Silvicultural Tools for Managing Pinus Occidentalis, Sw.

Forest stands of Pinus occidentalis Sw. occupy an area of approximately 302,500 hectares in the Dominican Republic. Within La Sierra, an average of 10,000 m3 of wood from the species is harvested annually. Due to the absence of reliable volume and yield models needed to estimate the volume of standing timber and products, this quantity is difficult to corroborate. P. occidentalis timber harvests contributes to the Dominican trade balance by generating millions of dollars (US) through sales, creating thousands of job opportunities and causing a decrease in the amount of wood imports. Despite its economic importance, the species has never been the subject of serious growth studies, making it difficult to account for current inventory levels and the amount of volume harvested. This dissertation describes the development of three quantitative tools used to improve yield estimates of P. occidentalis: 1) individual tree volume estimates based on taper models and product-ratio equations; 2) diameter distribution models; and 3) individual tree diameter growth equations.