Impact of participatory forest management on woody species composition the case of kake forest of gumay district, south west Ethiopia

Abstract

Kake forest is one of a very few remnant moist evergreen forests in south western Ethiopia of jimma zone Gumay district. The objective of this research work was to compare the vegetation composition and structure of forest under PFM with outside PFM forest. To investigate the plant structure and species composition of the forest, systematic sampling method was used and the plot quadrats 20m x20 m totally 40 sample plot were used for the study .which of 20 from PFM managed forest and 20 from outside PFM managed forest. The sample quadrats were laid down along transects at a distance of 50m from each other. Results showed that a total of 33 species from PFM managed and 18 from outside PFM managed were recorded. The study on vegetation and population structure showed that the total density of tree species was 626.25/ha from PFM and 425/ha from outside PFM and the respective IVI result for each tree species were also calculated. And the forest had the Shannon- Wiener diversity index of 3.18 and evenness of 0.98 from the PFM managed forest and 2.8 and 0.95 from the outside PFM. But the PFM forest has a better performance than the outside PFM forest this is the result of the limitation of open access and continuous monitoring which is given to the forest by the concerned body to the PFM block. Whereas the open access right brings change in outside PFM block.