ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Working Plans & Forest Management Planning: practice questions

1 · Purpose and history of working plans · hard

Why is a written plan especially important in forestry compared with most enterprises?

1. Forest produce has no market value, so plans replace prices as the guide to decisions
2. Forests are always too small to be managed without detailed written instructions
3. Crops take decades while officers change every few years
4. Forest law forbids officers from making any decision not written in advance

2 · Preliminary working-plan report and field data collection · hard

Why should preparation of the next working plan begin well before the current plan expires?

1. Because the current plan's prescriptions become invalid in its final three years
2. To avoid a gap in which the forest has no approved plan and fellings must stop
3. Because field data must be collected at least twenty years before use
4. Because the central government approves plans only once a decade

3 · Division of the forest: working circles, felling series, compartments · medium

How do territorial divisions differ from management divisions of a forest?

1. Territorial divisions apply only to plantations, while management divisions apply only to natural forests
2. Territorial divisions are temporary, while management divisions are fixed by law for ever
3. There is no difference; both terms describe exactly the same set of units
4. Territorial units follow administration, circle to beat; management units follow planning, working circle to compartment

4 · Division of the forest: working circles, felling series, compartments · hard

Why should each felling series contain, as far as possible, a representative range of age classes or stand conditions?

1. So that each series has equal area regardless of productivity or condition
2. So that all fellings in the division happen in the same year
3. So that yield is sustained within the series over time
4. So that no regeneration is required in the series during the plan

5 · Stock mapping and growing-stock assessment · easy

Why do modern codes favour sampling enumeration for estimating the growing stock of a working circle?

1. It always gives a larger estimate of growing stock than total enumeration does
2. It is far cheaper for large areas and gives a measurable precision
3. It is required because total enumeration is forbidden by forest law
4. It needs no volume tables, since trees are not measured individually

6 · Prescriptions for silviculture, felling and regeneration · hard

Which set of items is specified in a working-circle prescription for a clear-felling system?

1. Felling cycle, girth limits, diameter classes and number of trees for selection marking
2. Rotation, felling series, annual coupes, yield, sequence of fellings and regeneration method
3. Royalty rates, sale procedures and names of approved contractors
4. Wildlife census methods and tourist entry fees only

7 · Management plans in other systems: US national forest plans, European forest management plans · hard

What is the main institutional difference between South Asian working plans and US national forest plans?

1. South Asian plans are prepared by private consultants and approved by the courts alone
2. US plans contain no information on timber or harvest levels
3. South Asian plans are never revised once approved
4. US plans require extensive public participation and are open to objection and judicial review

8 · Criteria and indicators in planning · hard

What is the main practical challenge in using indicators at forest-management-unit level?

1. Indicators cannot be measured in tropical forests under any conditions
2. Choosing a few meaningful, measurable indicators that respond to management
3. Indicators are forbidden by national working-plan codes
4. Indicators always require satellite data from foreign agencies

9 · Microplans for community and joint forest management · hard

Which is a recurring problem reported in JFM and community forestry experience?

1. Elite capture and weak inclusion of women and the poorest households
2. Too much timber left uncut, causing all forests to become overstocked
3. Microplans that are always too detailed for staff to read
4. Complete absence of any regeneration in protected areas

10 · Prescriptions for silviculture, felling and regeneration · hard

Why do good prescriptions state what to do if conditions differ from those expected?

1. Because codes forbid any prescription that applies under normal conditions
2. Because conditions in forests never change during a ten-year plan
3. Because it removes the need for any monitoring or control forms
4. So implementing staff act consistently and checkers judge compliance