Ukrainian Journal of Forest and Wood Science

Merchantable stand structure standards of overmature European beech Fagus sylvatica L. developed by A.A. Strochynskyi in 2004 are used nowadays in Ukraine. However, it is known that tree stands of different age classes drastically differ with their structure, i.e. diameter. Moreover, the diameter distribution of trees has great influence on value and qualitative parameters of stand volume. Over 35 thousand hectares of overmature beech stands are grown in the Ukrainian Carpathians nowadays and are in the need of modernenhanced standards for the evaluation of their qualitative structure. As a result of our calculations, we obtained diameter distributions of both even- and uneven-aged (1^st and 2^nd storeys) overmature beech stands. Using obtained results and the log quality tables new merchantable stand structure standards were calculated. Afterwards, these standards were checked and evened in order to avoid calculation errors. Standards that are shown in our study are valuable for the practical use in both forest management practice and forest management planning. After the pilot testing and the evaluation of their accuracy, these standards may be used instead of those, which are used in Ukraine nowadays.

overmature beech stands, combined enumeration, age group stands