Blue leads green

How we manage our forests is important not only for achieving multiple sustainability goals, but also has a direct impact on biodiversity, climate and surface waters. This is especially valid for forested areas in riparian zones and drained peatlands that are highly connected to the surface water network and cover approximately 15% of the productive forest area in Sweden. There are 1 million km of previously undetected small waterways, a majority being man-made ditches, with the only purpose to drain wet areas to increase forest productivity. At the time of final felling, these small waterways are either cleaned of debris to ensure continued drainage or just a few trees are retained around them, but not done in a way that is ecologically functional. The cumulative effects of each of these poor decisions continues the propagation of one of the most widespread human-induced environmental disturbances in Sweden: drainage. If wide riparian buffers were implemented around small waterways with principles of continuous cover forestry (CCF) it would likely lead to synergies that would help us meet multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for both water, forests, and biodiversity as well as satisfy new policy recommendations for including clearcut-free forestry in Sweden. 

Our goal is to determine the extent and breadth of the synergies of managing blue and green infrastructure together under principles of CCF as well as map potential conflicts and barriers, and understand the societal impact and acceptance of wide riparian buffers managed with CCF.

Our proposed research program has the following main objectives:

1.      Policy synthesis – Identify synergies or conflicts of policy goals around forest and water, and CCF’s potential to attain those goals and mitigate conflicts. (Irinia Mancheva, Umeå University)

2.      Ecological analysis – Analyze the impact of CCF management on the area of productive forest and biodiversity of instream and terrestrial plants, invertebrates, and mammals. (Eliza Maher Hasselquist, Lenka Kuglerová, Robert Spitzer, Therese Löfroth, Ernie Haglund)

3.      Balancing trade-offs – Map and model socio-economic and biodiversity trade-offs associated with CCF as an alternative management strategy near waterways (Anneli Ågren, Eliza Maher Hasselquist, Alejandro Gándara)

4.      Acceptance by and incentives for stakeholders – Evaluate stakeholder response and behaviors regarding proposed CCF in wide riparian buffers and identify incentives for implementation. (Francisco Aguilar, Luis Andrés Guillén Alm, Anniinna Kietäväinen)