Integrating Dead Wood Retention into Post-disturbance Forest Management
Deadwood retention
Forest restoration efforts following natural disturbances such as bark beetle outbreak and windstorms in productive forests stands often focus on replacing degraded spruce and pine monocultures with diverse, resilient stands better adapted to climate change. This involves increasing the share of natural regeneration (pioneer species like Betula sp., Populus sp. and Salix sp.) and planting native broadleaved species. However, enhancing and supporting biodiversity in restored stands needs to include management of the biological legacies, such as dead wood, which is crucial for biodiversity. This biological legacy includes important structural elements from existing stands, such as large old trees, dying trees, deadwood and lying decaying wood, windthrow piles, etc. In most cases, these structural elements remain, at least, partially intact as heritage even in the event of very intense disturbances. At the same time, they play an important role in the natural environment of various species and significantly influence the environment and the development of the stand after disturbance. Once these elements are removed from the stand, they cannot be restored in the coming decades. For this reason, these elements must be taken into account during the sanitary and salvage logging operations. This good practice methodology offers optimal solutions to overcome these silvicultural challenges and support effective, climate-resilient forest regeneration.
Context:
Commodity forests in the Czech Republic have undergone dramatic transformation due to climate change and related disturbances. Historically dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) monocultures, these stands became highly vulnerable to droughts, windthrows, and especially outbreaks of the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus). These factors triggered extensive forest dieback, creating urgent need for systemic restoration measures across large areas.
Restoration strategies are shifting towards resilient, mixed-species stands better adapted to future climate conditions. A major focus is on increasing natural regeneration of pioneer species such as Betula, Populus, Alnus, Sorbus and Salix, combined with planting of late successional and native broadleaved species including Fagus sylvatica, Abies alba, Quercus sp., Acer sp. and Tilia sp. These species improve structural diversity and ecological stability, making future forests less susceptible to both biotic and abiotic stresses.
Successful recovery, however, requires more than tree planting. Management must also address retention of biological legacies such as large old trees, dying or dead standing stems, fallen trunks, windthrow piles and other coarse woody debris. These elements persist even after severe disturbances and provide critical habitats for fungi, invertebrates, birds and other organisms. Once removed, they cannot be restored for decades, reducing biodiversity potential and slowing natural regeneration processes.
Sanitary and salvage logging, typically conducted to limit beetle spread or remove wind-damaged timber, often leads to complete extraction of biomass, including elements of little economic value. This practice undermines biodiversity recovery and reduces ecosystem resilience. Integrating biological legacy retention into restoration ensures continuity of microhabitats, enhances regeneration, and supports ecosystem services. For these reasons, legacy management must be incorporated into restoration planning and applied consistently alongside salvage operations across disturbed Czech forests.
Problem Description:
Despite clear restoration goals, practical implementation of forest recovery in the Czech Republic faces persistent challenges. The most critical issue is the scale and severity of disturbances caused by bark beetle outbreaks, windthrows, and drought. These overlapping stressors have devastated extensive areas, often leaving degraded sites with limited biodiversity potential and poor natural regeneration.
A major problem arises from sanitary and salvage logging, applied both to prevent beetle spread and to process wind-damaged timber. The prevailing practice involves removing all biomass, regardless of its economic value or ecological importance. In many cases, low-value timber is extracted even when remediation costs exceed potential revenues. Furthermore, trees that no longer pose a risk of beetle spread are often removed unnecessarily. This approach eliminates biological legacies such as standing dead trees and coarse woody debris, which are crucial for biodiversity and forest resilience.
In practice, restoration is further complicated by several operational constraints. Distinguishing between actively infested and sterile trees requires expertise, careful monitoring, and sometimes rapid decision-making under pressure. Safety risks linked to retained dead wood create further reluctance to leave structures in place. Economic obstacles include declining timber prices and limited financial resources for restoration. These financial pressures often lead to short-term decision-making at the expense of long-term ecosystem recovery.
Social and institutional factors also play a role. The public frequently perceives retained dead wood negatively, associating it with disorder or negligence. In addition, existing policies and legal frameworks sometimes emphasize rapid timber extraction, which conflicts with ecological restoration needs.
Together, these challenges significantly reduce the effectiveness of restoration efforts focused on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Overcoming them requires coordinated policy support, targeted financial mechanisms, improved communication with stakeholders, and systematic training for forest workers in methods that combine sanitation with biodiversity-friendly legacy retention.
Implementation Steps:
Step 1: Site assessment – stand and infestation parameters
Assess stand size, slope, soil, hydrology, and seed sources in areas disturbed by bark beetles or wind. Record disturbance severity, extent, and terrain boundaries (streams, breaks, skid trails). Include GPS mapping for monitoring. For infested stands, document species composition, infestation level and spatial variability, and identify biological legacies such as veteran trees, coarse woody debris, regeneration patches and microhabitats. Conduct assessment early in planning to guide interventions and ensure biodiversity-friendly operations.
Step 2: Spatial zoning for restoration
Divide stands into functional zones reflecting disturbance intensity, ecological sensitivity, and accessibility. Assign each zone specific restoration and retention measures, and prepare a site map with methods, timelines, and surface areas. Zoning must precede salvage logging to ensure integration of retention measures into harvest planning.
Step 3: Dead wood retention – quantities and diversity
Retain 20–50 m³/ha of dead wood depending on elevation (more in higher sites). Higher volumes support specialized species and ecosystem resilience. Ensure diversity in types and decay stages: large sun-exposed pieces, hollow and standing dead trees, clustered habitat trees, and fallen trunks in decay. Prioritize safety—avoid unstable trees near roads or settlements.
Step 4: Methods – uprooted and standing trees
Do not re-embed root plates of uprooted trees; leave basal sections to decay naturally. If infestation occurs, prefer grooving to full debarking. For standing infested trees, apply selective methods (partial debarking, longitudinal grooving) and retain sterile dead trees as habitats for birds, bats and insects. These methods limit beetle spread while preserving structural diversity.
Step 5: Sanitary logging – principles and techniques
Apply sanitation only where active infestations threaten nearby stands. Avoid unnecessary or chemical interventions. When sanitation is justified, leave treated wood to decay on site. Retain unbarked lower stems and branches, and avoid breaking windfalls. Such techniques maintain habitat continuity and ecological integrity while keeping operations efficient.
Step 6: Integration into restoration
Combine targeted sanitation with biological legacy retention. Train forestry staff to recognize valuable habitat structures and apply safe handling. Integrating these practices into regular management strengthens biodiversity, resilience and long-term forest health in post-disturbance landscapes under changing climate conditions.
Knowledge Types:
Scientific knowledge
The general recommendations for dead wood retention and respecting biological legacies following bark beetle outbreaks and windstorms are grounded in scientifically supported findings, which clearly demonstrate the need to foster biodiversity and natural processes across all levels of the forest ecosystem. At the same time, they reflect the needs for limiting spread of the bark beetle outbreaks in the commodity forests and need for the economical viable production as well as the socio-economic aspects of forest management, with significant implications for rural areas.
Practical knowledge
Forest restoration including dead wood retention and respecting of the biological legacies following bark beetle outbreaks and windstorms also relies on practical knowledge that comes from long-term forestry and nature conservation experience and ensures the feasibility of restoration measures. It includes different experimental setups and applied research on the effect of the sanitary and salvage logging on the biodiversity and structure of the dead wood and biological legacies. Practical expertise also covers economic and organizational aspects, such as cost efficiency, labor availability, and planning of interventions.
Replicability:
YES, the practice has been tested and replicated in multiple contexts and scales and therefore, can be easily transferred and/or adapted to other initiatives with similar goals.The practice has been tested and replicated in multiple contexts and scales and therefore, can be easily transferred and/or adapted to other initiatives with similar goals. Between 2019 and 2024, similar approaches were applied in the restoration of areas affected by bark beetle outbreak and windstorms in different forests across whole country. In forests managed by LČR (approx. 1000 ha), national parks (3000 ha), as well as by other smaller owners and forest managers.
Key Success Factors:
Key success factors include the selection of appropriate restoration practices, particularly the choice of specific management approaches for retaining dead wood and other biological legacies, as well as sufficient technological and logistical capacity as prerequisites for effective field implementation. The logistical demands of restoration increase proportionally with the size of the disturbed area. In the medium term, effective monitoring and subsequent silvicultural measures are essential to maintain retained biological legacies. Dead wood restoration may involve higher requirements and costs for forest owners and managers, while potentially reducing expected revenues from timber production. Therefore, targeted financial support mechanisms are crucial to ensure the long-term economic sustainability of the forestry sector.
Common Constraints:
Restoration and retention of dead wood biological legacies during sanitary and salvage logging in areas affected by large-scale bark beetle outbreaks and windstorms often face numerous problems. For example, distinguishing between actively infested and sterile bark beetle-attacked trees requires changes to commonly used practices. Additional challenges arise from safety issues related to retained dead wood. These difficulties can be addressed through detailed management schemes that define where and how dead wood should be retained. Specific training for workers, including safety procedures and clear instructions on dead wood retention, is also necessary. The main economic obstacle is the decline in timber prices and limited financial resources, which can be mitigated through subsidies or reserve funds. Social challenges lie primarily in the public’s negative perception of large-scale dead wood retention; therefore, emphasis must be placed on communication with municipalities, education and active involvement of local communities.
Positive Impacts:
- Increased (high-quality) lying deadwood
- Increased (high-quality) standing deadwood
- Increased diversity of habitats including micro-habitats
The restoration of dead wood through respecting and retaining biological legacies of disturbances has a clear positive effect on the species diversity of many threatened organisms. Surveys following sanitary and salvage logging showed that respecting biological legacies significantly increases not only the amount of dead wood but also the structural diversity of retained material. By keeping disturbed material on site, managers additionally ensure the presence of a wide variety of habitat types suitable for numerous forest organisms, further enhancing overall biodiversity. Leaving biological legacies after natural disturbances represents a highly effective and relatively low-cost solution for enhancing biodiversity in managed forest stands. Integrating dead wood restoration techniques during sanitary and salvage logging operations provides efficient and low-cost means of increasing dead wood across managed forest landscapes. Together, these approaches foster structurally complex forests that are better adapted to disturbances and climate change.
Negative Impacts:
- Reduced timber quality or quantity
Retention of dead wood may reduce immediate timber yields and lower short-term revenues for forest owners. Additional operational costs can arise from adapting logging methods and ensuring worker safety around retained dead trees. Retained wood may also conflict with the expectations of some visitors, who often associate dead trees with neglect or poor forest management. While the ecological benefits are clear, balancing them with economic and social considerations requires communication, education, and targeted support mechanisms to ensure acceptance of dead wood retention practices.
- Active Restoration
- Passive Forest Restoration
- Planning & Upscaling
- Czechia
- Environmental
- 100 hectares