Silviculture of the Fitzroya cupressoides forest. Fiction or reality?

Abstract

Fitzroya cupressoides is still an important part of forest surfaces and timber volumes, having been exploited with only mining criteria for very long. The possibility of applying silvicultural treatments in the Andean and Coastal Cordillera Alerce forests was analyzed using the knowledge acquired and having in mind a timber production objective with a sustained yield criteria that would be in harmony with the essential forest values. The results indicate that it is possible, from a silvicultural point of view, to exploit the Alerce forest of Contao.
However, the forest values related to a millenarian and unique substrate, as well as the presence of very old fossil soils indicate that to maintain the population structure, only silvicultural actions should be applied.