Two-age silviculture on the Monongahela National Forest - managers and scientists assess 17 years of communication

Abstract

This report describes the development of two-age silviculture on the Monongahela National Forest and provides an assessment of the practice as it is applied today. Silviculturists at each ranger district provided a chronology of the communication process between managers and scientists that led to current stand treatment prescriptions. In addition, data were collected from a total of 20 recently treated stands on four ranger districts. This information was used to assess two-age systems in terms of current stand conditions and the implications for future species composition and stand structure. Comments obtained from land managers and the accompanying field data are used to illustrate how the ongoing communication process helped to provide feedback, clarify objectives, motivate useful research, define feasible options, and produce a flexible land management tool.

Parent Publication

• Communicating the role of silviculture in managing the national forests: Proceedings of the National Silviculture Workshop

Citation

Miller, Gary; Johnson, James E.; Baumgras, John E.; Bustamente, R. Gary. 1997. Two-age silviculture on the Monongahela National Forest - managers and scientists assess 17 years of communication. In: Communicating the role of silviculture in managing the national forests: Proceedings of the National Silviculture Workshop. 1997 May 19-22; Warren, PA.: Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-238. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 123-133.