Stand Management Practices Research Articles

New Forestry Principles from Ecosystem Analysis of Pacific Northwest Forests.

Forest management practices on Federal lands in the Pacific Northwest of the United States have been the center of intense controversy. Conflicting value systems, new information, and new perspectives have fueled the debate over the balance between timber production and preservation of natural ecosystems. In this paper we consider examples from three aspects of forest management: (1) management of forest stands, (2) management of the patchwork of forest stands at the landscape scale, and (3) management of streams and riparian networks. In each of these cases we examine: management practices and perspectives of the recent past, findings from ecosystem research that are leading to change in those practices, resulting changes in management practices, and future research directions. We also suggest a path for future change, including systems for managing in the face of uncertainty. Results of research in natural and managed forest and stream ecosystems have been pivotal in reassessment and redesign of management practices to provide a broader range of management options for society to consider. Results of studies of natural disturbance processes and their effects are used as reference points for management systems intending to sustain biological diversity and ecosystem productivity. Stand management practices, for example, are being modified to retain some live trees and greater amounts of dead woody debris, both standing and down, in areas that would instead be clear-cut under intensive plantation forestry practices. The motivations for these modified practices are to sustain biological diversity, including key wildlife species, and to maintain soil productivity. Models of alternative forest-cutting patterns at a landscape scale are being used to examine their effects on ecosystem structure and function. One result of this analysis has been to shift from the previous system of dispersing cutting units to a system involving greater aggregation of units using designs to provide for species preferring forest interior habitat as well as species favoring edge and early seral habitats. As a result of ecosystem research, the management of stream and riparian networks can now be based on understanding of forest-stream interactions and designed within a drainage-basin context. Overall, emphasis in research and management seems to be in early stages of shifting from featured species-e.g., Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) and Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina)-to ecosystems, and from the scale of forest stands to landscapes and the entire region. In addition to the contributions of ecosystem research to redesign of management techniques, ecosystem scientists also have roles in the social processes for determining the future course of management of natural resources. An important medium for scientist participation is establishment of adaptive management programs, in which management activities are conducted as experiments to test hypotheses and to develop information needed for future natural resource management.

Forestry and caribou in British Columbia

Forest harvesting in mountain caribou range has been an issue for many years. Radiotelemetry studies on mountain caribou in the last decade have helped identify the geographic areas of conflict, improved understanding of the mechanisms by which forestry activities affect caribou, and suggested new approaches to management. Forest harvesting has begun to impact population of northern caribou, and researchers have begun to examine those impacts. Interest in integrating forest management and caribou habitat management has increased and has manifested itself in two ways: experimentation with special stand management practices intended to maintain or create caribou habitat, and the creation of tools to help managers make decisions in a landscape context.

Managing second-growth forests as caribou habitat

Habitat management for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southeastern British Columbia has generally focussed on protecting old-growth forests from logging. As that strategy becomes more difficult to maintain, biologists are beginning to explore opportunities to manage second-growth stands to provide arboreal lichens and other habitat resources important to caribou. Special harvesting and stand management practices are being developed and formulated into strategies for maintaining caribou populations in managed stands.

The Scenic Beauty Temporal Distribution Method: An Attempt to Make Scenic Beauty Assessments Compatible with Forest Planning Efforts

Abstract A method was developed which simulates and evaluates scenic beauty through time with the intent of providing useful information for forest management and planning efforts. It is argued that temporal based scenic information is essential given the dynamic nature of forest management and planning. Temporal distributions of scenic beauty, which represent the level of scenic beauty at each year during the planning horizon, were simulated in order to evaluate the scenic impacts of proposed management actions. Four general loblolly pine stand management practices (unthinned natural, unthinned planted, lightly thinned planted, and heavily thinned planted) were compared with respect to their impacts on scenic beauty. Overall, natural stands were of highest scenic quality followed by unthinned planted and heavily thinned planted stands, which were not significantly different from one another. The lightly thinned stands were least scenic. These findings are consistent with results of past research. Also examined were the scenic impacts of management actions such as rotation age and initial density. In general, decreasing stand density increases scenic beauty, less productive sites have more scenic beauty, and increasing stand age increases scenic beauty. Information about initial stand conditions was found highly predictive of how scenic beauty temporal distributions perform over a 50-year horizon. It was concluded that the scenic beauty temporal distribution method provides managerially relevant information and has the potential to be a useful forest management decision-making tool. Forest Sci. 32:271-286.

How Good is Sonderegger Pine?

Abstract Thirteen traits were evaluated on 131 Sonderegger (Pinus x sondereggeri Chap.) and 69 loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) trees within two 20-year-old mixed pine plantations located in the South Carolina upper coastal plain. Of the traits measured, bark thickness was found to be slightly greater in Sonderegger pine and branch angle more acute in loblolly pine. No difference was found in height, d.b.h., or volume between the two species. However, considerable variation was observed within each species for most traits. Fusiform rust damage on Sonderegger boles did not differ in severity from that observed on loblolly pine. Highly vigorous trees of the hybrid showed no more susceptibility to fusiform rust than did less vigorous trees. On an index scoring basis, several trees of Sonderegger pine were found that might quality for a southern pine breeding program. From these results, we see no reason to discriminate against Sonderegger pine in thinnings and other stand management practices when it occurs with other pines on similar sites in the southeastern United States.