Sitkagranens potentiella merproduktion jämfört med vanlig gran i Hallands län

Abstract: Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is not considered to be a native species to Swedish forests. It´s origin is the pacific coast of Northern America, an area that is dominated by a coastal climate which makes it likely to believe that it would be well suited for growing in the south-west of Sweden. This study aims to investigate the gain in production that can be reached by growing sitka spruce instead of Norway spruce (Picea abies) in the county of Halland. A regression model based on data from forest experiments was produced to explain the gain in production. This model was based on elevation and annual precipitation. The model was then used to create a map layer in arcGIS that shows the gain of volume in comparison to Norway spruce in percent. An analysis was carried out to find what share of the forestland in Halland county that fell into four different classes of production gain. The map material that was used was an elevation map from LMV and the map of precipitation from SMHI. The result indicates that sitka spruce competes well with Norway spruce, as most the model indicates a gain in production of 46 %, but at the same time it shows that in some places it´s production is 13 % less than that of Norway spruce during one rotation. Keywords: Production comparison Picea sitchensis Picea abies Halland county.