Ordlista
Aniline wood
A preliminary stage to rot in spruce. Aniline wood has the same hardness and strength as healthy wood, but has a discolouration that can vary between yellow, grey-violet and light brown.
Ash recycling
The returning of the highly eutrophic ash from wood that has been burned in biofuel incinerators to the forest soil. This ensures a long-term eco-cycle of nutrients.
Assortment method
A method of felling and forwarding where the merchantable timber is sawn into standard lengths or varying lengths.
Bare-rooted plant
A plant that has no earth around the roots. See also Rooted plant.
Basal area
The basal area is the cross-sectional area of a tree at breast height measured over bark. It is measured in m²/hectare using a relascope.
Beeting
Planting to replace plants lost during the course of a regeneration, carried out where the remaining original plants are too few.
Biotope
A natural region or geographical space with uniform biological conditions as regards its main climatic, soil, and biotic conditions and populations of animals and plants.
Breast height
A point of measurement on a standing tree, 1.3 m above the soil surface. Several variables are measured at this point, for example the tree’s diameter, circumference, bark thickness, age, etc.
Bog, bogland
A type of wetland that depends on precipitation for water and is usually acidic and rich in plant residue and is covered with a conspicuous mat of living green moss.
Bucking (Selection)
The division of a tree trunk into different assortments by grade, diameter and taper. The intended market and price are also important factors.
Cleaning (pre-regeneration)
The clearing of non-viable trees and bushes from a logging area to promote regeneration.
Clear-felled area
Felled area with or without seed trees.
Commercial stand
A stand of trees where the trees have been cleaned and thinned, at distances and in positions relative to each other to maximise their growth for felling for commercial purposes.
Conservation agreement
A contract between the Swedish Forest Agency and a landowner regarding the voluntary conservation of forest land to create and preserve special natural values.
Continuity
An ecosystem that has existed continuously for a long time. Such ecosystems are generally of great natural value.
Cubic metre by top measurement excl. bark
The volume (top cylinder volume) of a log, calculated as the product of the length of the stock and the area 10 cm inside the top end and without bark.
Cubic metre solid volume excl. bark
The actual volume of a tree or part of a tree, excluding the bark. Often used to measure pulp wood and sawlogs.
Cubic metre standing volume
The stem volume over bark from stump to tip.
Density
A measure of how close to each other the trees are and how well they exploit the productive capacity of the soil.
Directional felling
Felling where the fall direction is determined according to the subsequent removal of the logs.
Easement
The right to cross or use real estate owned by someone else for a specified purpose.
Epicormic branches
Branches formed from so-called adventitious buds, i.e. roots or buds arising from an unusual position, e.g. on roots or stems, or buds produced elsewhere than in the axils of leaves or the extremities of stems.
European bark beetle (Ips typographus)
Also called the spruce bark beetle. Prefers weakened, fallen, or storm-felled trees, but will also attack living trees in large populations. It breeds under the thicker bark in the lower part of the trunk. The main swarming period is from mid-May when temperatures have risen to over 18 °C and lasts for a week or two. A second swarming may occur in late summer.
Extra length
Extra length added to the log to protect the yield.
Fast-grown trees
Trees with very wide year rings.
Felling cycle
The period stretching from regeneration planting to final felling.
Felling rights
Felling rights are issued by an owner to a buyer when the latter carries out the felling. Felling rights are granted for cutting commissions, delivery stumpage purchases and standing forest timber.
Final felling
The felling of all trees in a stand with the exception of any seed-trees, nature value trees, and shelter trees or similar that are to be retained.
Forest litter (slash)
Wood residues (branches and tops) created during forestry operations and collected to be burnt.
Forest stand
See also Stand. A group of trees sufficiently uniform in species composition, size, age, structure, spatial arrangement, and condition to be distinguished from surrounding stands and managed as a single unit.
Forestry sector
A collective term covering both forest management and commercial sawmills.
Forwarder
A vehicle/machine used for the transportation of logs or trees in forest terrain.
Habitat
A habitat is the natural home or environment of an animal, plant or other organism, where it has good prerequisites to live, thrive and reproduce.
Harrowing
A mechanical method of scarifying the soil to reduce competing vegetation and to prepare a site to be seeded or planted.
Hectare (ha)
An area of 10,000 m2 (2.47 acres).
Heterobasidion annosum
In economic terms, the most important causal agent of disease and of yield loss. It causes root rot, mainly among conifers, causing significant financial losses every year.
Hold-overs
Sparsely growing trees that are considerably older than the rest of the stand.
Humus
The organic matter in the soil; a source of nutrients for soil organisms and plants.
Infields
A collective term for agricultural land.
Key biotope
A biotope where plant and animal species of especial interest exist or may exist.
Low thinning
Thinning from below, generally of smaller trees.
Main stem
A tree or plant that is judged to be of great value to the stand in the future.
Maturity classes
A classification system for trees or stands, grouped according to their stage of development from establishment to suitability for harvest and describing the action to be taken.
Merchantable timber
Timber from felling of such dimensions and quality that it is suitable for processing from an economic point of view.
National Forest Survey
An estimate of the size and composition of the country’s forest resources.
Natural regeneration
Natural regrowth. Regeneration through natural seed dispersal or sprouting. Also called self-propagation.
Natural regrowth
Natural regeneration. Regrowth through natural seed dispersal or sprouting. Also called self-propagation.
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesise carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is a by-product of this process.
Pine weevil
The pine weevil attacks young saplings by gnawing the bark, especially at the root collar. Its gnawing generally leads to the tree dying. The pine weevil is one of the forestry industry’s most costly pests.
Plants, Thicket
Trees that have reached a height of 1.3 m.
Pollarding
Pollarding refers to the recurrent lopping of trees’ branches. The lopped branches of lime, ash, elm and maple left on the ground once constituted indispensable winter fodder for forest animals. Today pollarding is no longer needed, but it is still done because of its great natural and cultural value.
Population
All individuals of a particular species within a given area.
Pre-commercial thinning
Cleaning and thinning of a stand being cultivated for commercial purposes.
Productive forest land
Forest land that is capable of producing a merchantable stand within a defined period of time (in Sweden 1 m3 timber/ha and year during the growth period of the stand).
Protective ditching
Ditching carried out on productive forest land to prevent groundwater rising after felling. The ditching temporarily replaces the natural absorption of the stand that has been felled.
Provenience
Individuals of the same species occurring in or originating from a given area.
Regrowth/Regeneration
The planting of plants or saplings to replace felled trees.
Release-cutting
Clearing and thinning of a young stand, in which one tree is left remaining in each group.
Rooted plant
A plant with its roots covered by some form of prepared soil. Often planted using a planting tube. Cf. Bare-rooted plant.
Rust fungus
A fungus that attacks pine trees.
Sapwood
The living wood in living trees. This is where fluid and nutrients are transported from the roots to the tip.
Scarification
The preparation of forest land to produce a favourable substrate for seeds or growth site for plants.
Seed spot
An area of ground prepared for planting seeds or other planting material.
Seed trees
Trees left after felling to produce seeds for natural forest regeneration.
Single-grip harvester
A harvester that fells, trims and cuts the tree using a crane-mounted attachment. Harvesters vary in size and are used for both thinning and final felling.
Site quality class
A measure of the soil’s productive capacity, expressed in m3 forest/hectare and year. It is also dependent on geographical location, climate, soil profile, moisture conditions and tree species.
Six-toothed spruce bark beetle (Pityogenes chalcographus)
Slightly smaller than the European spruce bark beetle. Develops in roughly the same way as the European spruce bark beetle, but prefers to breed under the spruce’s thinner bark at the top and in the branches and in younger trees.
Snow breakage
Affects young trees in particular. Heavy wet snow freezes in the crowns that are then snapped off by the wind.
Solitary
One single tree growing, perhaps of a divergent species.
Sour felling
Also called biological drying. Sour felling is felling during the vegetation period, where the trees are left to lie untrimmed to allow leaves and needles to draw out moisture from the trunk, thus drying the wood.
Stand
A group of trees sufficiently uniform in species composition, size, age, structure, spatial arrangement, and condition to be distinguished from surrounding stands and managed as a single unit.
Stand care
The thinning, cleaning and pruning of a forest stand with the purpose of improving financial results.
Stump sprout (root sucker)
Shoots growing out from roots, for example on aspen and alder trees.
Stump value
The value of standing forest timber immediately it is felled.
Stumpage price
The delivery value of the timber less felling and forwarding costs.
Swarming
When large groups of insects leave their nest to found a new colony.
Symbiosis
A close relationship between two or more organisms that is advantageous to all participants.
Thinning
One of the operations in stand care, whereby trees are removed and the timber used commercially.
Upper height
The height, according to the stand’s height curve, of a tree whose diameter corresponds to the arithmetical mean diameter of the 100 largest trees/hectare.
Vegetation period
The vegetation period is the period of the year when the air temperature is higher than +5 °C. At about this temperature the ground has thawed sufficiently for root activity to begin, and at the corresponding temperature in the autumn, growth slows and ceases for the winter.
Vegetative propagation
Asexual reproduction, e.g. by means of stump sprouts or cuttings.
Windthrow
A tree or trees uprooted by the wind.
Witch’s broom
A thick growth of twigs in the crown of a tree resembling a witch’s broom. In conifers, a witch’s broom is most often caused by genetic mutation, but may also be caused by mites or rust fungi. In broadleaves, it is most often caused by fungi.
Wolf tree
A large older tree with a spreading crown and thick branches, generally with little or no timber value, but often having great value for wildlife.