While partial harvests can appear to be a gentle and light-handed approach to forestry, “selective” harvesting can be extremely destructive and deleterious to long-term sustainable and profitable forest management if the harvests result in high grading. High grading is the practice of removing the highest-value wood from a tract of forest land and leaver less-desirable,…
When talking to a forester or logger, you may hear them refer to a “stand,” but what exactly is a “stand?” A stand in forestry refers to a group of trees comparable in species composition, stem density, size, and age. The classification of a stand takes into consideration both overstory and understory. For example, one…
Shelterwood cutting is a multiple-entry method of timber harvesting focused on establishing regeneration. During a shelterwood harvest, a stand of mature timber is partially harvested. Gaps are created in the canopy as a means of allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor. The residual timber spreads seed and helps to protect the understory from over-exposure…
Sometimes, there are just too many trees on a given acre of forest. Excessive competition can choke out individuals and hamper timber growth for decades. Foresters and woodlot owners use pre-commercial thinning, or PCT, as a way to limit competition. Pre-commercial thinning is the process of mechanically spacing out young, unmerchantable trees to improve species…
There are few practices in forestry that draw public ire quite like clearcutting, and understandably so, but is clearcutting bad? Properly implemented, clearcutting can be a great tool to harvest timber, promote healthy new growth, and improve wildlife habitat. That said, as with anything in forestry, it is a matter of scale. No one wants…
If you have spent any length of time exploring Maine’s forests, you have probably encountered a dense thicket of young trees. These are the kind of areas that can induce tears on a camping trip when you have no choice but to push through them carrying forty pounds of equipment and a canoe. They also…