Forest monitoring by means of Permanent Plots for Forestry Research in Chihuahua, México

Abstract

Forest monitoring allows the generation of databases with valuable information, which are useful for developing knowledge and technology to make a better management of the natural resources. In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, forest monitoring started in 1950. At that time, the first silvicultural monitoring in permanent plots (SPIS) was established in a forest known as “El Poleo”, which is located in Madera municipality, Chihuahua. Later, from 1980 to 1990, a group of 234 permanent plots were established in the research station of INIFAP, which is located in the south of the same municipality. From 1990 to 2000, another 48 permanent plots were carried out in the Bocoyna municipality as a part of the International Model Forest Network, and 16 more in the Guachochi municipality. Finally, from 1998 to 2001 the Forest Development Program (Prodefor), in 2013 and 2014, 857 sites promoted by Conafor were established along different ejidos in the forest of Chihuahua contributed to set down another 48 permanent plots in the Guadalupe y Calvo municipality, located in the south of Chihuahua State. The sites of El Poleo in Madera and Llano Blanco in Guadalupe y Calvo, were resampled after their establishment. The records of these plots show an annual timber increment from 4 to 16 m3ha-1. Historical information and databases of the SPIS are a valuable precedent for the forest monitoring in the north of Mexico, as well as a contribution to generate better methods for a sustainable forest management in the region.