[Plantation stocks and their affecting factors in western Liaoning Province]

Employing real-site investigation and data analysis methods, this paper analyzed the distribution of plantation stocks and its affecting factors in western Liaoning Province. The results showed that the average plantation stock of western Liaoning was 49.08 m3.hm(-2), which has been improved obviously since 1949. At the time of the third forest resource investigation, the plantation stock increased 20.19 m3.hm(-2), 5.16 times higher than that of the first forest resource investigation. But, the general plantation stock of western Liaoning was still at a rather lower level, with only a 63.5% increase of the whole province and 51.1% of the national average plantation stock at the same period. The difference of plantation stock among cities in western Liaoning was observable, that even reached 68.47 m3.hm(-2). In general, the proportion of young forest was too high, reached to 49 % of the total plantation, while the stock of mature forest was much lower, only 38% of the national average level. The plantation stock of national property was only 55.1% and 32.3% of the personal and collective property, respectively. Moreover, the plantation stock of timber forest was 36.4% lower than that of windbreak. Besides climatic factors, simple plantation structure, few forest tree species, and poor plantation management were the main causes of the low plantation stock.