1 Principles of management control
2 Monitoring, recording and reporting of operational achievements in tropical forest management
3 Reporting
4 Review of forest management activities
5 Further reading
1.1 Management should be responsive to changing needs
1.2 Approaches towards monitoring and reporting
Management of tropical forest resources needs to be responsive and adaptable to changing knowledge and needs. Even the most carefully planned arrangements should be modified as new information becomes available and good management requires early recognition of the need for modification. In the absence of formal and systematic monitoring a problem may not be recognised until it is too late to make meaningful changes. Monitoring refers to the comparison of actual performance against the target. The aims of monitoring, analysis and reporting on progress towards the achievement of management objectives are:
· to control forest operations, including the performance of contractors or concession companies or other agencies working under contract or licence in the forest;· to identify under- or over-achievement, to determine the causes and to take action to rectify the situation and to adjust the Annual Plan of Operations if necessary;
· to detect inefficiency or fraud;
· to provide information for the future revision of the plan;
· to provide information for the evaluation of the management plan or its prescriptions.
Two main approaches for monitoring operational performance are:
· Periodic Monitoring: Periodic monitoring involves making comparisons between physical achievements and programme targets and between financial expenditure and budgets at the end of specified time periods, for example, monthly, three-monthly or longer intervals.
· Continuous Monitoring: Continuous monitoring is applied frequently to specified key indicators which enables information on plan implementation to be collected often, such as at weekly intervals. Continuous monitoring provides a forest manager with the means of applying close control over forest operations enabling frequent comparisons to be made between planned programmes and inputs of resources with actual achievements and inputs. This is increasingly important in both State and company enterprises where budget constraints in forest management require tight expenditure control.
Monitoring operational achievements based on the implementation of prescriptions set out in the forest management plan, recording achievements and reporting these to a director of forest operations establishes a basis for transparent accountability of management. The prescriptions in a forest management plan must be clear so that progress can be measured and reported.
Regular maintaining of forest management targets, through comparison with physical achievements and budgets, enables appropriate corrective action to be taken. This is an essential practical aspect of tropical forest management and also of business management. From a practical point of view it is desirable that monitoring of operations be integrated as far as possible with other production control systems in order to reduce costs.
2.1 The use of "key" topics for monitoring operational performance
2.2 Responsibility for monitoring
2.3 Monitoring guidelines
Management activities in natural tropical forests are extensive in the sense that wood production takes place over large areas, in a range of forest types and typically involves a diversity of operations. Although all operations being carried out under an approved management plan should be capable of being monitored, some are more meaningful than others.
Although the exact monitoring needs of each forest management unit will be specific to that forest there are a number of "key" topics which can often be applied as indicators of operational performance at the forest level. For example, some "key" topics are forest boundary definition, forest protection, log-volume production, outputs of specific silvicultural operations, unit costs and community development activities. It is these operational topics that should be monitored regularly and accurately. Staff resources are usually limited and, linked to the extensive scale of operations, it is desirable that operational monitoring be applied mainly to the most meaningful topics.
A summary of "key" topics that can be used as indicators for monitoring operational performance of a forest management unit, together with quantifiable features and monitoring frequency are summarized in Table 15. The use of these topics provides a basis for operational monitoring that is able to be adapted to local prevailing conditions. Unit costs referred to in Table 15, are also "key" topics to be monitored.
Responsibility for monitoring, that is for the collection of the figures and for comparison of output with target, will be done at different levels of supervision. It is important that even junior supervisory staff are aware of the targets and can take corrective action if there is under-achievement, without having to wait for more senior staff to react. Reporting and summarising will be done at different hierarchical levels too, but detailed analysis will be done at more senior levels. Monitoring of operational progress should be given the same emphasis, or priority, as applied to other operational activities. It is no less important than these operations.
Forest-dependent people having an interest in the future of a managed forest should be given an opportunity to help monitor performance in order to help minimise any conflicts that might arise.
Table 15: A Summary of "Key" Topics for Monitoring Operational Performance of Tropical Forests
|
Key Sections Monitored |
Key Topics |
Monitoring Mechanisms |
Frequency |
|
Boundary Definition |
Surveyed boundaries |
Maps; Forest verification |
Annually |
|
Boundary Maintenance |
Boundary length maintained |
Forest verification |
Annually |
|
Pre-Harvest Inventory |
Location; Area; Inventory records |
Maps; Records/check cruising |
Each cruise |
|
Cutting Plan & Post-harvest Assessment |
Location; Area; Log volumes; Numbered trees |
Maps; Check scaling/Forest verification |
Monthly, weekly or daily |
|
Diagnostic Sampling |
Location; Area; Inventory records |
Records/Forest verification |
After each cutting plan |
|
Silvicultural Tending |
Management plan prescriptions |
Records/Forest verification |
Monthly |
|
Road Construction |
Length; Road types |
Forest verification |
Monthly |
|
Forest Security & Protection |
Management plan prescriptions |
Records/Forest verification |
Monthly |
|
Technical Staffing |
Staff recruitment & resignations |
Employment records |
Annually |
|
Environmental Management |
Management plan prescriptions |
Records/Forest verification |
Annually |
|
Rural Communities Development |
Management plan prescriptions |
Records/Forest verification |
Bi-annually |
|
Continuous Forest Inventory |
PSP Establishment; PSP Remeasurement |
Records/Forest verification |
Annually |
Actual expenditure against budgets and actual unit costs against target costs should be monitored for all of the following activities described under Key Topics below.
· Key Topic: Concession or Forest Reserve Boundary Definition
Boundary definition adjacent to neighbouring concessions or forest reserves involves physical marking of boundaries on the ground and formal land surveying. Monitoring can be carried out through an examination of new maps to ensure that new forest boundaries are defined but must also be supported by on-the-ground checking of selected portions of boundaries.
The length and location of new surveying where boundaries are adjacent to other concessions should be noted to verify that boundary definition reporting by a concession company or cooperative is accurate. Boundary definition monitoring should be carried out at least annually and will require funding and logistical resources to enable it to proceed. An example of a design for a table for monitoring forest boundary definition is shown in Annex 14.
· Key Topic: Concession or Forest Reserve Boundary Maintenance
Physical, "on-the-ground" examinations of boundaries is the most effective mechanism for reliably monitoring the maintenance of boundaries. It is only through field monitoring that careful maintenance of boundary lines, pillars and notices can be reliably verified. Boundary maintenance monitoring should be carried out at least annually.
Recent aerial photographs or satellite imagery, or both, covering boundary zones with neighbouring concessions or forest reserves may be of some help for monitoring boundary maintenance but their effectiveness depends on image quality (such as resolution and cloud cover) and also on their age. Images are unlikely to be useful for more than 12 months.
The value of aerial photographs or satellite imagery is primarily a guide for indicating where on-the-ground monitoring should be focused rather than being relied on as a definitive monitoring tool. An example of a design for a table for monitoring forest boundary maintenance is shown in Annex 14.
· Key Topic: Pre-Harvest Inventory (100% Cruising)
(a) Location and area of forest cruised
Maps showing the location and areas of a full pre-harvest inventory (100% cruise) provide the basis for monitoring but it should be carried out in conjunction with (b), accuracy and precision, of a cruise. GPS technology may assist with the definition of areas cruised and may also be able to be used for monitoring. "Open-to-the-sky" visibility, such as roads and forest openings, will be necessary for GPS equipment to be used.
(b) Accuracy and precision of the cruise
Monitoring of a pre-harvest inventory should be undertaken by check-cruising areas of forest selected at random and subsequently making data comparisons between cruise and check-cruise inventories for the identical localities. There is no alternative to an "on-the-ground", forest based check cruise for monitoring the quality of a 100 per cent pre-harvest inventory.
In order to decide the minimum effort which should be devoted to a check-cruise to be satisfied with its accuracy and precision a pilot field study in different forest conditions is desirable in order to examine the effects of forest types, volumes, stocking and other characteristics on cruise accuracy and precision. Check-cruising should be carried out by trained field staff who are at least as familiar as concession staff with species identification and mensurational practices. Monitoring should be carried out on every pre-harvest inventory.
· Key Topic: Felling
(a) Location and area of forest to be cut
Maps showing the location and areas of forest where harvesting has been approved in a management plan (expressed by compartments, or sub-compartments) provide a sound basis for monitoring. Monitoring should involve verification that a cutting plan can be authenticated against the data from a 100 per cent cruise made prior to cutting. Reliable maps showing the cruise location and the cutting plan must be available. Computer generated maps derived from a GIS would, if available, be helpful for this aspect of monitoring. Monitoring should be carried out in conjunction with (b) and (c) to follow.
(b) Maximum stocking to be cut, by forest types
Monitoring of the maximum number of trees per hectare which may be harvested involves two elements:
· That a cutting prescription is appropriate to the ecological characteristics of the forest type, or types, found in a specific forest to be harvested,· That cutting is consistent with the cutting prescription.
Two approaches can be followed, as follows:
· Sampling. Monitoring to ensure that operational cutting is within a prescribed stems per hectare cutting range can be achieved through ground-based sampling in areas of forest selected at random and subsequently by making comparisons between prescriptions and monitoring data for the identical localities where logging has been undertaken.· Individual tree monitoring. A more intensive basis of monitoring can be achieved by comparing, in the forest, the stumps of each tree measured and numbered during cruising with the tree distribution map and the tree list that have been formed using cruising data. The tree list of numbered trees should be compared with the numbers of trees recorded during the felling and log extraction. This approach provides the basis for a "chain-of-custody" record of trees to logs.
Monitoring should be carried out monthly, at least initially, but may be less frequent if justified by consistently good operational performance.
(c) Volumes, by forest types, comprising the annual cut:
The most critical aspect of log volume monitoring is check scaling of logs by a state forestry agency or other authority having responsibility for a forest management unit. Monitoring should be carried out at least monthly and should involve random checks on the accuracy of log measurements made and reported by a concessionaire or other agency who has operational responsibility for a forest. An example of a design of a table for monitoring the location, area and volumes of wood cut is shown in Annex 14.
· Key Topic: Silvicultural Operations
(a) Technical specifications
Monitoring the applicability of technical specifications for silvicultural operations, specifically weeding, enrichment planting, thinning and climber cutting, should be undertaken by "on-the-ground" random sampling within compartments where operations have been applied and by making comparisons between specific prescriptions and parallel achievements.
(b) Location, area and sampling intensity for each phase of silviculture
Monitoring of the location and area for each phase of silviculture should be undertaken by making comparisons of maps forming part of the prescriptions in a management plan with the actual record of achievements, linked to field verification that map and compartment records are correct. A field study in different forest conditions should be made in order to determine sampling patterns and the minimum effort which should be placed into this aspect of monitoring in order to be satisfied with its accuracy and precision.
· Key Topic: Diagnostic Sampling
Maps and inventory records showing the location, areas and mensurational characteristics of forest where diagnostic sampling has been prescribed in a management plan will provide the basis for monitoring. It will involve verification from "on-the-ground" visits that diagnostic sampling records can be authenticated against the diagnostic sampling prescriptions set out in an approved management plan.
· Key Topic: Forest Security and Protection
Comparisons between numbers of guards and fire crew specified in a management plan and the numbers employed by a company (as revealed from a check of a staff employment register) is a good basis for monitoring but should also be linked with the management agency's training programme for these two staff groups in terms of the number and content of training activities. Training of staff is essential if confidence is to be maintained in the quality of the forest security and protection service operated by a concession company or other forest management agency.
· Key Topic: Forest Road Construction
Monitoring of road location, length and type of road surface (all weather or dry weather only) should be achieved by "on-the-ground" inspections. GPS technology has considerable potential to supplement ground monitoring and is a useful technical aid. "Open-to-the-sky" visibility which is practicable on forest roads will enable these to be mapped accurately by a forest manager and subsequently verified during monitoring using GPS assistance.
New aerial photographs and satellite imagery showing recently built roads can be helpful for road construction monitoring, at least in terms of location (in specific places) and in road length. The use of imagery alone cannot be relied upon as a definitive monitoring tool.
· Key Topic: Technical Forest Staffing
Comparisons made between the numbers of each category of university graduates and operational technical staff that are specified in a management plan and the numbers of the corresponding categories who are employed by the forest manager should be used as a basis for monitoring. Staff employment can be monitored from checks against recruitment and resignations in a forest manager's staff employment register.
· Key Topic: Environmental Management
(a) Socio-economic issues (including impacts of logging on rural communities)
(b) Physical issues (including soil and water conservation and erosion control)
Monitoring of progress for both (a) and (b) should involve examinations of a forest manager's records or reports of achievements and also physical, "on-the-ground" inspections in a forest with comparisons with management plan prescriptions for each activity. Programmes prescribed in a plan should be defined in quantifiable terms in order that monitoring will be unambiguous, such as numbers of activities each having clear objectives, specific locations, specific time frames and specific implementation arrangements.
· Key Topic: Rural Communities Development
(a) Settlement of Permanent Farmers
(b) Economic Development
(c) Infrastructure Development
(d) Social and cultural development
Monitoring should involve "physical" examinations of activities within forests and comparisons with corresponding management plan specifications for each activity. Inspections should be linked to the forest manager's records or reports of achievements.
Rural community development programmes must be defined in a management plan in quantifiable terms to enable monitoring to be both unambiguous and clear. For example, prescriptions could specify the numbers of activities, specific locations for them and specific time frames. Forest dependent people having an interest in the future of a managed forest should be brought into the monitoring process and invited to help monitor managerial performance in order to help minimise conflicts that might arise.
· Key Topic: Continuous Forest Inventory
Monitoring of CFI should involve examinations of the forest records of new PSP establishment and remeasurements of established PSPs, linked to "on-the-ground" verification of plot management within a forest. Field inspection will enable comparisons to be made with prescriptions expressed in a management plan with actual achievements. Monitoring should also ensure that field data are entered into a PSP database.
3.1 Responsibility
3.2 Reporting frequency
3.3 Reporting formats
3.4 Maintaining permanent records of achievements
The information generated by a monitoring system should be reported regularly to a Director of Forest Operations, an Officer-in-Charge or to a Director of Forest Management, depending upon the ownership and organization structure of the forestry agency or company.
Reporting should be both written and oral in order that specific problems, unexpectedly good achievements or any other aspects of management are able to be discussed and any necessary action that is required can be taken quickly.
An Officer-in-Charge or a District Forester should summarise each periodic report and transmit the findings and recommendations to a Conservator of Forests or to the board of a concession company, depending upon the organization structure of the forest management unit.
The frequency of reporting should be related to the nature of the topic being reported on. Reporting should be at least monthly, weekly or even daily in the case of log harvesting where close control of output, location of logging and trees being cut should be followed closely. Other topics can be reported upon less often, at monthly, three-monthly, six-monthly or at annual intervals, depending upon the sensitivity of the "key" topic in the management pattern of the agency or concession company.
A convenient way of reporting achievements for many forest operations is to use a tabular format that summarizes operational prescriptions on one side of the form and operational achievements on the other. A simple example is illustrated in Table 16. This format is easily modified and extended to meet specific local forest management reporting requirements.
Reporting of harvesting, local community development and environmental matters cannot usually be reported in a simple tabular format. Separate and more detailed tabular formats that are specific to the needs of each topic should be used for reporting achievements. Examples are shown in Tables 17 (a), (b) and (c) respectively. They can easily be modified and extended to meet specific local forest management reporting requirements.
The preparation and maintenance of permanent records of forest operations is an essential feature of forest management. Permanent records and costs of what activities took place, when and where, provide valuable information for forest management planning in the future. Permanent records are an accumulation of both knowledge and experience and they form an historical record for later reference which is as important for future forest planning as is information collected in a forest today.
Table 16: A Simple Tabular Format for Reporting Operational Forest Management Performance
|
Operational Prescriptions |
Operational Performance | ||
|
Activities |
Dates |
Dates |
Achievements |
|
Concession Boundary Definition | |||
|
· Compartments or blocks | |||
|
(a) |
31/3/97 |
|
|
|
(b) |
31/3/98 |
|
|
|
Pre-Harvest Inventory (100% cruise) | |||
|
· Compartments or blocks | |||
|
(a) |
31/3/97 |
|
|
|
(b) |
30/9/97 |
|
|
|
Silviculture | |||
|
1. Enrichment Planting | |||
|
· Compartments | |||
|
(a) |
31/3/96 |
|
|
|
(b) |
30/9/97 |
|
|
|
2. Climber Culling | |||
|
· Compartments | |||
|
(a) |
31/9/97 |
|
|
|
(b) |
31/3/98 |
|
|
|
3. Thinning (1st, 2nd phase, etc) | |||
|
· Compartments | |||
|
(a) |
31/9/97 |
|
|
|
(b) |
31/3/98 |
|
|
|
Diagnostic Sampling | |||
|
· Compartments |
|
|
|
|
(a) |
31/6/97 |
|
|
Records should be maintained in a compartment history register or in a computer-based compartment records system. Responsibility for maintaining records should rest with the Director of Forest Operations but making regular data entries can be delegated to a specific forester who will have this task listed in the job description. Specific guidance and an example of a manually maintained compartment records form is illustrated in Table 6, Part II, 1 - Guidelines for Defining Forest Resources.
4.1 Periodic review of management plan implementation
4.2 Mid-term management review
4.3 Final management review
Although progress in the implementation of specific prescriptions, specially "key" topics, comprising a management plan should be regularly reviewed during the year as a part of the process of maintaining control over the business management of the forest, it is also helpful for a more comprehensive review to be made periodically during the term of a plan. Short-term trends in progress in plan implementation can be gauged after a period of two, three or more years, depending upon the topic, and such trends should be used in a review of management plan implementation.
Using data generated through the monitoring system but also relying upon frequent observations of staff who regularly work in a forest, a forest manager and the management team should conduct a mid-term management review to evaluate the operation of a management plan. A plan having a 10 year term should be reviewed in the fifth year, a 20 year plan should be reviewed in the tenth year but could also be reviewed in the fifth and fifteenth years. Flexibility is needed in the timing of a review, depending upon local circumstances. A mid-term review is basically an exercise in making value-judgements on the progress in plan implementation. It should examine the effectiveness of forest management performance against approved prescriptions and against implementation schedules of a sequence of related actions.
Where changes in the implementation of specific prescriptions appear to be both significant and consistent from one year to the next it is important that the review team should examine the reasons for these. Prescriptions and timing schedules may need to be revised if approved programmes appear to be unrealistic. The forest manager should secure new approval for a management plan if major amendments are made to it which will affect the timing and direction of management and, the operational budget on the expected revenue flow from harvesting. In addition to evaluating progress in implementing a plan a mid-term review should also examine the relevance and practicality of specific prescriptions and, where necessary, propose amendments.
Towards the end of the term of a management plan, usually in the final year, a more comprehensive review of the operation of the plan should be undertaken. The final management review should be conducted in the same way as for a mid-term review but covering the full period of a plan. It should examine the effectiveness of management performance against the objectives, prescriptions, implementation schedules and budgets. The final review forms a platform, or foundation, for the preparation of the next management plan.
Table 17 (a): Cutting (Harvesting, Felling) Report
|
Localities and Resources Categories |
Operational Prescriptions |
Operational Performance | ||
|
|
Specifications |
Dates |
Dates |
Achievements |
|
A. Areas and Forest Type or Species Group "A" | ||||
|
· Compartments/Sub-compartments: |
(a) |
|
|
|
|
|
(b) |
|
|
|
|
· Volumes (and max. sp/ha, from selective harvesting) |
................. |
|
|
|
|
B. Areas and Forest Type or Species Group "B" | ||||
|
· Compartments/Sub-compartments: |
(a) |
|
|
|
|
|
(b) |
|
|
|
|
· Volumes (and max. sp/ha, from selective harvesting) |
.............. |
|
|
|
|
C. Areas and Forest Type or Species Group "C" | ||||
|
· Compartments/Sub-compartments: |
(a) |
|
|
|
|
|
(b) |
|
|
|
|
· Volumes (and max. sp/ha, from selective harvesting) |
............... |
|
|
|
Table 17 (b): Local Communities Development Report
|
Rural Development Activities |
Operational Prescriptions |
Operational Performance | |||
|
|
Specifications |
Dates |
Dates |
Achievements | |
|
A. Permanent Farmer Settlement | |||||
|
· Paddy farming: |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
(a) number families settled |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(b) area - ha. |
|
|
|
|
|
· Irrigation: |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
(a) No. dams constructed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(b) irrigation channels (km) |
|
|
|
|
|
· Fishponds constructed (No.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Dry land farming: |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
(a) number |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(b) area - ha. |
|
|
|
|
|
· Extension proposals (No.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Other Activities |
|
|
|
| |
|
B. Economic Development Issues | |||||
|
· Labour employment (No.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Home industries: |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
(a) types |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(b) number established |
|
|
|
|
|
· Cooperatives developed (No.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Electricity (No. houses) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Community buildings (No.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Other Activities |
|
|
|
| |
|
C. Social and Cultural Development Issues |
| ||||
|
· Schools (No. established) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Scholarships (No. awarded) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Health clinics (No. establish.) |
|
|
|
| |
|
· Sports facilities (No.) |
|
|
|
| |
Table 17 (c): Environmental Forest Management Report
|
A. Socio - economic Issues: |
|
(a) Proposal Name: |
|
B. Cultural an d Historical Issues: |
|
(a) Proposal Name: |
|
C. Soil and Water Conservation Issues: |
|
(a) Proposal Name: |
|
D. Biodiversity Issues: |
|
(a) Proposal Name: |
|
E. Scenery and Recreation: |
|
(a) Proposal Name: |
Armitage, Ian P. 1997. Practical Steps Contributing to Sustainable Tropical Forest Management for Wood Production With Special Reference to Asia. Special Paper to XI World Forestry Congress, Antalya, Turkey.
Anthony, Robt. N. & Herzlinger, Regina. E. 1980. Management Control In Non-Profit Organizations. Graduate School of Business Admin. Harvard University; Richard D. Irwin, Inc. Illinois, USA.
Brasnett, N. V. 1953. Planned Management of Forests. Alien & Unwin, London.
Johnston, D. R. Grayson, A.J. Bradley, R. T. Forest Planning. 1965. Faber & Faber, London.
