Determining the Forest Volume Growth using Permanent Sample Plots (Case Study: Farim Forest, Jojadeh District)

Iran's northern forests, which are mainly located on the northern slopes of Alborz Mountains, are important due to their excellent features. Accordingly, studying the dynamic of forest communities and their growth status can help planners and executive managers. One of the basic information for the management and sustainable use of forests is forest stand volume (volume and number). In fact, the future planning is based on the inventory obtained from the forest. In Present study, conducted in Jojadeh with an area of 3550.2 ha, the volume growth and number of trees were measured and calculated using 359 permanent sample plots (1000 m2) in two time periods (a 10-year interval). Results showed that the average number of trees per hectare was 177.9 and 188.1 individuals per hectare in 2003 and 2013, respectively. In addition, the average volume per hectare in the district was 309.80 and 354.43 sylve in 2003 and 2013, respectively. Growing number was 13.14 trees per hectare and volume growth was 6.24 sylve per hectare. Furthermore, in this study the highest growth per hectar was obtained for oriental beech. Our results suggested that the inventory with permanent sample plots provide necessary and accurate information to determine the growth rate.