In forestry there are always needs of forest data to make good strategic decisions of different actions and economic winning. Usually this data gets from field-estimations made by forest workers with expensive costs and sometimes unsatisfied quality. StoraEnso Skog is a great forest company in Sweden and they have part of the responsibility of the forest own by Bergvik Skog. Bergvik Skog is owner of 1, 9 million hectares productive forest land. Both Bergvik and StoraEnso have great interest in new inventory techniques to get the important forest data. The company Foran Remote Sensing offers the opportunity with airborne laserscanning of forest and forest land. Foran got the mission of Bergvik and StoraEnso to laser scan Bergviks possession in Älvdalen, Dalarna.

In Sweden there are 354 000 private individuals owning forest. Of these forest owners there are at least two thirds that are self-employed, which means that about 215 000 forest owners conduct some kind of work in their own forest. Those numbers do not refer to firewood production, but every year 7.3 million piled cubic meters of firewood are used for heating Swedish households. This implies that many households are also producing firewood. The objective of this study was to assess and analyse the small-scale firewood production in the Umeå-region in terms of persons engaged in the work, equipment used, produced volumes and share of forest-owning households involved in these activities. According to results from a questionnaire, the average firewood producing person is a man between 40-60 years old.

During 2006 SNVDB (the national road data base for forestry) is being introduced to Holmen Skog. This data base contains all information about Holmen Skogs road systems. The information will then be used in different kinds of optimisation models which only produce correct and reliable results if the input data are of the adequate quality. Today there are reasons to believe that road data is of various qualities. The forest roads are often in a bad condition and have to be improved before a planned harvest. The cost of maintenance and construction of new roads is a large part of the total harvesting cost.

Modern forest owners are very familiar with forest management and forest economics. Therefore they have high demands for quality in forest operations. Guarantee of quality in the shape of self-checking activities is an important tool to guarantee a well managed forestry operation. To meet the forest owners? demands on guarantee of quality and the entrepreneurs wish of an easy method for self-checking, the forest owners association, Södra skogsägarna, has developed a new method for thinning inventory. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the method that is used for self-checking and to find ways to develop and improve of the method. The data has been collected by inventory in a number of stands with circle-area survey and with strip survey, which is method that is used for self-checking. The results show that the strip survey does not diverge more than ±10 % in measuring values of basal area, number of stems, roads share, thinning quotient, outtake of basal area and total volume compared to circle-area survey.

Generally, the economic health of Swedish roundwood truck transport companies has not been good. Profitability is important for maintaining the stability in the transport business, which is a condition for long-term transport planning in the forestry sector. The scope of this study was to identify probable factors influencing the profitability of roundwood truck transport companies and quantify the influence of these factors on economic results. The study was carried out at a major roundwood truck transport organisation in mid-Sweden and was implemented in four steps. In the first step economic results from the haulage contractors were collected and a random sample was taken from accounted net margin for the account year 2005/2006. In the second step hauliers were interviewed to identify probable success factors. At the third step data for identified factors were gathered through a questionnaire.

Each year, Heterobasidion spp. is a major cause of economic losses to forestry in the northernhemisphere, including Sweden. New results indicate that pre?commercial thinnings could be at riskfor Heterobasidion spp. infections.

Chinas government has a multifunctional program for a more sustainable forestry since 2000. This six key forest programs goal is to develop a more sustainable forest sector but also take environment consideration. The state forest administration in China has decided to create 5.8 million hectare of fast growing and high yield forest. Eucalyptus has showed to have good properties for pulp and timber production and therefore Eucalyptus plantations are under development in costal areas in southern China. By adding extra nutrients, growth can be enhanced in Eucalyptus plantations.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether it is possible for SCA to update their stand register with use of digital aerial photos photographed with a Zeiss/Intergraph DMC. ?Updating? in this study implies the delineation of stands and estimating stand variables such as average stand height, volume density, stand volume, and tree species composition in order to identify stands which can be of current interest for thinning. The study also includes how the aerial photo material and experience of the interpreter can influence the quality of the interpreted variables. The aerial photo interpretations were made by both experienced and inexperienced interpreters.

Frivilliga avsättningar av skog med höga naturvärden är en viktig del för att nå Miljömålet ?Levande skogar?. Det finns dock tveksamheter om de naturvårdsbiologiska kvalitéerna i dessa avsättningar. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka om den skog som avsätts frivilligt av privata skogsägare är den skogsmark som har de högsta naturvärdena på fastigheten. Vidare studerades också markägarens naturvårdskunnande, utbildningsnivå och attityd till naturvård.

BAE Systems Hägglunds has a long history of producing high performance terrain tracked vehicles (mostly for military applications), and they are now aiming at developing a tracked forwarder with similar techniques.The forwarder will be of series hybrid type where a diesel engine via a generator will power the motors (one for each drive wheel). Thanks to individually controlled motors and the gentle rubber tracks, this forwarder is calculated to have a considerably higher average speed in the terrain and to be more gentle to the soil. The forwarder with a weight of 11 metric tons and a load capacity of 15 metric tons is specified to have an average working speed of 7-10 km/h, a top speed in terrain of 15 km/h and a top speed on roads of 40 km/h.This master?s thesis aims at developing a conceptual design of the forwarder?s drive module which includes electric motor, gear unit, brake and drive wheel.To investigate if the requirements can be fulfilled a study of the dimensioning loading scenarios has been carried out. The resulting needs regarding the torque has been considered in order to determine the required gear ratios for different motor options.

pcSKOG-gård is a computerised manager plan for private forest owners, developed by the pcSKOG AB. The program is based on forest stand data, joined with a map of the forest and GIS-applications. The purpose is to offer a program for private forest owners managing the forest and with the possibility of updating the actual status of the forest. The company pcSKOG AB is the leading producer of programs for forest management and has developed the program since 1997. The program is currently the most common program used by private forest owners in Sweden. The aim of this thesis, leading to MSc in forestry, is to investigate the purpose of the private forest owners when purchasing the pcSKOG-gård. The thesis also studies how private forest owners use the program, what they use it for and how the private forest owners state that the program has achieved to fulfil their expectations. The thesis is also a market research concerning the knowledge and attitudes the private forest owners have about the program and associated services. The study material has been collected during two phases.

This study is commissioned by the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU - Department of Forest Resource Management) in coorporation with Sveaskog and Vilhelmina Norra Sami reindeer herding community. The purpose of this study is to analyse movement patterns and habitat use of reindeers during two winter seasons (2005/2006 and 2006/2007) in areas affected by forestry activities such as clearcutting. This study examines the possibilities of analysing information from Reindeer husbandry plans and forest variable data from kNN and SMD, in relation to GPS collar points from reindeers by using Geographical Information System (GIS). Lack of knowledge and understanding between the reindeer industry and the timber industry has often led to heated debates. The possibilities of using this type of technique are very interesting and could increase knowledge concerning land-use issues to different resource users. The main results from analyses comparing SMD, kNN, data about clearcuts, and GPS collar points from reindeers indicates that clearcut areas, younger forest, coniferous forest on lichen-dominated areas and areas dominated by pine was preferred by reindeers during the winter period.

To effectively manage a forest resource for both economic and other values good planning is required. The problem is complex since you want to know which forest to cut and when. Often a hierarchical planning structure is applied, including strategic (long-term), tactical, (medium-term) and operational level. Today SCA Forest is one of few forestry companies in the northern Sweden with an integrated forest wood supply and industry. The goals of the company are to supply their own industries with wood and to manage the resources of the forest through a long-term perspective with satisfactory profitability.

I Sverige ägs drygt 50 procent skogen av enskilda skogsägare. Den svenska skogspolitiken bygger på frihet under ansvar. Detta innebär att skogsbruket har ett ansvar som sträcker sig längre än de minimikrav som finns i lagen. Vilket företagsansvar de stora skogsbolagen anser sig ha och varför de tar ansvar är relativt känt, men hur detta manifesteras längre ner i värdekedjan och vilka drivkrafter enskilda skogsägare har att ta ett ökat ansvar är idag okänt. Att undersöka detta är intressant för den enskilde skogsägaren och intressenterna i dennes omvärld, men även samhället i stort som har ett intresse i att skogen förvaltas på ett ansvarsfullt sätt.Denna studie är avgränsad till att undersöka uppfattningen om faktorer som påverkar ekonomiskt, socialt och miljömässigt ansvar i skogsföretagande hos enskilda skogsägare som bor i Uppsala län eller Stockholms län och som äger skog i Uppsala län.

Ungulates are causing conflicts between stakeholders due to browsing damage on forests and agricultural crops. At the same time there is a big demand of keeping high ungulate densities for sports hunting and recreational purposes. Movement patterns of ungulates are strongly correlated with forage availability. Therefore, measures affecting forage quantity and distribution might be a tool to reduce the economical losses in forestry without decreasing the ungulate densities and thereby decrease the conflict between different interest groups.This study investigated the potential biomass production and utilisation of marrow-stem kale (Brassica oleracea var. medullosa), at game fields in Misterhult, Sweden, as well as browsing effects on adjacent forests.