Oak Forest Canopy Resulting from the Methods of Forest Plantation in the Tellerman Experimental Forestry

Abstract

Experimental studies in forest steppes show that the oak yields its position to associate species: the ash, Norway maple, field maple, lime, and elm. We conclude that the long-term exploitation of the same areas of oak forests hoping for coppice reforestation of clearcuts decreases its share in a stand canopy and productivity class. In the meanwhile, oak could go extinct from leaf stands of the forest steppe. We provide the taxation features of the stands, including the mass-based formula of stand composition in 2012 and the number-based formula of stand composition across stories, based on sample plots assessments made during 2012–2015. The number- based formula more vividly describes relations between species in a stand. This was significant in understanding the process of forest-canopy formation. We suggest that the only way to preserve the oak gene resources as edificatory species with regional protective functions and which are important for economic activity is the afforestation of oak at clearcuts. We suggest an improved way of oak reproduction, focusing on intensive monitoring of the stand until the canopy closes at around 15 years. This is the age when oak occupies the root and light space and makes associate species unable to compete. Two kinds of thinnings, cutting-backs and accretion cuttings, are excluded to significantly decrease the expenses for growth of an oak stand.