Optymalizacja wieku dojrzałości rębnej drzewostanów z punktu widzenia wiązania węgla

The selection of the rotation time of a stand (from planting to final felling), i.e. the age at which stand reaches harvest maturity, is a key decision in forest management due to, inter alia, the amount and value of carbon stored in the forest. In this context, the basis for the economic optimisation of the rotation age of forests is to define the goal of forest production and desirable state of forests ensuring the achievement of the adopted aim. Therefore, the choice of the most suitable optimal moment of completing a production cycle and starting the subsequent one is very important in forest management. The aim of the performed analysis is to verify the empirical equations and conversion factors as well as to assess their suitability for determining the volume and value of standing timber and accumulation of carbon in the aboveground woody biomass. The verified equations will be used for modelling the optimal rotation age of forests due to the maximization of the rate of carbon accumulation in the aboveground woody biomass. The input data for the verification of equations and conversion factors were grouped according to the dominant species, 10−years age subclass and site index class. Four methodological approaches were used to analyse and estimate the amount of carbon accumulated in the aboveground woody biomass. With the assumption of a continuous use of forest land for timber production, the generated revenues will be same at the same level of costs in the subsequent production cycles. Analysing the results of the optimization of the age of felling maturity it should be noticed that these are the averaged values relating to the State Forests. They do not take into account local differences in the price of raw wood and production costs including the specific characteristics of individual trees or stands. The accuracy (quality) of calculating the average and current increment of stands and, in consequence, of the amount and value of the accumulated carbon is important for the effectiveness of the optimization of the amount of carbon accumulated in the aboveground woody biomass.