Monitoring Forest Damage

A renewed interest in forest damage monitoring has led to a shift in information requirements, as the crown condition assessments initiated in the 1980s in response to the threats posed by air pollution need to be complemented by assessments of specific damages and their causes as well as populations of plausible damaging agents and early signs of damage outbreaks. The aims of this project were to assess past and current methods of monitoring forest damage in Sweden and to set up a new monitoring system that would be better adapted to the information requirements. The current information needs assessments of forest damage to be timely and to be made at several spatial scales. To meet the information needs a new Swedish forest health assessment system has been developed and includes several interacting components targeting the information requirements for strategic and operational decision making, and accommodates a mechanism for continuously expanding the knowledge base. The new system is likely to become increasingly important due to anticipated climate change and should be of interest for anyone concerned in forest damage and with monitoring activities.... Mehr