SFI 140 TROPICAL SILVICULTURE

2nd Semester AY 2021-2022

Faculty-in-Charge (FIC)
Sir Enrique L. Tolentino Jr.

Cyrene Jira J. Carbonell

Batch ‘19 BS Forestry Student
 MODULE 4 FOREST REHABILITATION AND RESTORATION TECHNIQUES

M4-1: Forest Decline

Learning Objective: Provide students with a foundational understanding of deforestation in the
Philippines

Forest Decline
- sum of all transitions from natural forest classes (continuous & fragmented) to all other
class (FAO, 1997)
- include deforestation (reduction of tree crown cover to less than 10% of the total area
for rather large areas & for long periods of time)
- include degradation (loss of some of the main attributes of forests like the capacity to
produce timber, wood, non-wood products, environmental services or a combination of
all of these)
Forest Degradation
- a reduction in the capacity of a forest to produce ecosystem services such as carbon
storage and wood products as a result of anthropogenic and environmental changes
(Thompson et al, 2013)

Log Production from Natural Forest

- 70s (around 700M cu m/yr)
- 2019 (868 cu m ‘cause of log ban EO 23)
Causes of Forest Decline (Direct and Indirect)
1. Logging
2. Road Construction
3. Mining
4. Small-scale Mining
5. Forest Fires
6. Slash and Burn Agricultural
7. Unsustainable Upland Farming
8. Agro industrial Development
9. Livestock Grazing
10. Settlements in the Uplands
- poverty in the uplands (>25M Filipinos in uplands)

Implications
1. Global Warming
 - increase in long term average global surface temperature
2. Extreme Events
3. Typhoon and Landslides
4. Air Pollution
5. Acid Rain, Ozone

Underlying Causes
1. Market Failure
- No comprehensive forest valuation especially for ecosystems services
- High demand for premium logs
• Increase in the global oil prices and the decrease in the world price of sugar resulting in the
collapse of the sugar industry in Western Visayas in 1979 exert an influence on forest
degradation.
2. Inappropriate Forest Policies
- Philippine forest policies have favored the privileged few in terms of having access to
and control over the country's forest resources
- forest-dependent communities including the indigenous communities had been deprived
of access to forest lands and were considered as "squatters" in their own lands.
• FOREST CHARGES - For timber in the first group, a charge of P3.50 for every cubic meter is
collected by the Government, P2.00 for the second group, P1.25 for the third group, and PO.60
for the fourth group.
- Lack of an appropriate incentive system for the private sector to invest in forest
production and rehabilitation as well as the lack of policy stability in relation to timber
harvesting.
3. Institutional Weakness
- unstable policies and weak policy implementation;
- limited resources and institutional capacity;
- poor monitoring and evaluation; and the involvement of some of its staff in illegal
activities and corrupt practices.
4. Broader Socio-economic Issues
- Population growth together with other structural factors is also seen as a major driver of
forest degradation.
M4-2: Basic Principles and Concepts: Forest Restoration & Rehabilitation
Learning Objective: Equip the student with knowledge on the basic concepts and principles of
forest restoration and rehabilitation

Introduction to Ecological Restoration

Degradation
- subtle or gradual changes that reduce ecological integrity and health

Damage
- acute & obvious changes in an ecosystem

● An ecosystem is destroyed if:

- macroscopic life is removed
- ruins physical environment, too

Transformation
- conversion of an ecosystem to a diff. ecosystem/land use type

Ecological Restoration
- process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that was degraded, damaged, or
destroyed
- intentional activity that aims to rapidly recover an ecosystem with respect to its health,
integrity, & sustainability.
- restores degraded, damaged, transformed, or entirely destroyed ecosystems because of
human activities (results: wildfire, floods, storms, volcanic eruptions)

Attributes of Restored Ecosystems

- has characteristic assemblage of the species that is present in the reference ecosystem,
provides community structure
- has indigenous species (exotic domesticated species, non invasive ruderal and segetal
species can co evolve with them)
- all functional groups are needed for continuous development/stability of the restored
ecosystem
- physical environment is capable to sustain reproducing populations for continuous
stability/development along the desired trajectory
- functions normally for its ecological stage of development, signs of dysfunction are
absent
- suitably integrated into a larger ecological matrix/landscape (it interacts through abiotic
and biotic flows & exchanges)
- potential threats have been eliminated or reduced
- sufficiently resilient to endure normal periodic stress events
- self sustaining just like its reference ecosystem, can potentially persist indefinitely under
existing environmental conditions
Ecosystem
- consists of biota (plants, animals, microorganisms) in a given area, environment, and
interactions

Biotic community
- population of species that composes the biota
- are segregated on the the basis of their taxonomic status (insect community) of life form
(tree community)

Functional groups
- primary producers
- herbivores
- carnivores
- decomposers
- nitrogen fixers
- pollinators

Habitat
- dwelling place of an organism/community

Landscape
- consists of mosaic of two or more ecosystems that exchange organisms, energy, water,
& nutrients

Natural landscape/ecosystem
- developed by natural processes, self-organizing, self-maintaining

Cultural landscape/ecosystem
- developed under the joint influence of natural processes and human-imposed
organization

Sustainable cultural practices

- traditional human land uses, maintains biodiversity & productivity

Degradation
- subtle/gradual changes that reduce ecological integrity & health

Damage
- acute/obvious changes in an ecosystem

Destroyed ecosystem
- degradation/damage = removal of macroscopic life, physical environment is ruined
Transformation
- conversion of an ecosystem to a diff. kind of ecosystem/land use type

Reference ecosystem
- model for planning an ecological restoration project
- serves in the evaluation of the restoration project

Reference landscape
- consists of two or more kinds of ecosystem

Reference landscape unit

- only a portion of the landscape is to be restored

Reference
- designated ecosystem, landscape/unit
- represents a point of advanced development

Ecological trajectory
- describes the developmental pathway of an ecosystem through time
- begins with the unrestored ecosystem until the desired state of recovery (goals of a
restoration project)

Biodiversity
- biota in terms of taxonomic & genetic diversity
- variety of life forms present & the created community structure

Biota
- organized hierarchically from the level of genome up to individual organisms

Species composition
- two related aspects of biodiversity
- examples: taxonomic array of species present & species richness (# of diff species
present)

Species redundancy
- presence of multiple species that play similar roles in ecosystem dynamics

Genetic fitness
- if the ecosystem is well adapted to local site conditions, displays resilience in response
to stress/changing environment

Local ecotypes
- needed for genetic fitness
Diverse genetic shock
- strategy for sites that had substantial damage & consequent alterations in their physical
environment

Community structure
- physiognomy or architecture of the community
- density, horizontal stratification, frequency distribution of species-populations, sizes & life
forms

Ecological processes/ecosystem functions

- dynamic attributes of ecosystems
- includes interactions among organisms & organisms’ interaction with their environment

Autogenic
- self-renewing of an ecosystem through its functions & processes, reproduction & growth
of organisms

Stressors
- external processes that stress the biota

Disturbance/Perturbation
- can be used interchangeably with stressors or stress event

Resistance
- ecosystem’s ability to maintain the structure and function in the face of stress &
disturbances

Resilience
- ecosystem’s ability to regain structural & functional attributes because of stress or
disturbance

Ecosystem stability
- ecosystem’s ability to maintain its given trajectory in spite of stress
- denotes dynamic equilibrium rather than stasis

Ecosystem integrity
- state or condition of an ecosystem that displays the biodiversity characteristics of the
reference

Ecosystem health
- state or condition of an ecosystem in w/c its dynamic attributes are expressed aml
ranges

Reference Ecosystems
 - model for planning a restoration project, later for the project’s evaluation
- actual site, written description, or both

Sources of information in describing a reference

- ecological descriptions, species list, maps of the project site prior to damage
- historical & recent aerial and ground-level photographs, remnants of the site to be
restored, previous physical conditions & biota
- ecological descriptions & species lists of similar intact ecosystems
- herbarium, museum specimens
- historical accounts, oral histories by persons familiar w/ the site before damage
- paleoecological evidence (fossil pollen, charcoal, tree ring history, rodent middens)

Exotic Species
- exotic species of plant/animal introduced into an area where it did not previously occur
through recent human activities
- reduction or elimination of exotic species at restoration projects are highly suggested
- In cultural landscapes, exotic species are part of the ecosystem (ex. crops, livestock,
ruderals & segetals), they presumably co-evolved w/ domesticated species.
- exotic species are acceptable for cultural restoration
- not all exotic species are harmful; they can fulfill ecological roles played by the native
species that became rare
- some exotic species were introduced centuries ago by humans or non-human agents
then eventually naturalized (their status as an exotic is debatable)
- even if all all extic species are removed, reinvasion can still happen (high probability) so
highest priority is best done in threatening exotic species to be extirpated/controlled

Monitoring and Evaluation

- can be based on the objectives of the restoration project
- questions: Were the objectives accomplished? Were the goals fulfilled?

Objectives are evaluated based on:

● Performance Standards
- design criteria/success criteria
- provide empirical evidence for determining if project objectives are attained

Strategies for conducting an evaluation:

● Direct comparison
- selected parameters are determined/measured in the reference & restoration sites
● Attribute analysis
- assessed in relation to the list of attributes of restored ecosystems
- quantitative & semi-quantitative data from monitoring & other inventories are useful in
judging if goals are attained/achieved
● Trajectory analysis
- promising strategy
 - still under development
- for interpreting large sets of comparative data
- data collection is periodically to establish trends
- trends that lead towards the reference condition means the restoration is following the
intended trajectory

Evaluation
- includes assessments of any stated goals & objectives

Restoration Planning
- clear rationale why restoration is needed
- ecological description of the site designated for restoration
- statement of goals & objectives of the restoration project
- designation & description o the reference
- explanation of how the proposed restoration will help in the landscape
- explicit plans, schedules & budgets for site preparation, installation & post-installation
activities, strategy for making corrections in mid-course activities
- well-developed, explicit stated performance objectives/standards
- strategies for long-term protection as well as maintenance of the restored ecosystem

Ecological Restoration
- practice of restoring ecosystems practiced by practitioners at specific project sites
- strives to alter the biota & physical condition of a site
- activities: reclamation, rehabilitation, ecological engineering, various kinds of resource
management (wildlife, ,fisheries, & range management, agroforestry, forestry)

Restoration Ecology
- provides clear concepts, models, methodologies, & tools for practitioners

Rehabilitation
- focus on historical or pre-existing ecosystems as models or references
- emphasizes the preparation of ecosystem processes, productivity & services

Reclamation
- used in the context of mined lands in N.A. & the UK.
- broader application than rehabilitation
- stabilization of the terrain, assurance of public safety, aesthetic improvement
- revegetation is a component of land reclamation (may be one or few species)

Mitigation
- action that is intended to compensate for environmental damage

Ecological Engineering
 - involves manipulation of natural materials, living organisms & the physical-chemical
environment to achieve specific human goals & solve technical problems

Levels of Effort
1. Prescribed Natural Regeneration
- no biophysical manipulations or other direct interventions at the project site/its
surrounding landscape
- ecological recovery relies on natural regeneration (plant succession)
- interventions: removal of sources of disturbance that cause impairment, protecting the
project site so that natural recovery processes will happen
- requires prior intent & planning before project begins
- requires prior knowledge without resorting to biophysical manipulations

2. Assisted Natural Regeneration

- impacts from impairment are eliminated by non intrusive biophysical manipulations
- minimal effort in small areas
- releases desirable native species from competition w/out application of agrichemicals &
mechanized equipment
- tactics: prescribed burning, nuclear plantings, deposition of debris mounds, building of
micro catchments, measures to promote niche diversity, placement of perches for
frugivorous birds
- minimal subsidies w/ high returns by removing obstacles

3. Partial Reconstruction
- rely partly on technical solutions & partly on natural regeneration
- technical solutions: mechanized repair of the physical environment using civil
engineering methods (reshaping of stream banks, filling up ditches), agronomic tactics
(subsoil ripping, application of agrochemicals, mulching, mechanical seed dispersal,
mechanized outplanting of nursery-grown stocks)
- applied to wide areas
- reconstruction becomes necessary when: depletion of natural resilience, needing of
replacement of biophysical elements
 4. Complete Reconstruction
- all phases are characterized by manipulations of the biophysical environment
- projects depend entirely on technical solutions
- if the ecosystem is entirely destroyed, this is the only option
- example of areas: mined landscapes
- needs: widespread outplanting of nursery-grown stock (controls erosion, introduction of
desirable species)
- outcome of the restoration is determined by the outplanted species as well as its
number/abundance

Rainforestation
- an innovative strategy developed and introduced by a joint research project with the
Philippine German Tropical Ecology Program and Visayas State College of Agriculture in
1996
- a method of recovering underutilized land by using indigenous and native tree species
- Operational Frames: habitat restoration, biodiversity conservation, provision of ecological
services
- Planting Scheme: 2 x 2 m
- applied to denuded areas within protected areas, forestlands, and watersheds
- only native species are planted, fruit trees may be integrated
- limitations are attributed to the use of native, specifically dipterocarp species
- advantages: increase in income, enhances biodiversity, improves soil quality, addresses
problems with pests, low cost approach
- disadvantages: slow maturation rate of native species, seedlings require shade, thus,
may not be viable in open denuded areas, lack in research

Framework Species
 - proactive forest restoration technique that combines supported natural regeneration with
tree planting on moderately degraded locations within the seed dispersal range of
residual forest
- entails planting twenty to thirty properly chosen tree species and caring for them for at
least two years. It involves weeding, fertilizing, and other silvicultural practices
- the planted trees "recapture" the site by shading away herbaceous weeds
- is used to restore tropical forest ecosystems with closed canopy, achieving high biomass
rates buildup and recovery of structural complexity, biodiversity, and ecological function
- advantages: tolerance for open conditions, attractiveness to seed dispersing wildlife,
ease of germination, rapid growth
- disadvantages: lack of communication, high initial cost, lengthy research required

Mangrove Restoration
- focuses of planting species in mangrove forests where they have previously existed
- Goals: achieve plant cover similar to that in adjacent relatively undisturbed control area
of a mangrove forest, establish a network of channels that mimic the shape & form of a
natural tidal creek system, establish a heterogeneous landscape similar to that exhibited
by local mangrove ecosystems
- advantages: 6-step ecological mangrove restoration is easy to replicate, methods are
easy to follow
- disadvantages: goals are not easily obtained due to mismanagement, difficult due to
natural factors like weather

Miyawaki Method
- Akira Miyawaki (1980)
- Miyawaki Method is one of the most successful tree planting strategies
- to swiftly build a dense native forest has made it beneficial for developing urban
microforests, recovering rainforests and Japanese evergreen broadleaf forests, and
planting in arid Mediterranean habitats
- different from simple afforestation
- provides much faster regeneration than the other methods
- higher survival rate of species planted
- maintenance done in first 3 yrs

Permanent Polycyclic Plantation

- generally mixed, many trees with long productive cycles (cyclic)
- polycyclic plantations are plantations mixed, meaning to say uneven aged stands with
several groups of trees being planted for a specific production cycle (FAO, 2014).
- Random sampling for the mixed or uneven aged stands planted in the specific polycyclic
plantation
- The site selection must be thorough to ensure that the trees will adapt and grow properly
- need an intensive and thorough planning and managing practices that is appropriate and
sufficient to the tree species’ growth and development, varying production cycle utilized
throughout the tree farming
 - needs careful decision making with regards to the production cycle technique
- advantages: makes pruning easier, income and economic return, better utilization of
available space
- disadvantages: planting design is more complicated, technical advice are critical, more
challenging than a typical mixed plantation

Enrichment Planting
- described as introducing useful species into damaged forests without removing valuable
individuals already there
- process of planting trees to strengthen the population density of existing tree species or
to increase tree species richness in a degraded forest
- proposed as a way for restoring overexploited and secondary forests because it
increases overall tree volume and forest economic value
- can be used to create forest species that cannot flourish in open plantations because of
the trees
- can also be used in situations where exotic monoculture timber plantations have been
established but the management objective has changed to production plus conservation
or just conservation
- allows some gradual harvesting of the original plantation species, which provides income
- advantages: don’t require lengthy & widespread clearing, lower labor costs, creates
livelihood and opportunities for employment, multiple and higher yield
- disadvantages: insufficient stand preparation, application to primary forests are less
likely to occur

Analogue Forestry
- restoration approach that aims to develop production- or conservation-oriented forest
systems in degraded forest areas by drawing on knowledge and observations about
local climax vegetation (Senanayake & Jack, 1998)
- reduces the period of natural regeneration, which usually takes up to 60 years.
- Advantages: High genetic information sustainability, high non-timber revenue potential,
high fuelwood production potential, high timber production potential, high human
habitation potential, and high timber production potential
- can also potentially be a practical carbon storage and replanting strategy. Analogue
forestry methods sequester and store more carbon than other agroforestry systems.