forestry, and
horticultural occupation which involves growing pine, spruce, and fir
trees specifically for use as Christmas trees.

The first Christmas tree farm was established in 1901, but most consumers continued to obtain their trees
from forests until the 1930s and 1940s. Christmas tree farming was once seen only as a viable alternative for
low-quality farmland, but that perception has changed within the agriculture industry. For optimum yield
and quality, land should be flat or gently rolling and relatively free of
debris and undergrowth.

A wide variety of pine and fir species are grown as Christmas trees,
although a handful of varieties stand out in popularity. In the United
States, Douglas-fir, Scots pine and Fraser fir all sell well. Nordmann
fir and Norway spruce sell well in the United Kingdom, the latter
being popular throughout Europe. Like all conifers, Christmas trees
are vulnerable to a range of pests.

The final stage of cultivation, harvesting, is carried out in a number of

ways; one of the more popular methods is the pick-your-own tree
farm, where customers are allowed to roam the farm, select their tree,
and cut it down themselves. Other farmers cultivate potted trees, with
balled roots, which can be replanted after Christmas and used again
the following year.

Role in climate change mitigation

A Christmas tree farmer in the U.S. state
A forest sequesters carbon in its trees. The forest removes carbon of Florida explains the pruning and
dioxide from the air as trees grow and returns it to the air as trees die shearing process of cultivation to a
government employee.
and rot or burn. As long as the forest is experiencing net growth, the
forest is reducing the amount of carbon dioxide, the leading
greenhouse gas, from the air. Furthermore, if timber is regularly removed from the forest and turned into
lasting wood products, those products continue sequestering carbon, while the replacement tree farm trees
absorb more carbon dioxide, thus effecting a continuous reduction in greenhouse gas.[9] The fact that
managed woodlands tend to be younger and younger trees grow faster and die less contributes to this
distinction.[10]

While tree farms absorb large amounts of CO2, the long-term sequestration of this carbon depends on what is
done with the harvested materials. Forests continue to absorb atmospheric carbon for centuries if left
undisturbed.[11]

A variety of analytical tools are used to quantify the carbon sequestration in forest, varying considerably in
their detail and intended purpose.[12]

Natural forest loss

Many forestry experts claim that the establishment of plantations will reduce or eliminate the need to exploit
natural forest for wood production. In principle this is true because due to the high productivity of
plantations less land is needed. Many point to the example of New Zealand, where 19% of the forest area
provides 99% of the supply of industrial round wood. It has been estimated that the world's demand for fiber
could be met by just 5% of the world forest (Sedjo & Botkin 1997). However, in practice, plantations are
replacing natural forest, for example in Indonesia. According to the FAO, about 7% of the natural closed
forest being lost in the tropics is land being converted to plantations. The remaining 93% of the loss is land
being converted to agriculture and other uses. Worldwide, an estimated 15% of plantations in tropical
countries are established on closed canopy natural forest.

In the Kyoto Protocol, there are proposals encouraging the use of plantations to reduce carbon dioxide levels
(though this idea is being challenged by some groups on the grounds that the sequestered CO2 is eventually
released after harvest).
Ownership
As of 2019, an estimated 49% of forests in the United States are
owned by families.[13]
A tea plantation in Ciwidey, Bandung in
Notable corporations include Greenwood Resources, which is owned Indonesia
by TIAA-CREF.[14]

Problems

Monocultures
In contrast to a naturally regenerated forest, plantations are typically grown as even-aged monocultures,
primarily for timber production. Plantations are always young forests in ecological terms. Typically, trees
grown in plantations are harvested after 10 to 60 years, rarely up to 120 years. This means that the forests
produced by plantations do not contain the type of growth, soil or wildlife typical of old-growth natural forest
ecosystems. Most conspicuous is the absence of decaying dead wood, a crucial component of natural forest
ecosystems.

Plantations are usually near- or total monocultures. That is, the same species of tree is planted across a given
area, whereas a natural forest would contain a far more diverse range of tree species.

In the 1970s, Brazil began to establish high-yield, intensively managed, short rotation plantations. These
types of plantations are sometimes called fast-wood plantations or fiber farms and often managed on a short-
rotation basis, as little as 5 to 15 years. They are becoming more widespread in South America, Asia and other
areas. The environmental and social impacts of this type of plantation has caused them to become
controversial. In Indonesia, for example, large multi-national pulp companies have harvested large areas of
natural forest without regard for regeneration. From 1980 to 2000, about 50% of the 1.4 million hectares of
pulpwood plantations in Indonesia have been established on what was formerly natural forest land.

Social problems
The replacement of natural forest with tree plantations has also caused social problems. In some countries—
again, notably Indonesia—conversions of natural forest are made with little regard for rights of the local
people. Plantations established purely for the production of fiber provide a much narrower range of services
than the original natural forest for the local people. India has sought to limit this damage by limiting the
amount of land owned by one entity and, as a result, smaller plantations are owned by local farmers who then
sell the wood to larger companies. Some large environmental organizations are critical of these high-yield
plantations and are running an anti-plantation campaign, notably the Rainforest Action Network and
Greenpeace.

Introduced species
In South America, Oceania, and East and Southern Africa, planted forests are dominated by introduced
species: 88%, 75% and 65%, respectively. In North America, West and Central Asia, and Europe the
proportions of introduced species in plantations are much lower at 1%, 3% and 8% of the total area planted,
respectively.[15]

Plantations may include tree species that would not naturally occur in the area. They may include
unconventional types such as hybrids, and genetically modified trees may be used sometime in the future.[16]
Since the primary interest in plantations is to produce wood or pulp, the types of trees found in plantations
are those that are best-suited to industrial applications. For example, pine, spruce and eucalyptus are widely
planted far beyond their natural range because of their fast growth rate, tolerance of rich or degraded
agricultural land and potential to produce large volumes of raw material for industrial use.

See also
Afforestation – Establishment of trees where there were none previously
Even aged timber management
Forest farming
Reforestation – Method for land and forest regeneration
Orchard
Wood industry

References
1. Aldhous, J. R.; Low, A. J. (1974). The potential of Western hemlock, Western red cedar, Grand fir and
Noblefir in Britain (https://cdn.forestresearch.gov.uk/1974/03/fcbu049.pdf) (PDF) (Report). London: H.M.
Stationery Office.
2. Everard, J.E.; Fourt, D.F. (1974). "Monterey Pine and Bishop Pine as plantation trees in southern Britain".
Quarterly Journal of Forestry. 68 (2). Royal Forestry Society: 111–125.
3. "Forest loss" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100106001800/http://earthwatch.unep.net/emergingissues/fo
rests/forestloss.php). United Nations System-wide Earthwatch. United Nations Environment Programme.
Archived from the original (http://earthwatch.unep.net/emergingissues/forests/forestloss.php) on January
6, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
4. "Global Forest Resource Assessment 2020" (http://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/2020/en/).
www.fao.org. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
5. Wills, Matthew (2018-08-23). "How Eucalyptus Trees Stoke Wildfires" (https://daily.jstor.org/how-eucalypt
us-trees-stoke-wildfires/). JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 2022-04-23.
6. Brown, Marjie (July 2009). "In Plantations or Natural Stands: Ponderosa Is Programmed to Partner with
Fire" (https://www.firescience.gov/projects/briefs/00-2-30_FSBrief56.pdf) (PDF). Fire Science Brief (56).
7. Bennett (2010)
8. "Global Eucalyptus Map 2009... in Buenos Aires!" (http://git-forestry-blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/global-eu
calyptus-map-2009-in-buenos.html). GIT Forestry Eucalyptologics. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
9. Bowyer, Jim (2011-10-11). "Managing Forests for Carbon Mitigation" (https://web.archive.org/web/201204
03173842/http://www.dovetailinc.org/files/DovetailManagingForestCarbon1011.pdf) (PDF). Dovetail
Partners. Archived from the original (http://www.dovetailinc.org/files/DovetailManagingForestCarbon1011.
pdf) (PDF) on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
10. McKinley, Duncan C.; et al. (2011). "A synthesis of current knowledge on forests and carbon storage in
the United States" (http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_other/rmrs_2011_mckinley_d001.pdf) (PDF). Ecological
Applications. 21 (6): 1902–1924. Bibcode:2011EcoAp..21.1902M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011
EcoAp..21.1902M). doi:10.1890/10-0697.1 (https://doi.org/10.1890%2F10-0697.1). PMID 21939033 (http
s://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21939033). Retrieved 9 March 2013.
11. Luyssaert, Sebastiaan; -Detlef Schulze, E.; Börner, Annett; Knohl, Alexander; Hessenmöller, Dominik;
Law, Beverly E.; Ciais, Philippe; Grace, John (11 September 2008). "Old-growth forests as global carbon
sinks" (https://hal-cea.archives-ouvertes.fr/cea-00910763/file/Luyssaert2008.pdf) (PDF). Nature. 455
(7210): 213–215. Bibcode:2008Natur.455..213L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008Natur.455..213L).
doi:10.1038/nature07276 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature07276). PMID 18784722 (https://pubmed.ncb
i.nlm.nih.gov/18784722). S2CID 4424430 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4424430).
12. Zald, Harold S.J; Spies, Thomas A.; Harmon, Mark E.; Twery, Mark J. (2016). "Forest carbon calculators:
a review for managers, policymakers, and educators" (https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_20
16_zald001.pdf) (PDF). Journal of Forestry. 114 (2): 134–143. doi:10.5849/jof.15-019 (https://doi.org/10.5
849%2Fjof.15-019).
13. "Family Forest Owners: The Critical Link to Forest Resources" (https://www.forestfoundation.org/forest-ow
ners-rural-america).
14. "Portland's GreenWood Resources nears $1B in timber assets" (https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blo
g/sbo/2015/06/portlands-greenwood-resources-nears-1b-in-timber.html). www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved
2019-09-02.
15. Payn, T. et al. 2015. Changes in planted forests and future global implications, Forest Ecology and
Management 352: 57–67
16. Overbeek W. (2012). "An overview of industrial tree plantation conflicts in the global South. Conflicts,
trends, and resistance struggles" (http://www.ejolt.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/EJOLT-Rep
ort-3-low1.pdf) (PDF). EJOLT. 3: 84.

External links
American Tree Farm System History (https://foresthistory.org/digital-collections/american-tree-farm-syste
m/), Forest History Society
American Tree Farm System Timeline (https://foresthistory.org/research-explore/digital-collections/americ
an-tree-farm-system-timeline/), Forest History Society
American Tree Farm System (http://www.treefarmsystem.org/), American Forest Foundation
Perth Tree Farm System (http://www.swanvalleychristmastrees.com/), Australia Forest Foundation
Why does this forest look like a fingerprint? We set out to solve why a forest in the middle of Uruguay
looked like that — and wound up discovering something much bigger. Vox (https://www.vox.com/videos/
24152620/uruguay-fingerprint-forestry) – explores issues surrounding monoculture plantation forestry and
its impact upon the economy, previously existing habitats, wildlife, and people.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tree_plantation&oldid=1299359019"