Although strip clear-cutting has a long history of use in the temperate zone, this system was only recently introduced for timber extraction in tropical rain forests by Joseph Tosi and Gary Hartshorn. In this system, heterogeneous tropical forests are managed for native gap-dependent timber species by clear-cutting long, narrow strips with a harvesting cycle of 40 years. All timber, regardless ofspecies, is harvested and used locally or sold to attain maximum value from the strips. In this dissertation I assessed the ecological and economic sustainability of the strip clear-cutting system in the Peruvian Amazon. I investigated and modeled tree regeneration on two strips that were clear-cut in 1989 to (1) determine whether tree species composition and richness had recovered to
approximate pre-clearing levels, (2) determine the projected size distributions of selected commercial species on the strips at the time of a second harvest, and (3) determine the profitability of the clear-cut strips in a potential second harvesting.
The strip clear-cutting system is not ecologically or economically sustainable. Although >50% of the basal area, species richness, and composition of the strips had been recovered 15 years after the first harvest, commercial species had a low relative abundance as opposed to pioneer species. Using bootstrapping, the growth of six commercial species regenerating in the strips was projected over
the next 24 years, in time for a second harvest. Only a few larger individuals of Cedrelinga and Qualea were projected to reach commercial size. Growth projections and net present values (NPVs) also indicate that this system would not be profitable in a second harvest due to slow tree growth rates, low value of timber products, and high harvest costs. Growth projections and NPVs for a deferment-cut treatment, applied in 1989 to half of one of the two strips, had much higher timber
yields and profits than the clear-cut strips. Strip clear-cutting, however, could be greatly improved to enhance timber yields and profits in successive cutting cycles with enrichment planting, silvicultural thinning, and harvesting of only large trees. Alternatively, cutting cycles > 40 years could be implemented in this system.