Research towards refining framework forestry.
Elliott, S., 2012. Research towards refining framework forestry. Pp 47-56 in “Restoring Forests for Biodiversity, Communities, and Ecosystem Services”, published by Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative, Yale University.
FORRU has conducted extensive research to refine the FSM. FORRU staff periodically enters the target forest area to collect data on the fruiting and flowering of different tree species. They have collected seeds of over 420 species, and developed methods to propagate the planting stock of candidate framework species. In the nursery, they have also tried experimenting with different types of soil medium, containers, fertilizers, and methods of application. All of this research in the nursery is designed to figure out how to grow native forest tree species so that they will all be ready at the optimal time of planting.
FORRU has also conducted extensive field trials of different species. They have developed plots to compare performance among tree species in order to determine which really are the framework species. They have also tested different silvicultural methods by manipulating fertilizer input, weeding, mulching and other factors, to see which yielded the best results. They have also monitored the plots in order to assess the recovery of biodiversity compared to the control plots.