Treesearch

Tree shelters have been shown to be a questionable establishment practice in shelterwood stands. Experiences with low seedling survival and growth may be due to an apparent deficiency of light. In other situations, tree shelters have generally been found to be beneficial in enhancing survival and growth of hardwood plantings. This poster will describe the poor survival and growth results of a 3 year old tree shelter study with northern red oak in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The study was established to test the effectiveness of tree shelters in protecting northern red oak seedlings...

The National Forest Management Act, in part, instructs the Forest Service to maintain the diversity of tree species that are present on federal lands before the onset of management. Further, this act directs the Forest Service to preserve and enhance diversity of tree species within each management area so that diversity is equal to or greater than that of an unmanaged forest. In spite of this directive, it is often difficult to know if management activities are enhancing diversity, maintaining the status quo, or diminishing it. Part of the dilemma is due to the dynamic nature of species...

Tree shelters have been tested and shown to be effective in several circumstances regarding hardwood regeneration, especially with northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.). A study was initiated to quantify how tree shelters affected quantity, size and biomass of leaves, the number of growth flushes, and the above ground stem biomass of planted northern red oak. Six treatments were established: (1) no tree shelters, (2) standard 4 foot high tree shelters, (3) a 4 foot high tree shelter made of shade cloth (50% shade) and (4) the application of woody brush control on half of each of the three...

Hay-scented fern is a common forest understory weed native to the Appalachian region. It interferes with oak and other hardwood seedling growth and often leads to regeneration failures. Harvesting is know to increase rates of vegetative expansion, spore germination, and possibly spore production of hay-scented fern. To examine the latter effect, a progressive series of five annual clearcuts was made in each year from 1990 to 1994 in a mixed oak stand in central Pennsylvania. Four populations of hay-scented fern in each clearcut and in an uncut control stand were sampled in August 1994. The...

Color-infrared aerial photographs are widely used to aid in the classification and inventory of large forested tracts. Areas of similar photographic color and texture are delineated and a limited number of categories (or groups of areas with similar features) are identified. The forest cover type, and sometimes the average timber volume, of each group is then determined by "ground-truthing" randomly selected representative areas. This technique provides a quick, cost-effective method of forest cover typing and forest inventory across large landscapes. However, there is potential for...

This study evaluates the extent and cause(s) of an observed decline of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) on a 50-km portion of a major anticlinal ridge in west central Pennsylvania, and illustrates an approach for evaluating tree declines. Long term annual observations of forest health revealed the onset of crown dieback in 1983, chiefly among red oak, followed by further dieback and mortality. A plot survey in 1994 within 10 stands where increment cores from healthy red oak were obtained in 1986 revealed higher mortality among red oak than other species, higher mortality on ridgetop...

Although it is known that forest productivity is highly correlated with canopy leaf area, the influence of environmental gradients on leaf area-productivity relationships has not been well-documented, particularly for mixed-species forests. The present study was conducted to define the mechanisms by which Central Hardwood forest communities respond to changes in environment. Ecological Land Type Phases (ELTPs) of the Central Hardwood region, delineated by soils, topography, and indicator vegetation, provided a framework to examine the impacts of environmental gradients on leaf area-producti...

The purpose of this study was to micropropagate juvenile and mature American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) resistant to beech bark disease. Shoot tips (from juvenile seedlings and root sprouts of mature trees) and buds from branches of mature trees, were cultured and multiplied on aspen culture medium supplemented with 0.89 ?M 6-benzyladenine, 0.27 ?M a-naphthaleneacetic acid, 20 g l−1 sucrose, and 7 g l−1 Difco Bacto-agar. Rooting of shoots was achieved using a 1 minute dip in 12.3 mm indole-3-butyric acid, followed by culture in a Horticube saturated with half-strength aspen culture...

Pellets containing paraformaldehyde (PFA) are sometimes placed behind spouts in tapped sugar maples to prolong sapflow and increase the yield of sap used to make maple syrup.The practice is controversial because the chemical has been shown to promote decay and is reported to cause cambial dieback around tapholes.This study reexamined the effects of PFA on tapped sugar maple and determined how these effects also are influenced by time of tapping and spout removal, and by taphole flushing. A survey of sugarbushes in Wisconsin revealed no relationship between PFA use and cambial dieback and...

Describes a delay-free-cycle time equation for the Koller K300 skyline yarder operating on steep slopes in the Northeast. Using the equation, the average delay-free-cycle time was 5.72 minutes. This means that about 420 cubic feet of material per hour can be produced. The important variables used in the equation were slope yarding distance, lateral yarding distance, volume per turn, and stem volume. Cable yarding has an advantage of minimizing the impact on environmentally sensitive areas, especially when complying with Best Management Practices (BMP's) and other forest practices regulations.