Close-to-nature silviculture: is this concept compatible with species diversity?

The concept of close to nature silviculture is an old one. It was developed by K. Gayer at the end of the last century, and has been applied for more than a hundred years, for example in Switzerland and Slovenia, mostly with success. There are different ways to characterize such silviculture, depending on the relative emphasis which is given to 'culture' and 'nature'. In the past there have been different interpretations. Leibundgut adopts a liberal interpretation, which he relates to primeval forests, whereby he accepts the use of all forms of regeneration, including regeneration on large areas. On the other hand, Möller gives a more strict interpretation based on successional processes. Nowadays the concept needs to be extended to include the importance of favouring diversity of forest biotopes and the potential for using natural processes for economic reasons. It is necessary to utilize a great diversity of silvicultural techniques, following Leibundgut's principle of 'free choice of fellings' (Leibundgut, 1949).