TITLE:
Developing a Forest Management Plan (DFMP) for Gatsibo District in the Eastern Province of Rwanda
AUTHORS:
Felix Rurangwa, Mwangi James Kinyanjui, Frederick Bazimaziki, Jacques Peeters, Anicet Munyehirwe, Francis Musoke, Gaspard Nelson Habiyaremye, Dismas Bakundukize, Prime Ngabonziza, Jost Uwase
KEYWORDS:
Forest, Management, Planning
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.8 No.2,
April
27,
2018
ABSTRACT: In support of conservation
of its fragile land resource, the government of Rwanda has proposed the
management of all forests in the country under a specific management plan. This
assignment sought to develop a management plan for the public productive
forests of Gatsibo District in Eastern province of Rwanda. Data was collected
from 1468 plots, proportionally allocated by size to the 375 forest stands.
Information about the forest (qualitative data) was recorded and then forest
measurements (inventory) done in a concentric cycle of 9.77 m and 3.99 m radius and all data
recorded in a digital format using the survey CTO platform. The data was summarized and analyzed
in a harmonized forest management tool for Rwanda comprising of six interlinked
excel files based on Rwanda’s silvicultural regimes and treatments. This
analysis resulted to planning for silvicultural activities in each forest up to
the year 2070. Results show that the public plantation forests of Gatsibo are
poorly stocked mainly due to poor management and the best stocked forest had a
basal area of only 13.3 m2/ha. This implied low forest volumes
for each of the wood requirements; timber wood, service wood and energy wood. Eucalyptus forests are the most common
but are poorly stocked compared to the Pinus
patula forests which are even aged by plantation. A projection of stocks
shows that the forests can be sustained with an average wood volume of 73 m3/ha, to
provide harvests yearly and reduce the wood supply and demand gap in the
district. A viability analysis indicates that some forests are viable for
leasing with good profits in the short term (10 years) and full term planning
(40 years). However, some forests may not be commercially viable due to their
current stocks and agro bioclimatic conditions, and these would be
rehabilitated for ecosystem services. This plan supports the restoration of the
forests of Gatsibo district through provision of specific guidelines for the
management of the forests.