Status of commercial and non-commercial tree species in Sitapahar Reserve Forest of Bangladesh

Sustainable wood supply can only be assured by the rational utilization of all available wood resources of the forest areas of a country. But the bulk of tropical wood species, also termed as noncommercial species, remains unutilized or underutilized due to insufficient information. This study aimed at finding out the status of commercial and non-commercial tree species of the Sitapahar Reserve Forest, Bangladesh, and also comparing the findings with eleven forest areas of this country. By applying the ‘systematic sampling’ method, 50 quadrats (20×20m) were placed on the study site. All recorded tree species were broadly categorized as commercial species or Widely Used Species (WUS) and non-commercial species or Lesser Used Species (LUS). The LUS are further divided into Well-known Lesser Used Species (WK-LUS) and Least-known Lesser Used Species (LK-LUS) according to the availability of information regarding their wood properties and potential end-uses. In total 86 tree species were recorded in the study site. The maximum number of WUS and LK-LUS were found under family Meliaceae and Euphorbiaceae respectively. The study revealed that the LK-LUS category was found possessing the highest number of species (about 55%) and also the highest tree density (about 54%) in the study area. Moreover, LK-LUS possessed about 46% of the total basal area. This is the most common scenario found while comparing the findings with other forest areas of Bangladesh. So, this study recommends further research to find out the wood properties and potential end-uses of LK-LUS as well as to introduce both LK-LUS and WK-LUS in the timber market for ensuring sustainable wood supply.