  Citation: Santiago-García, W.; Bautista-Pérez, L.; Rodríguez-Ortiz, G.; Quiñonez-Barraza, G.; Ruiz-Aquino, F.; Suárez-Mota, M.E.; Santiago-García, E.; Leyva-Pablo, T.; Cortés-Pérez, M.; González-Guillén, M.d.J. Comparative Analysis of Three Forest Management Plans in Southern Mexico. Forests 2022, 13, 393. https://doi.org/10.3390/ f13030393 Academic Editor: Jose G. Borges Received: 10 February 2022 Accepted: 24 February 2022 Published: 27 February 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Article Comparative Analysis of Three Forest Management Plans in Southern Mexico Wenceslao Santiago-García 1, * , Lourdes Bautista-Pérez 1 , Gerardo Rodríguez-Ortiz 2 , Gerónimo Quiñonez-Barraza 3 , Faustino Ruiz-Aquino 1 , Mario Ernesto Suárez-Mota 1 , Elías Santiago-García 4 , Tania Leyva-Pablo 5 , Melquiades Cortés-Pérez 5 and Manuel de Jesús González-Guillén 6 1 División de Estudios de Postgrado-Instituto de Estudios Ambientales, Universidad de la Sierra Juárez, Avenida Universidad s/n, Ixtlán de Juárez 68725, Mexico; bautista.geminis_26@hotmail.com (L.B.-P.); ruiz.aquino@unsij.edu.mx (F.R.-A.); mesuarez@unsij.edu.mx (M.E.S.-M.) 2 División de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación-Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico del Valle de Oaxaca, Ex Hacienda de Nazareno s/n, Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico; gerardo.rodriguez@voaxaca.tecnm.mx 3 Centro de Investigación Regional Norte Centro, Campo Experimental Valle del Guadiana, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Carretera Durango-Mezquital km 4.5, Durango 34170, Mexico; quinonez.geronimo@inifap.gob.mx 4 DirecciónTécnica Forestal de la Comunidad de Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, Carretera Oaxaca-Tuxtepec s/n, Ixtlán de Juárez 68725, Mexico; forestal_esg@live.com 5 Doctorado en Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Calzada del Hueso 1100, Coapa, Villa Quietud, Coyoacán 04960, Mexico; tanialeyvapablo@gmail.com (T.L.-P.); yaguar.jo@gmail.com (M.C.-P.) 6 Postgrado en Ciencias Forestales, Colegio de Postgraduados, Carretera México-Texcoco km. 36.5, Montecillo 56230, Mexico; manuelg@colpos.mx * Correspondence: wsantiago@unsij.edu.mx; Tel.: +52-951-220-3466 Abstract: In the middle of the last century, the Mexican government applied a forest administration policy based on state control through concessions to parastatal enterprises. In the 1980s, communities began to regain control of their forests and promote community forestry, with Ixtlán playing a leading role. This study compared three forest management plans (FMPs) that have been implemented in the community of Ixtlán de Juárez, in southern Mexico, and their contributions to the productivity and conservation of forest resources. The information was obtained from three FMPs, considering the silvicultural regimes, the original stand or sub-stand structure, and the species that promoted cutting regeneration. These FMPs represent different management periods; the forest inventory of the first FMP indicates the condition of the forest originated under state control, while the two subsequent ones evaluate the condition of the forest under community forestry. Sub-stand variables of the three FMPs were compared using the nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test. The results indicated that, in the first FMP, the sub-stands were of old growth, and intensive thinning was applied. In the two subsequent plans, alternate strip clearcutting and single-tree selection were implemented. It was shown that, with increased management intensity in the sub-stands, better characteristics were obtained in terms of increment in basal area and volume variables, promoting regeneration and establishment of Pinus and displacing dominance of Quercus genus, without affecting forest richness and diversity. Keywords: conservation; community forestry; forest management; forests; Kruskal–Wallis test; land use; productivity; silvicultural regimes; trees 1. Introduction Mexican forest communities are a worldwide model of community forest management for timber production and conservation of forest resources under the form of community forest enterprises (CFEs) [1–3]. In Mexico, the area covered by temperate forests and Forests 2022, 13, 393. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13030393 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests