Forest lianas and pre-felling climber cutting in Southern Cameroon: a silvicultural evaluation

In southern Cameroon an experiment was set up to test whether pre-felling climber cutting could reduce logging damage. The abundance of lianas in the forest and their resprouting capacity after cutting was assessed. Logging damage was considered as tree mortality and tree damage in the felling gaps and the sizes of the created gaps after felling. Lianas were very abundant : on average nearly 5 000 individuals of which over 100 large ones per ha. Only a limited number of lianas died after cutting. Resprouting capacity was high but variable among species. Felling gap sizes (average 550 m2 per felled tree) and tree mortality (12 trees per felled tree) and damage (20 trees per felled tree) were not significantly affected by pre-felling climber cutting. A minority of the damage was severe. Smaller trees were most prune to destruction and serious damage. The results show that pre-felling climber cutting has no significant effect on resulting gap sizes, tree mortality and damage levels. It can be concluded that overall climber cutting does not contribute to damage reductions at the felling sites.