Safeguarding species richness vs. increasing the use of renewable energy—The effect of stump harvesting on two environmental goals

Deadwood is recognized as one of the most important resources affecting forest biodiversity. Its absence from the forest landscape is, therefore, of concern, such that one official Swedish environmental objective is to increase the volume of deadwood. However, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, another environmental goal, is likely to work against this biodiversity objective. In this study we utilize a regional economic forest sector model, focusing on northern Sweden, in order to estimate the effect of a large scale introduction of stump harvest on the future use of forest fuel. In addition, an ecological model, describing the relationship between the availability of stumps and the abundance of saproxylic beetles, is linked to the economic model.