The introduced Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) occupies more than 650 000 hectares in Sweden. There are some differences between Lodgepole pine and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests which could affect bird assemblages, for example differences in canopy density and ground vegetation. Birds were surveyed in 14 localities in northern Sweden, each characterized by one middle-aged stand of Lodgepole pine next to a stand of Scots pine. The two paired stands in each locality were planted by the forestry company SCA at the same time and in similar environment to evaluate the potential of Lodgepole pine in Sweden. In those 14 localities, one to three point count stations were established in both the Lodgepole pine and the Scots pine stand, depending on the size of the area.

The third most common conifer in Sweden is Pinus contorta (Lodgepole pine). It originates from the western part of North America and was brought here in the end of the 1920s. The Lodgepole pine is today allowed for commercial plantations in central and northern Sweden, excluding high altitude locations. Since 1979 only plantations with scientific purpose are allowed in south-central and south Sweden. This document is focused on how Lodgepole pine manage perform compared with Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) in the southernmost part of Sweden, Götaland. The idea came from the fact that the Swedish government is evaluating a notification from the National Forest Agency that suggests Lodgepole pine to be allowed for commercial plantation even in southern Sweden.

In the 1970´s the North American Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) was introduced to Sweden in large scale. The Lodgepole pine affects its new environment different from Scots pine (P. sylvestris), leading to a change in biological diversity. Forestry today affects the ground beetle fauna (Carabidae). Habitat specialists associated with older forests are first affected. When the canopy closes again after a clear-cutting species that prefer open habitats reduces and those who prefer mature/closed forests increase. In this study we compare differences in diversity and community structure of ground beetles in stands of Lodgepole pine and Scots pine.

The Lodgepole pines susceptibility to Heterobasidion spp. was investigated in three parts ofthis study. In the first part, discs from freshly cut stumps were collected and analyzed to seeif the fungi can spread and grow naturally in Lodgepole pine stands. In the second part, rootsamples were collected from Lodgepole pines planted in former infected Norway sprucestands to see if the fungi can spread through root contacts. For the third part, new stumpswas created and artificially infected with spores of both the S?type (H.

SCA has today almost 300 000 hectares of their forest land planted with Lodgepole pine(Pinus contorta var. latifolia). Due to initial extensive planting in the 1970ies the area ofLodgepole pine forests in the thinning age has grown rapidly from the end of the 1990ies.During the years 1996-2005 first commercial thinning of Lodgepole pine at SCA took place.The goal of the hereby presented study was to investigate the growth and stability in thosefirstly-thinned Lodgepole pine stands a few years after thinning. Furthermore, the objectivewas to investigate the relationship between stand stability and different stand parameters.Additionally, Lodgepole pine stem quality was estimated.The study is mainly based on the data collected during an inventory project carried out atSCA in 2008. Altogether 91 Lodgepole pine stands in northern Sweden were measured afterthe first thinning.

Swedish forests are dominated by just two conifer species Norway spruce and Scotch pine. They are not able to achieve the highest possible production or fulfill industry demands for raw materials. The introduction of exotic conifers can potentially meet these shortcomings and present a relevant solution. This study was conducted in a block experiment with ten blocks planted in 1987 by SCA in North Sweden. The objective of the block experiment was to study if Black spruce is an appropriate alternative to Lodgepole pine, Norway spruce and Scotch pine on different site classes.

Large areas of Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) were planted in the 1970s - and '80s. The purpose of the fast-growing species was to increase growth and with short rotation periods allow a rapidly increased harvest level. Today a large proportion of the young forests owned by Holmen Skog, Iggesund are covered by Lodgepole pine and an active forest management is required to spread the harvested volume over time which is desirable by a market perspective. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the possibility of spreading the harvested volume of Lodgepole pine over time.

In the 1970?s it was predicted that in the beginning of the 21st century there would be a timber shortage in Sweden and a large scale introduction of the exotic tree species Lodgepole pine started. An introduction of a foreign tree species means a risk of a negative influence on the forests ecosystem. Today, the stands that were established in the 70?s are middle-aged and the effect on the forest floor vegetation can be studied.

Over the past 40 years 600 000 ha of Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia (Engelm.) Critchf.) has been planted in Sweden (280 000 ha on SCA's forest land alone which represents about 15% of the company's total forest land area). In the early 70's SCA situated a number of experimental stands in order to investigate different aspects of the exotic tree, primarily growth rate. To be able to compare the two species plots with scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), this species was also planted at the same time and under the same conditions. A number of questions should always be raised when exotic species are introduced in an ecosystem. Invasiveness, the pathogen situation and purely ethical issues should be discussed.

At the beginning of the 1970´s forestry feared an imbalance in the future wood supply. Because of this anticipated "timber slump" forest companies undertook a variety of measures to counter this. One of these measures was the introduction of exotic tree species. The choice finally ended up with Lodgepole pines which were considered a fast growing tree species compared to our native tree species. Theambition for the new Lodgepole pine stands were to run these with rotation periods of between 40-60 years, thus smoothing out the ?timber slump? that was anticipated.

A recommendation for stand treatment of Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is, in a scientific point of view, lacking when it comes to harvesting for biomass energy. Within the next decades it is expected that 280 000 hectares of Lodgepole pine will have reached thinning age on the domains of Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA). Due to this the interest has grown rapidly for studying the possibilities of harvesting biofuel assortments already in the first thinning. In this study the distribution of the biomass within Lodgepole pine trees has been studied and taken into account for estimating the proportions of harvested assortments when using different methods of thinning. The methods studied were conventional biofuel-harvesting (with delimbed branches gathered separately from the round wood) and thinning with cutting of round wood and long tops (incl.

SCA har idag cirka 280 000 hektar beskogad med contortatall (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm). Stora delar av den arealen har kommit in i, eller är på väg in i, gallringsbar ålder.

The annual demands for forest fuels increases in Sweden. At present, large unutilized biomass resources is found in young, dense forests from which about five million oven-dry tonnes (ODt) (23 TWh) could annually be extracted as forest fuel. But harvesting small trees give high logging costs and new cost-efficient harvesting techniques are therefore required. The aim was to study the productivity of Vimek 608 BioCombi in forest fuel thinning of Lodgepole pine and to calculate the economy of the harvesting and estimate the thinning quality. The time study was performed in Åmarken in the county of Västerbotten.

The Swedish Cellulosa Companiy, SCA, has today 280 000 ha planted with Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) (?C?) which is equivalent to 14 % of its total forest area. Exotic Lodgepole pine has in previous experimental stands shown a superior growth than the native Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) (?S?).But also the comparison could be questioned because stand histories were was unknown and also differences in age between C and S existed.

In this work, I describe the factors that affect the bucking of pine logs on the basis of the machine operator. The aim is to find an explanation why the bucking differs so greatly between requested length results and the actual length results in pine bucking. The used methods in this study were data from simulated pine outcomes, data from earlier length outcomes and analysis of the harvesters' PRI files. This is to identify the problem. To explain the background to the problems a qualitative research interview was used.