Today biodiversity is an important issue in forestry, and it should be considered in all silvicultural measures. Follow-up of nature conservation should also be done by FSC certified companies after i.e. final fellings. The purpose of this study was to describe the results of the nature conservation made by three companies in southern Sweden, their methodology of follow-up, to find out if there is a relation between the results of the follow-up and the methodologies used, and to describe the companies own opinions. Both the proportion of approved final fellings and the methodology of follow-up differed between the companies. One company differed from the others regarding the measurement of the volume of deciduous trees. The companies also differed in how they put together the final results of the follow-up. It might be a correlation between the proportion of approved final fellings and the methodology used.

The purpose of the study has been to investigate how well guidelines are observed in practice and also to see how the agents experience these and what they see for deficiencies and opportunities for improvement. This study is based on two studies. 34 items where guidance for rejuvenation harvesting took place were checked in the field. 104 representatives were asked to answer a questionnaire in which the questions focused on problems related to nature considerations and opportunities for improvement regarding the guidelines. The results show that the guidelines have been followed to a great extent and that the agents feel that they have benefited from the guidelines. The deficiencies in the guidelines were perceived to be too long and compact texts and that considerations described in the text were not highlighted in the map. Failure to observe the objects may, in the agents 'opinion, be partly due to the forest owners' opinions differing from the suggestions in the guidelines.

<p>Mängden död ved i brukade skogar har minskat med ungefär 90 %jämfört med naturliga skogar. Vid slutavverkning minskar mängden ytterligare. Att lämna naturhänsyn vid avverkning är ett viktigt steg för att bevara biologisk mångfald i skogslandskapet. Denna studie undersöker om naturhänsyn tas bort efter slutavverkning. På 63 % av de inventerade lokalerna hade naturhänsyn tagits bort, mestadels vindfälld tall. Det medförde en genomsnittlig minskning av mängden död ved med 2,0 m3 ha-1, vilket är en tredjedel av den totala volymen död ved lämnad vid slutavverkning. En enkät skickades till privata skogsägare. Den främsta orsaken till att man tagit bort träd var relaterade till ekonomi och produktion. Hur ekonomiskt beroende skogsägaren var av sin skog eller om man certifierat sin skog eller inte hade dock ingen betydelse för hur man hanterade naturhänsynen efter slutavverkning. Det berodde snarare på skogsägarnas attityd till produktion kontra bevarandet av biologisk mångfald. Skogsägare som tagit bort hänsynsträd var överlag mer tveksamma till att lämna olika former av naturhänsyn vid slutavverkning. Denna studie utvärderar även mängd och kvalitet på naturhänsyn lämnad efter slutavverkning i Östergötland.</p>

Mängden död ved i brukade skogar har minskat med ungefär 90 %jämfört med naturliga skogar. Vid slutavverkning minskar mängden ytterligare. Att lämna naturhänsyn vid avverkning är ett viktigt steg för att bevara biologisk mångfald i skogslandskapet. Denna studie undersöker om naturhänsyn tas bort efter slutavverkning. På 63 % av de inventerade lokalerna hade naturhänsyn tagits bort, mestadels vindfälld tall. Det medförde en genomsnittlig minskning av mängden död ved med 2,0 m3 ha-1, vilket är en tredjedel av den totala volymen död ved lämnad vid slutavverkning. En enkät skickades till privata skogsägare. Den främsta orsaken till att man tagit bort träd var relaterade till ekonomi och produktion. Hur ekonomiskt beroende skogsägaren var av sin skog eller om man certifierat sin skog eller inte hade dock ingen betydelse för hur man hanterade naturhänsynen efter slutavverkning. Det berodde snarare på skogsägarnas attityd till produktion kontra bevarandet av biologisk mångfald. Skogsägare som tagit bort hänsynsträd var överlag mer tveksamma till att lämna olika former av naturhänsyn vid slutavverkning. Denna studie utvärderar även mängd och kvalitet på naturhänsyn lämnad efter slutavverkning i Östergötland.

A growing number of Swedish forest owners are choosing to certify their forestry. However, there appears to be a lack of field surveys which describe differences between certified and non-certified forests concerning the degree of completed environmental considerations. In order to know to what extent certified forests contribute towards improved environmental consideration, we need studies on how large the difference is in relation to non-certified forests. Differences between certified and non-certified forest clearings were quantified through an inventory of the number of retention trees, dead trees and snags. The result showed that the retained number of the investigated parameters varied greatly between individual clearings, regardless of certification status. However, the results suggested that the certified clearings had an average higher incidence ofthe investigated parameters. In comparison to statistics of southern Sweden's average, the results also suggested that the certified clearings (from the county “Blekinge”) most of the time had a higher incidence of the investigated parameters, while the non-certified clearings most of the time had a lower incidence of the investigated parameters. The environmental considerations on neither the certified nor the non-certified clearings were found to be near the highest amount that could be required by the Swedish forestry act. This observation is interesting, especially since the certified clearings would be expected to maintain a consistently high level in relation to the law requirement.