Assessment of tree vitality as an indicator of monitoring the health condition of community forest in agroforestry patterns

Abstract Community forest management usually applies agroforestry patterns because it is felt that they will provide more social, economic and ecological benefits. Optimal yields will be obtained if the community forest is healthy. It becomes an effort to prevent forest destruction at a low level through forest health, thereby ensuring the functions and benefits of managed community forests. One indicator of forest health is the amount of tree damage that occurs and the condition of the crown. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the vitality condition of agroforestry-patterned community forests and to serve as a reference for future decisions about the maintenance and development of these forests. This study was conducted in a community forest owned by members of the combined forest farmer groups Satria Rimba, Way Khilau District, Pesawaran Regency, Lampung Province, Indonesia. The method used is the Assessment of Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) method. The parameters of the vitality condition assessment consist of tree damage and crown condition. This study provides results that show there are 14 types of tree damage that attacked the trees that made up stands in community forests. The most common types of damage occurred based on the percentage of incidents, namely damaged leaves (25.29%), broken branches (24.41%) and open wounds (23.34%). assessment for damage to the tree based on the CLI value, namely in the high category (clusters 2, 3); moderate category (clusters 1, 5, 6); and low category (clusters 4, 7). Assessment of the crown condition based on the VCR value, namely in the categories of ‘high’ (clusters 4, 5, 6), ‘moderate’ (clusters 2, 7) and ‘low’ (clusters 1, 3).