Article Sidebar
Article Details
NAJ supports free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research and development practice are made widely available. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for readers, increases their ability to discover pertinent information. The Journal adopts and uses the CC: BY license and is open access. This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the Journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Copyright for articles published in this Journal is retained by the Journal.
Main Article Content
Evaluation of Timber Harvesting and its Impact on Residual Tree Species in Edo State, Nigeria
Abstract
The study was carried out to evaluate and examine the impact of timber harvesting on residual tree species in Edo State, Nigeria. The reconnaissance survey of the forest reserve was used to identify logging activities in the study. Furthermore, questionnaire was used to retrieve information from fifty (50) professional tree loggers to collect information on the demographic characteristics of the loggers and to know the major causes of damages to the trees and seedlings during felling operations and precautions taken to mitigate such damages. Findings showed that Bosquieaangolensis had the highest frequency among the damaged species. The total volume of damaged trees per hectares was 711.04m3. Results also showed that among the loggers, 7.6% had no formal education, while, 23.7% had over ten years of working experience. It also revealed that the majority of the operators 92.4% still required additional training on effective felling operation. The timber industry has grown beyond the forest regeneration capacity with poor conventional harvesting practices, and unabated degradation of the forest ecosystems during logging operations. The study revealed that major damage is done to the residual trees during the felling and transportation of the targeted tree species. There is need therefore, for adequate training and or retraining, monitoring, and supervision of effective felling operations to improve their competencies and further decrease the destruction of the ecosystem during logging activities.
