Chapter 5
Assisted Natural Regeneration

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1 What is Assisted Natural Regeneration?

Suggest if:

• Pioneer trees and patches of shrub and forest are mixed with Imperata.

Not recommended for:

• Sheet Imperata, large grasslands

Assisted natural regeneration (ANR) is a flexible approach to reforestation that:

1. Uses natural regeneration of forest trees ("wildlings" or natural seedlings, and sprouts).

2. "Assists" natural regeneration by preventing Fire pressing Imperata, and helping trees grow faster in other ways. ANR is sometimes called "accelerated natural regeneration."

3. Plants additional trees when needed or wanted (enrichment planting).

Natural regeneration. "Pioneer" trees are the natural regeneration already growing in grasslands. These pioneers are already well established and adapted for the site. ANR also stimulates new natural regeneration from seed from nearby natural forest. In both cases, by using naturally occurring trees, ANR avoids the problem of matching species to the site. The encouragement of these species can help restore a diverse, native forest.

Imperata grasslands. Preventing fire assists natural regeneration in Imperata grasslands, other grasslands (Miscanthus florida, Themeda triandra, Saccharum spontaneum, Capillipedium parviflorum), and secondary forest. Pressing (Section 3.3.1) is effective in Imperata and Saccharum.

Community approach. Assisted natural regeneration has been successfully implemented in village projects on communal or public lands. Full community participation is necessary to prevent fire. In the Philippines, ANR has been used in programs giving villagers legal tenure on national lands, in return for the assistance of the villagers in converting grasslands and mixed brushlands into forest. ANR techniques can also be used on individual farms, especially for fallows and agroforests.

5.1.2 Why Practice ANR?

Where the ANR approach has been implemented successfully, Imperata grasslands develop into secondary forest. Compared to conventional reforestation with a single tree species, the ANR approach may have social, environmental, and cost advantages. Depending upon the site, it has the potential to:

• Involve local people in developing a forest that meets their needs, to motivate them to conserve it.

• Reduce total reforestation costs, because there is less site preparation, nursery establishment, and enrichment planting.

• Fit well with farmers' cropping schedules, because ANR concentrates on maintenance instead of planting.

• Provide local employment, if there is outside funding. Most expenses are for local labor.

• Include species chosen by villagers, through enrichment planting.

Village ANR in Pakhasukjai, Chiangmai, Thailand

Akha people who migrated to this village in the mid-1970s were forced to settle in an area dominated by Impemta, with small scattered patches of forest and bamboo. The villagers wanted a community forest for production and for spiritual needs, so they set aside several hundred hectares of Imperata fallow for forest regeneration. In the forest regeneration area, they:

• Constructed a fuelbreak once a year.

• Formed fire-fighting teams.

• Cut Imperata for thatch.

• Did not allow farming.

• Allowed trees to be cut only with the permission of village leaders.

• Planted some areas with trees.

After eighteen years, the village forest had more than a hundred species. About half the species are typical of primary forest. The population has increased and now there is not enough land for villagers to fallow their agricultural fields. Even so, the villagers are continuing to maintain their forest. To handle the increased land pressure, they:

• Look for methods to intensify production on their remaining farmland.

• Migrate in search of work.

• Stop farming their steepest fields and assist natural forest regeneration on them.

The desire to obtain land rights and citizenship is helping to motivate these villagers to manage the forest in their village, which is within an important watershed.

• Develop a forest with many species, especially native species. This benefits wildlife habitat and reduces the risk of severe damage from pests and diseases.

• Reclaim land for long-term timber production, since it assists natural woody species that can be used as nurse trees for enrichment plantings of high-value timber tree species.

• Avoid soil erosion. ANR includes little or no cultivation. Pressed Imperatta continues to cover and protect the soil.

• Quickly restore forest cover to watersheds. The secondary forest is likely to be multistory, including shrubs and herbaceous plants. Multistory forests control soil erosion and increase the amount of rainfall going into the ground. Restoration may take 2-7 years.

5.1.3 Constraints of ANR

Here are some problems that can prevent ANR from succeeding, together with possible solutions.

Lack of community participation.

• Plan the project with local people, not for them (see Chapter 1).

Conflicting laws and regulations; insecure land and tree tenure. If communities are not legally allowed to own, enter, or manage their surrounding forests, then the community will not cooperate with fire prevention and maintenance for ANR.

Poverty. Local people must provide for their short-term needs. Their time and possibly the ANR area is needed for food production.

• Consider food and farming needs first. Negotiate pay for local people's labor if the project serves regional goals and can be subsidized.

Labor scarcity. ANR activities are labor intensive. Labor often becomes a limiting factor, since ANR is usually applied in remote grassland areas with low population densities.

• Be realistic in estimating labor availability.

Inadequate extension. Because ANR activities are spread throughout the year, project staff cannot supervise all activities, and must put more responsibility in the hands of villagers.

• Train local people in ANR techniques; plan adequate resources for that training.

Lack of staff support. Foresters or other project staff might not support or accept the ANR approach because it is new to them and may seem more complicated than conventional reforestation.

• Experience with successful ANR implementation can help build staff confidence and support.

Planning uncertainties. Total nursery costs, maintenance activities, and production are difficult to predict because of uncertainties in the number of seedlings or wildlings needed for enrichment plantings, the time period for the natural woody species to close canopy, and the composition and volume of the secondary forest vegetation that will eventually emerge.

• Conduct inventories of species present on the site (Section 5.2.2 and Appendix F). Acknowledge uncertainties in targets and budgets; plan flexibly. Monitor results and learn from experience.

Fire.

• See Chapter 3 regarding fire protection.