COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

sILvIcuLTure aNd ForesT maNaGemeNT
In general, the beech forest in Spain has a medium to low productivity in comparison to other
European countries. In natural forests, beech is usually found in even-aged stands (Madrigal 1992).
In southern and mountainous areas, it is common to find uneven aged stands. Only in open stands it
is possible to find uneven aged stands as a result of species mixture or stands of different ages.
Clearcuttings are not used nor recommended in Spain, due to the special ecological characteristics
of the stands. The silvicultural treatment most frequently used (to favour natural regeneration) is
the shelterwood system (Madrigal 1992). Rotation age in even-aged stands varies from 100 to
150 years, with a regeneration period of 20 to 30 years. In the Spanish beech forests, stands with age
class structures close to uneven forests can often be found (Cirac 1992, Sánchez de Medina et al.
2001). Generally these types of structure have their origin in poor silvicultural management or high
grading. A major part of the beech forests has traditionally been managed as coppice forests for fuel
wood which explains the broad representation of even-aged structures in mountain forests. In this
case, low thinning of the pole-woods is the most common treatment.
GroWTh aNd ProducTIoN
In general, the growth and the production of the Spanish beech forests are lower than those
from Continental Europe (Germany, NE France) and of Atlantic Europe (Great Britain, Belgium,
W France). The mean value is 1.9 – 6.0 m 3 /ha/year. In Spain, the less productive sites correspond to
the Mediterranean beech forest type. Among the different tools for forest management of the beech
forests in Spain, can be mentioned the density functions (Ibáñez 1989):
N = 10,000*exp [(-0,25+0,006 SI)*(H0-3)]
where, N: no. of trees/ha; SI: site index in m, H0: top height in m.
There are also different yield tables for the Spanish beech forests (Ibáñez 1989, Madrigal 1992).
Table 2 includes the value of the mean annual growth, defined for a rotation age of 120 years, and
comparing different yield tables for different zones of Europe and the two most representative types
of Spain.
Tab. 2: Mean annual increment (m3 /ha/year). Comparison among different site indexes, and for a rotation period
of 120 years (MADRIGAL et al. 2008)
Navarra, Spain
(MADRIGAL 1992)
La Rioja, Spain
(IBÁÑEZ 1989)
Great Britain Continental Europe
- - 9.4 9.4
- - 7.5 7.5
6.1 - 5.8 -
5.0 4.8 - 5.4
3.9 3.6 4.0 -
2.8 2.3 - 3.4
1.9 1.2 - 1.7
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