Multiple projects undertaken to develop a framework species approach to restoring Thailand's rarest forest type - lowland evergreen forest - home of the critically endangered Gurney's Pitta. The work included phenology studies in remnant forest, nursery experiments to propagate more than 160 tree species and field trials to compare performance among species and test various silvicultural treatments. All resulting in a strategy to recover this rare ecosystem and its endangered avian inhabitants.

This project created an original knowledge-base to restore bamboo-deciduous forest in Western Thailand, particularly to create habitat for elephant conservation and to reduce human-elephant conflicts around the Salakpra Conservation Area, Kanchanaburi Province. The project was funded by the Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and was implemented by the Elephant Conservation Network (ECN), with FORRU-CMU assisting with technical matters.

Thailand's Supreme Command, in collaboration with IUCN and FORRU-CMU (Forest Restoration Research Unit, Chiang Mai University), aims to restore forest on 1,440 ha of degraded land at Doi Mae Salong (DMSL), Chiang Rai Province. The project began in 2007. FORRU’s involvement with the project began in establishing a field trial plot, establishing and maintaining 8 community nurseries.

In collaboration with WWF Thailand Program and with financial support from King Power, Forest Restoration Unit successfully implemented the project that aims to develop a forest landscape restoration (FLR) demonstration site, to promote the concept to visiting groups. This involved developing and maintaining a tree nursery to produce framework species trees and planting them to add 60 rai.

Field trials, to determine if the framework species method could be used to restore lowland deciduous forest. The project supported two research tree nurseries and 2 lowland field trial plot systems. Main outputs included tree species ranked for suitability for restoring lowland deciduous forests, optimal silvicultural treatments and propagation protocols.

FORRU-CMU assisted Doi Suthep-Pui National park authority to enrich an aging plantation of Cupressus torulosa D.Don (Cupressaceae) with indigenous tree species, with and without thinning the plantation. Almost all of the planted trees in the thinned plot performed better than in the non-thinned plot. Therefore, thinning of C. torulosa trees at this site (at least 30% or higher) is highly recommended, before any further enrichment planting is implemented.