Abstract
Restoration of late seral features in second growth Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood) forests is increasingly important, as so little of the original old-growth remains. Natural recovery is an effective method restoring many late seral features, and does not require the additional disturbance of active management. In order to better understand management impacts on redwood understory abundance and composition, data were collected in naturally recovering stands and in stands that were actively managed with the explicit intent of promoting old-growth characteristics. Ten 10 m diameter plots with three 2 m diameter nested sub-plots were randomly sampled in two sites within each management type. Results indicate that tree canopy cover, native species cover and richness, richness of coast redwood associated species, and the cover of Trillium ovatum (western wake robin) were significantly higher in naturally recovering versus actively managed stands. In addition, several coast redwood associated understory species were exclusively recorded in the naturally recovering stands including: Asuram caudatum (wild ginger), Prosartes hookeri (hooker’s fairybells), Maianthemum racemosum (false solomon seal), Scoliopus bigelovii (fetid adder’s tongue), Viola sempervirens (redwood violet); while only one such species was recorded exclusively in the actively managed stands: Trientalis latifolia (pacific star flower). Natural recovery appeared to support understory recovery more effectively than active forest management in this case.
Highlights
Primeval Sequoia sempervirens forests once covered an estimated 800,000 ha along the west coast of the United States (Noss, 1999)
In order to better understand management impacts on redwood understory abundance and composition, data were collected in naturally recovering stands and in stands that were actively managed with the explicit intent of promoting old-growth characteristics
The rest is composed of post-harvest second growth forests, including both actively managed stands and preserves where natural processes have been allowed to reassert themselves
Summary
Primeval Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood) forests once covered an estimated 800,000 ha along the west coast of the United States (Noss, 1999). With so little of the original old-growth remaining, there is growing interest in restoring characteristics associated with old-growth to these maturing second growth stands. Active timber management techniques such as variable density thinning have been promoted as a tool for restoring old-growth characteristics (O’Hara et al, 2010; Berrill et al, 2013). While these techniques have been shown to be effective in increasing the growth rate of remaining trees in the short run, the impact of these treatments on non-commercial plant species is not well understood
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